Victorian Government targets ICT skills measures at secondary and tertiary education, career changers, and women

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 30 August 2011 14:48

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

The Victorian Government has announced a $2 million plan to further boost the state's ICT skills base.

Successive Victorian Governments have been keen on developing - and spruiking - the ICT skills of the state's workforce. The latest initiative involves two-year, $2 million funding for a range of programs.

Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips said 'The package of initiatives includes a diverse range of programs to encourage students to pursue ICT-related careers, improve access previously untapped sources of workers, and deliver training programs which are responsive to industry needs,' Mr Rich-Phillips said.

'While Victoria's ICT workforce is growing twice as fast as the national average and produces one third of national IT graduates, we still need to put in the groundwork to ensure we are prepared for future challenges," he explained.

The initiatives fall into three main categories: improving awareness and understanding of ICT careers; working with post-secondary education sectors to enhance the quality and breadth of ICT courses and improve the job-readiness of ICT graduates (with a focus on issues relating to high-speed broadband), and  increasing the supply of ICT workers from non-education pathways such as career changers and by growing the number of women in ICT.

More than 5% of the Victorian workforce is in the ICT sector. The Government intends to release its industry plan for the sector later this year.