The ACS Foundation (ACSF), whose charter is to encourage private and public sponsorship of ICT higher education and research initiatives, has today released the results of a survey of its Work Integrated Learning scholarship holders. The quantitative and qualitative responses prove the value of relevant work experience programs for ICT tertiary students in complementing their academic studies and improving their employment prospects.

The ACS Foundation has developed a new web site (www.careersfoundation.com.au/schoolvisit) to enable secondary school teachers, careers advisors and schools to register their interest to get speakers from a variety of industries to visit them to talk to their students about different careers, particularly within the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) industry.

At a tension-filled event at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, last night the five Australian finalists in the 2011 Microsoft Imagine Cup fought for the coveted first place in the national Software Design category of the world’s premier student technology competition.

A group of 40 university students and graduates from Sydney are to visit Dubbo, Gilgandra and Moree from 3 – 5 July to talk to local high school students and their parents and teachers about career choices and job prospects. The Big Lift Career Information Evenings are free events and are an excellent opportunity for students to hear directly from other young adults about the diversity of career paths, university study and how to get industry experience before committing to specific studies.

Seven students from across Australia have won a national, ACS Foundation-sponsored competition hosted on YouTube, after being asked to create a short video on “what information technology means to them”.

Entry level salaries for the ICT industry are up and employers are increasingly looking for staff who are multi-skilled, according to the latest survey of the market by Excom Education.

Cognizant of a recent ACS survey which found that IT graduates in Australia were technically proficient but not ‘work-ready', Dimension Data has implemented a training program for new graduates which gives them professional technical training and hands-on industry experience at the same time, to better prepare them for going into the workforce.

The ACS Foundation wants more on-the-job learning for ICT students as part of their university studies after a survey of more than 700 recent graduates found that while there was satisfaction with the quality of technical preparation, both employers and the graduates themselves wanted improved work-integrated learning to better equip them for joining the workforce.