Memorandum 30
Submission from the the British Computer
Society
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. BCS warns that there is a growing skills
shortage in IT at a time when the UK economy is increasingly dependent
on both the revenue earned by the "knowledge economy"
and on the IT infrastructure which is key to efficient public
sector service delivery.
2. BCS urges the government to include those
subjects that are essential to an individual's career development,
such as Computer Science/Computing and IT, to be regarded as having
SIVS (Strategically Important and Vulnerable Status) and thus
exempt from the ELQ policy.
3. Exemption of Computer Science/Computing
and IT from ELQs would enable the already disadvantaged groups
in society to help themselves out of low income occupations or
unemployment by re-skilling in order to contribute to the UK economy
thereby also addressing the IT skills shortage.
ARGUMENTS FOR
AND AGAINST
THE GOVERNMENT'S
DECISION TO
PHASE OUT
SUPPORT TO
INSTITUTIONS FOR
STUDENTS STUDYING
ELQS
4. BCS set up the "Professionalism
in IT" programme in 2005 with the stated intent of building
IT professionalism to the level at which it is seen to exist in
other areas of professional activity. Within this programme an
IT professional is defined as a practitioner who has specific
skills rooted in a broad base, has appropriate qualifications
from a recognised body, undergoes continuous development and operates
to a code of conduct. For the IT sector in the UK a highly skilled,
educated and competent workforce is essential if it is to satisfy
the demand from government and commercial organisations for evermore
secure and complex systems.
5. There are many varied routes by which
IT professionals gain training and qualifications; although 45%
of IT professionals hold a degree or equivalent qualification,
compared with 20 % of the workforce as a whole[35],
the majority do not hold a first degree in Computer Science/Computing
and IT, or a related discipline.
6. Since a peak of around 29,000 students
entering computing courses in 2001, the number has fallen to around
17,000 in 2006[36].
Even at its peak, the numbers graduating were unable to cover
attrition rates on this workforce. The IT sector has grown so
rapidly that education is unable to keep pace. The result is that
most IT practitioners do not have an educational background in
Computer Science /Computing and IT. With sector growth continuing
to outpace the national average, the majority of those starting
work in the sector will not have their primary qualifications
in Computer Science/Computing and IT. As the UK continues its
rapid transition to a knowledge economy, the IT sector will require
even more workers, and other sectors will increase their reliance
on IT.
7. This lack of specific education has to
be set against the impact of the UK ICT sector on the economy
as a whole. As noted by Lord Jones of Birmingham, the IT industry
is one of the UK success stories:
"More than a million UK jobs depend on the
success of the ICT sector which generates more than six per cent
of GDP. Its importance to our economy is unquestionable."[37]
8. The IT sector contributes 6.4% of GDP[38]
and employs approximately 1.2 million people[39].
This includes those employed to support other important UK commercial
assets, such as the financial services sector, which is the largest
contributor to UK balance of payments, GDP and employment and
is also the leading application market for ICT[40].
9. It is in the public interest to pay for
students to take a second qualification if it can be demonstrated
to contribute to a national need. Those national needs might be:
(i) to provide general education in an academic
area that has moved on rapidly
(ii) to educate people to move from an employment
area that is making a low contribution to UK GVA to one that is
making a high contribution to UK GVA.
10. DBERR is promoting the UK as a place
for inward investment based on the UK's capacity to deliver high-quality
IT systems. Support for this initiative has to be publicly funded
because education, rather than short-term skills, is being provided,
and individuals in the IT sector are just as likely to work in
a myriad of SMEs rather than a large conglomerate (which might
have more funds to deploy on education). Small companies need
to be able to recruit trained individuals to compete in an international
market. The Leitch report pointed to the rising demand from businesses
for well-educated students with Computer Science /Computing and
IT qualifications and the Sainsbury Review emphasised the idea
of the education system responding to employer demand.
11. UK employers are already particularly
generous in their IT straining provision. A review by eSkills
UK discovered that:
"All indicators considered, there is a higher
than average propensity for employers to train and develop their
IT workforce" [41]
And that
"The IT industry invests significantly more
on training than the average for all industries, spending £668
on training per employee per year" [42]
Thus UK employers are already shouldering a
major part of the cost to educate IT professionals. However the
money spent is not directed at education but on specific needs.
12. For businesses, training needs tend
to be short term and project-focussed. For example, a need for
skills in a new programming language can be met through short
term training, without adding higher level skills to an individual.
However, a need for a software engineer can only be met by hiring
rather than by taking unqualified staff and investing years in
qualifications and subsequent experience. In the scale of education,
3 years is short term; but in the IT industry, 3 years is beyond
the horizon. This mis-match is fatal for business cases advocating
investment in qualifications.
13. The need for professionals qualified
to honours degree level in computing and IT is vital to the nation's
needs, to provide security services and banking services which
cannot easily be placed off-shore without risk. These are the
types of graduates whose numbers have been decreasing drastically
over the last six years. We should be encouraging those people
who are willing to re-train to full degree level in IT, not discouraging
them.
14. IT is particularly vulnerable to a change
in ELQ funding because of the small relative numbers inside the
industry with existing qualifications, and the high growth rates.
In some areas it is easier to be accepted for a higher level course.
Because of issues with so-called `conversion masters' qualifications,
those who do not have a first degree in IT may not be able to
use this qualification to apply for a masters in IT. In this case,
their only option is to take a qualification at the same level
as their existing one, which is of course affected by this funding
decision. This will deter graduates in other disciplines from
making a switch in to an IT career.
THE EXEMPTIONS
FROM THE
WITHDRAWAL OF
FUNDING PROPOSED
BY THE
HIGHER EDUCATION
FUNDING COUNCIL
FOR ENGLAND
15. For reasons identified earlier in this
response, BCS urges government to include Computer Science/Computing
and IT in the group of subjects which have Strategically Important
and Vulnerable Status (SIVS) so that they are exempt from ELQ
funding cuts.
THE IMPACT
UPON STUDENTS,
INCLUDING WHETHER
THE CHANGE
WILL AFFECT
SOME GROUPS
OF STUDENTS
MORE THAN
OTHERS
16. The following groups will be particularly
badly affected by the withdrawal of ELQ funding:
— Women returners—ie those trying
to reskill to return to the workforce after raising a family.
This group forms the majority of part-time learners studying for
second degrees. [43]Women
are a minority in the IT industry and BCS, in partnership with
other organisations, is trying to redress the balance.
— Students trying to reskill when disability
makes their current job impossible.
— Students already within the IT industry
undertaking professional training for chartered status and CPD
(continuing professional development). For example even if they
do a single module of an ELQ they will be affected. BCS requires
its members to undergo CPD in order to maintain professional competence.
BCS believes that professionally qualified IT practitioners would
reduce the likelihood of IT project failure.
— Students in low-income occupations
who are working hard to improve their career prospects.
17. Clearly, the ELQ withdrawal of funding
affects everyone, whether outside the IT sector and wishing to
get in, or those who wish to keep up with the technological changes
in IT and remain in this globally competitive market. At a time
when the economy requires people to be flexible in their career,
it is important to be able to reskill throughout a working life.
There are no longer jobs for life, and employees need to be able
to change direction as, and when, opportunities present themselves
or when redundancy or disability hits. It seems counterproductive
to place barriers against those people who wish to make a contribution
to the economy, particularly when their contribution will be in
the strategically important IT sector.
January 2008
35 eSkills UK. Back
36
UCAS. Back
37
Minister of State for Trade & Investment, Digby, Lord Jones
of Birmingham. Back
38
Gartner. Back
39
eSkills UK. Back
40
Gartner. Back
41
eSkills UK. Back
42
eSkills UK. Back
43
UKRC for Women in SET. Back
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