Australia, especially inland Australia, faces catastrophic shortages in information and communication technology (ICT) professionals unless there are major changes in government policies and business models, says Head of Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) School of Business and Information Technology, Associate Professor John Atkinson.

 

To highlight the problem, an Australian Computer Society (ACS) report released last week showed the shortage could grow by 29 per cent by 2010 to over 14 500 full-time positions.

 

This could increase to over 25 000 by 2020.

 

“Even using the most optimistic forecasts for levels of domestic graduates and of migration into Australia, ICT skills shortages will continue or get worse at least until 2012,” Professor Atkinson says.

 

“This is a worrying trend considering the strategic importance of ICT sector to the Australian economy. According to 2006 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, ICT is one of the main contributors to productivity gains in all sectors of the Australian economy. It is also economically more significant than agriculture, defence, education and mining, with over five per cent of Australia’s full-time professionals and technicians employed in ICT.

 

“This may be due to the incorrect perception that there are few jobs in the ICT industry. Nothing could be further from the truth – the ICT job market is very buoyant, both in Australia and overseas. Governments must act to increase employment in the national ICT sector – it is an economic necessity.”

 

CSU IT graduate Mr Darren Stuart, who works for Mars, the multinational consumer goods giant based in Wodonga in regional Victoria, agrees with this assessment.

 

”There’s little doubt that IT professionals play a central role in critical functions that support today’s complex business systems.

 

“We provide a wide range of IT services for our sister units throughout the Asia-Pacific region with much of that work performed in Wodonga.  As a result, we must have skilled IT professionals here at Mars. We work closely with the University’s IT course and so can provide work opportunities for outstanding CSU graduates.

 

“We’re very satisfied with the calibre of our IT team and we support any educational initiatives that will enhance technical skills which we, as a major regional employer, will be looking for in the future.”

 

Coordinator of the University’s IT course, Ms Joanne Lawrence, says the majority of recent CSU students were already working in the ICT industry in the second and third years of their degrees.