Europe will suffer from an IT skills shortage beginning as soon as next year, a new report warns.
With rising retirement rates and a significant decline in the number of European students graduating from IT-related courses, many firms fear they will suffer the effects of a technology skills shortage in 2006.
The study by Forrester Research claims companies in the future will have to be more reliant on business-oriented profiles than technicians and outsource more of their routine activities
Firms are overwhelmingly looking to education and training programmes to combat the problem of higher numbers of retirees, but for 90% of these firms, many of the engineering schools, technology universities and other educational programmes lack the depth of knowledge graduates need.
Too many graduates now lack necessary knowledge in disciplines like business, management, finance, architecture and contracts, the firms said.
“The educational system may take some time to align its programmes with demand, so companies should seriously evaluate the possibility of training adults either internally or through partnerships with universities,” said Richard Peynot, senior analyst at Forrester Research.
Governments face an uphill battle just to meet the bare minimum of IT skills that industry and commerce need, the report claimed.
As it stands now, many European countries can’t even generate enthusiasm for computer sciences among young people planning to enter higher education, and academia has barely begun to transform its IT programmes, it said.
Peynot stressed that as firms increase their outsourcing, they should not resort to simplification. Decisions should still be made internally, he said.
Some areas of business, he claimed, are not "offshoreable".
