More young people involved in IT

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15,000 employees spanning 800 businesses are using the “e-skills” passport in assessing and addressing IT user skills needs.

Further, 50,000 girls from around 1,500 schools are involved in a initiative to widen young person participation in IT matters, called Computer Clubs for Girls (CC4G).

The findings were released last week as the Sector Skills Council for Information Technology (IT) and Telecommunications, e-skills UK, celebrated its achievements since it launched the Sector Skills Agreement last year.

Entitled “Real People, Real Successes”, the report details how far the body has come in promoting the use of IT and in delivering its three-year SSA action plan.

Karen Price, CEO of e-skills UK commented on the release: “e-skills UK brings employers together with government, education and others to address the skills challenges that none of us can fix on our own”.

“In July 2005, we published the Sector Skills Agreement for IT and Telecoms, an employer-led strategic agenda for change. [This] report highlights the considerable progress made in delivering on our vision. We are proud to be making a very real contribution to businesses and to people’s lives”.

According to a statement released last week, key achievements throughout the period 2005 to 2006 have included 50,000 girls in over 1,500 schools becoming involved in computer clubs (CC4G); working with employers to develop the IT Diploma for the 14-19 group; development of a common language for IT professional skills, and “improving return on investment in IT user skills: over 15,000 employees in more than 800 companies are already using the e-skills Passport to assess and address IT user skills needs”.

Karen added: “The journey has only just begun. With the rise of the global economy, offshoring, outsourcing, re-skilling and the ever accelerating pace of technological change, this is an exciting and critical time for technology skills development”.

Vijay Pattni.

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