Despite the Howard Government’s rhetoric about investing in the ICT industry and the apparently ‘desperate’ need for skills, the number of students studying IT is falling.
DEST figures clearly show there has been steady decline in the number of students enrolled in university level IT courses. Since 2002, enrolments in IT related courses dropped from an already low 79,000 to around 73,000 in 2004.
“The drop in students electing to study ICT courses is very concerning. Australia is moving in the wrong direction in this important technology industry”, Senator Lundy said.
The Howard Government has presided over this drop and yet as recently as last month, ICT skills shortages were used as the excuse to move Centrelink’s ICT hub from Canberra to Adelaide.
And yet these falling enrolments indicate that the Federal Government is ignoring an area of potential remedy for this problem!
By ignoring declining enrolments and instead increasing temporary skilled migrants with ICT skills, the Howard Government has got their priorities wrong.
Labor believes every effort should be made to train, educate and employ locally and only then should the 457 Visa scheme fill the remaining skills gap in order to maintain economic growth.
At the moment, it seems the use of the 457 visa temporary skilled migrant program is removing the incentive for undergraduates to choose a career in ICT, and removing the pressure on industry to invest more in training. This does not bode well for an industry that needs to be the leader in research, development and innovation.
Fewer women choose to study ICT
As the numbers of enrolments shrink, so do the numbers of women entering the industry. The number of women as a proportion of all enrolled in ICT courses dropped from 25% in 2002 to 22% in just three years.
In the run up to the 2004 Federal Election Senator Helen Coonan pledged to promote women in IT and “identify and address the barriers which keep Australian women from participating in the ICT sector”.
With the most recent figures available relating to calendar year 2004 it appears this had the opposite effect in its first year in terms of study choices. Let’s hope Senator Coonan’s policy has a positive effect in 2005! We won’t know until the figures are made available by DEST, presumably later this year.
* Source: DEST 2002 to 2004 Enrolment unit record files
Women Studying IT – A Shrinking Share of a Shrinking Pie
* Source: DEST 2002 to 2004 Enrolment unit record files
Contact: Rachel Allen – 0418 488 295
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