ICT has been identified as an area of particular economic significance in Northern Ireland. This is in recognition of the fact that as well as being a sizeable industry in its own right, it also underpins many other sectors such as financial services and healthcare.
This event, organised by the Department for Employment and Learning, and held at the Stormont Hotel, is an important deliverable of the recently launched ICT Future Skills Action Plan.
Employment and Learning Minister, Sir Reg Empey, welcomed the workshop and said: “It is important that the Higher Education sector works with industry to ensure that employers’ skills needs are met. In order to grow and develop, our software companies need an ever increasing number of highly skilled graduates in key disciplines, such as computer science and software engineering, yet university enrolments in these subjects are falling and drop out rates are high. We must do our utmost to overcome these issues if we are to benefit from an improved flow of skilled workers in future years.”
Following a series of discussions, a number of actions under key themes have been agreed.
The next milestone in the implementation of the ICT Future Skills Action Plan will be a career attractiveness programme, known as “Bring IT On” which will launch in early 2009.
Notes to Editors:
- The Department, in conjunction with Invest Northern Ireland, e-skills and Momentum has produced the ICT Future Skills Action, which contains a series of short term interventions designed to help reverse the decline and raise awareness of what a career in ICT can offer.
- The Plan is available on the Department for Employment and Learning website. www.delni.gov.uk.
- Momentum are the ICT industry trade association. They alongside the Association for Northern Ireland Colleges (ANIC) developed the Software Professionals Course which is currently delivered under the Department for Employment and Learning’s Bridge to Employment Programme.
- Momentum assist member companies to achieve success by providing a range of networking events and support services. They are dedicated to identifying ways to keep the supply of trained people greater than the demand.
- All media enquiries to Department for Employment and Learning Press Office on telephone 028 9025 7872. Outside office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
