Remember, years ago, when the highly educated couldn't find jobs, and were over qualified?—well, not any more! The rapidly expanding field of information and communications technology is now begging for higher education graduates that have specialised in information technology (IT). If there are shortages of other types of skilled labour, it won't necessarily be affected so much, but IT is the very basis needed for the country's infrastructure, trade, arts, & businesses to develop & move the country forward. There's hardly any job or field that doesn't use computers, programs, and lots of gadgetry & technicians to get their work done.
Here are some numbers:
*Only 42 percent of the United Kingdom's IT graduates go into the IT industry.
*At least 50% of the present post graduate IT students in the UK are from other countries. (They will bring their skills back to their own countries.)
*It is predicted that up to 60% of IT staff members, & 40% of IT services could come from outside of UK, by the year 2020; and 20% of UK IT revenues will go to these outsourced staffers!
There is also a shortage of qualified teachers, to teach this high tech, and a decrease in the number of students willing to make this needy field their lifelong study. The IT industry demands increasingly advanced training to keep up with the world of today, and much less young people want to sign away their life to such extensive efforts.
Other countries like China & India, on the other hand, are together producing 500,000 highly trained IT staffers each year. Without intervention by the UK government to offer some incentives for the British students to pursue such a career, it seems the UK will lose its cutting edge place in today's expanding markets. See more details at: