The IT skills shortage problem is much less acute than often reported, although many graduates are still leaving university without enough real-world work experience, according to the director of IBM's Hursley labs, Graham Spittle.

Spittle told attendees at a special press gathering at the labs that the firm works closely with around twelve universities, supplying visiting professors and contributing to curricula, and so has little problem finding high quality graduates.

But he cautioned that many new recruits arrive lacking certain skills because they have not been able during their courses to work on large-scale projects.

"When they come out they see the scalability challenges and network problems … these are the things you want to cut your teeth on," argued Spittle. "But despite what we read in the papers I still find it fairly simple to get high quality graduates."

Nick Wells of IT training specialist The Training Camp agreed, explaining that many students believe that merely by getting a degree they immediately will have all the pre-requisite skills necessary to succeed in the workplace.

"Employers don't want a piece of paper, they want real experience," he added. "We've had to manage the expectations of our students – they think if they get a degree they will get their dream job."