Universities are churning out technology graduates with networking skills ill-suited to the real demands of business, according to Richard Sykes, ICI's VP of group information services.

"We need to change the training programmes. Courses need to be focused on how technology is used," said Sykes. "Broader integration issues and business values are critical but not what IT or IT courses have traditionally been about," he said.

Technical issues are important but should not come before understanding how a technology is implemented to create business value, he added.

Sykes argued that for this change to happen the industry itself needs to get more involved in shaping training courses and in encouraging more people into the industry in the first place.

"It's something of a chicken and egg situation to get young people into IT. What we can do is to make IT more attractive," said Sykes.

Adam Davis, MD at Vadis Recruitment, said industry should exert more influence on how courses are set up but nothing that is done in college can be a substitute for commercial skills, adding that universities will always be one step behind industry. "The image of IT professionals as people with low self-esteem, sandals and a beard still filters into universities."

Philip Langsdale, technical director of the BBC, said: "It is difficult to see where people will come from with more rounded skills."

He suggested a way forward was to bring universities and groups like the British Computer Society closer together. He also said the creation of a "renaissance IT director" role model would help.

Langsdale made his remarks at the launch of The Impact Programme, which aims to create a forum for IT directors to pool best practice.