Employers shun ICT degrees

Over half of IT chiefs do not consider IT degrees to be important for graduate recruits taking up IT and telecoms roles, according to a new report out today.

The survey of 1,000 IT chiefs, conducted by business- and government-backed skills body e-skills UK, found that 59 percent of employers were unconcerned by the type of degree held by applicants.

The university applicants attended was also dismissed as largely irrelevant, with only four percent describing it as an important factor in recruitment. However, the level of qualification was more likely to be a deciding factor in recruitment decisions, with 55 percent of respondents describing it as important.

The lack of emphasis on IT qualifications is clearly not new, with the survey also revealing that only 39 percent of ICT staff have an ICT-related degree.

Karen Price, chief executive of e-skills, said that recruiting graduates from non-ICT disciplines can be beneficial because they have "often developed skills in areas not widely included in traditional computing courses – such as business, project, communication, and other interpersonal skills".

However, she added that there was now an onus on universities to try and address this demand and create ICT courses that better fit employers' requirements. She cited the business-backed Information Technology Management for Business degree as an example of the type of course required by IT employers.

The survey also revealed that the skills gap narrowed during the third quarter of 2006. However, the report warned that despite the improvement, skills issues remained a major issue for many employers, with one in ten having problems finding suitably skilled ICT applicants.