Achieving a Globally Competitive Workforce

1. The Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology
Achieving a globally
competitive IT workforce
p
Patrick Beasley
Director of Learning Services
Creating the skills for the digital economy
Rated Outstanding – Sector Skills Councils Relicensing 2009

2. Making economic
winners
Will Hutton - Guardian
“those that encourage and
combine a strong academic
sector with business and
technological innovation –
will emerge as winners”.
Sep 27th, 2010

3. GDP recovery
y

4. Role of IT Workforce
To Lead on
technological
routes to
business
development
p
and therefore
economic
growth

5. Goals
• Innovation
• Capability development
p y p
• Excellence in
achievement
• New business models
• Organisational strategy
Global competitiveness

6. Action
1.
1 Equip the IT
workforce to deliver
real business
advantage
2. Increase the role of
universities in this
journey

7. IT people & Degrees
40
35
30
25
% 20 IT Staff
Other sectors
15
10
5
0
Managers Professionals Technicians Assistants
Data : e-skills UK 2010

8. & Higher degrees
40
35
30
25
% 20 IT Staff
Other sectors
15
10
5
0
Managers Professionals Technicians Assistants
Data : e-skills UK 2010

9. IT low horizon
Why?
• Above average number of graduates enter
the workforce at QCF level 6……
• Th spend th i careers d i t i i at
Then d their doing training t
QCF levels 3 and 4?
• Far fewer postgraduate qualifications
among IT professionals than other
sectors?

10. Opportunity
• Raise the level of postgraduate learning
• Redress the balance against compared to
other sectors and professions
• M k a significant diff
Make i ifi t difference to the
t th
performance of IT organisations in the
future

11. Who?
• Future influencers
– Future managers
g
– Future architects
– Future strategists
– Future CIOs and board members
…. People who will shape the future

12. When?
• Any time in career
y
• Career long learning
• While working
• Geared to individual
potential

13. Type of learning
yp g
• In the workplace
– Work based learning
– New models of
blended learning
– Individual learning
contracts
–E l
Employer i involvement
l t

14. In SFIA terms
• People at levels 5 – 7 need to have
education to support their p
pp position of
significant influence
• People at levels 1 - 4 need to be equipped
to perform at a higher level when they
reach roles at 5 and beyond

15. What will happen?
• Stimulate an increase in demand
• Universities will raise their engagement
with IT employers
• M
More postgraduate learning options will b
t d t l i ti ill be
available to the sector
• More linkage with specific IT careers

16. Other professions
• Medical
• Engineering
• Accounting
• Legal

17. Medical
• Medical profession uses postgraduate
q
qualifications to enable career
development into specialist areas e.g.
– Psychiatry
– Oncology
– Occupational medicine
– Forensic mental health

18. Engineering
• Like Medicine postgraduate modules are
available for career development e.g.
p g
• Loughborough University modules
– P j t management
Project t
– Cost and value management
– Managing construction organisations
– Estimating and planning

19. Accounting
• Accounting is regulated and there is a
strict requirement for CPD
q
• Examples of post graduate level CPD
– St t i management and leadership
Strategic t d l d hi
– International accounting
– Business information technology

20. Legal
• Legal profession is a good parallel because it is
a very broad field as is the IT profession
• Masters in Laws or LL.M qualification gives
recognised skills to practise particular areas of
g
Law by selecting modules
• Queen Mary College
– Over 100 Specialist modules you combine to make a
masters or diploma
p

21. IT
• Lots MSc’s
– Few in direct partnership with employers
p p p y
– Few linked to business and strategy
• Need a better linkage for course purpose
in career and organisational development

22. The IT Disciplines
• Do we need a better linkage and
signposting of p g
g p g postgraduate study to y
support the disciplines within the IT
profession?
• Does the SFIA framework provide the
necessary structure to organise learning
and more defined career progression?
p g

23. Example programme

24. Programme purpose
• Fast track new entrants into IT
• Provides key basis for future influence in
organisational success
1.
1 Leadership d team-working
L d hi and t ki
2. Business and strategy
3. Project and delivery
4. Change management
– Better contribution quicker

25. Employer involvement
• British Airways *
y • IBM *
• BT • IPS *
• Cabinet Office * • INQ Mobile *
• Cancer Research • Lincolnshire Police *
• CarPhone Warehouse * • Metropolitan Police *
• Centrica * • Ministry of Justice *
• DCSF * • National Archives
• DfID * • National Grid *
• DWP * • NHS Di t *
Direct
• EDS / HP • NHS Wales
• FPS * • Oracle Consulting
• GCHQ * • Royal Borough of Kensington
• Home Office * • Sainsbury’s *
• HMRC * • SFW
• HM Prison Service * • Solution 7 *
• HM Treasury * • Sussex HIS
S
• Hounslow PCT • Tata
• TfL
* Have bought places on the programme

26. Programme Progression

27. The vision
• Raise uptake of postgraduate education in
the IT workforce
• Postgraduate education targeted at
specific IT careers
• Set employers needs at the heart of
postgraduate courses for IT careers
• Organise postgraduate education using
SFIA to support career excellence

28. The result
• More competitive UK organisations
underpinned by IT
p y
• IT careers mapped into disciplines by
SFIA
• The IT industry working together to raise
the bar on educational attainment for
careers