Sound advice on bridging the e-skills gap

Europe is facing a shortage in skilled workers in ICT and Malta won’t be spared this threat. The recent launch of the eSkills Alliance Malta by the Maltese government is an attempt to address this shortage locally, and in pursuit of this MITA has sought the support of e-skills UK, a not-for-profit, employer-led organisation which brings together employers, educators and the British government to address together the technology-related skills issues.

The competences of e-skills UK are recognised Europe-wide, so much so that it is involved with the European eSkills initiatives that are headed by the European Commission.

“Information and communication technologies play a fundamental role in today’s economies and I don’t think that anybody can deny that fact. Yet, economies across Europe are experiencing a severe skills shortage when it comes to ICT,” Martin Harvey, director of e-skills UK, told i-Tech.

“This situation can have serious repercussions on the health of those very economies if the situation is not tackled with foresight and as effectively as possible and I commend the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) for the proactive stance it has taken on the issue with the establishment of the eSkills Alliance Malta.”

The Maltese alliance is co-ordinated by the Malta Information Technology Agency and includes the University of Malta, MCAST and the Ministry of Education as the main decision-makers in ICT education and skills supply.

Mr Harvey, who was present at the launch of the eSkills Alliance Malta, has invested a great deal of time and energy over the last seven years in bridging the e-skills gap in the UK and has some important experiences to share. In his role Mr Harvey is faced with the challenging task of ensuring that the demand for ICT related skills within the UK is matched by an adequate supply of appropriately trained personnel. This task certainly sounds easier than it actually is when one considers the sobering estimate that in the UK around 110,000 new entrants are needed each year into IT professional roles.

In December 2009, the IDC’s EMEA Government Insights report estimated that the EU labour market may face a shortage, or unfilled vacancies, of around 300,000 ICT practitioners by 2015.

One of the most important factors in matching the demands of the job market with an adequate supply is teamwork.

“Many different stakeholders - including the government, educational institutions and employers - need to join together if an efficient system is to be created and implemented to ensure that appropriate training and educational programmes are available to ensure that prospective employees are given ample opportunity to gain these much-needed ICT skills,” Mr Harvey said.

The fact that so many different interests need to be taken into consideration when developing an effective strategy for Malta is one of the main challenges that needs to be overcome regularly and Mr Harvey offers a word of advice for the local organisation, stating that “listening carefully to employers, then gathering feedback and really understanding the needs of different stakeholders is key to success and finding a ‘happy medium’ between such diverse socio-economic groups is not easy.”

“In this often challenging state of affairs, it is essential that the Alliance is not simply a talk shop but actually delivers tangible results,” he said.

“In my experience, demonstrating impact is a critical success factor and that is why we always strive for excellence in all that we do. We invest in essential research, we use our findings to help inform policy, then work to create the right skills infrastructure so that employer demand is met by the right volume and type of skills,” concluded the director of e-skills UK.

eSkills Alliance Malta has already taken the initiative to organise a workshop with Mr Harvey and the deputy director of e-skills UK, Nigel Payne, with the aim of discussing and sharing best practices on the first topic of its programme of Works – building the so-called “e-Competence Framework”.