Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 January 2016
403. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Education and Skills for details, in tabular form, on the progress made in meeting 74% of industry demands domestically for information and communications technology, ICT, professionals by 2018, as set out in the 2014 ICT skills action plan, by year, total number and percentage; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2194/16]
View answerICT graduate output from the higher education sector has doubled since the first ICT action plan was published in 2011. In 2012, 31% of demand was met by graduates from mainstream Level 8, 9 and 10 courses in ICT from Universities and Institutes of Technology. The total number of graduates from ICT courses has doubled since 2011. The 2014 ICT Action Plan contains a range of measures to seek to increase supply of graduates including awareness raising, incentivised places on mainstream courses and full-time and part-time ICT courses provided through Springboard+.
In 2014, total ICT graduate output was 57% of demand. The progress in increasing the supply of graduates in 2014 and the projected increase for 2015 is set out in the following table.
Progress towards ICT Action Plan targets
|
Source |
2014 |
2015 (Projected) |
|
L 8/9/10 mainstream graduate supply (SRS) |
2,261 |
2,552 |
|
Total L8 Springboard+ full-time ICT conversion graduate supply |
523 |
633 |
|
Total L8/9 Springboard+ part-time ICT graduate supply |
574 |
625 |
|
Incentivised L8 additional places 2014 (4-year) and 2015 (3-year) |
0 |
0 |
|
Total Irish-based Level 8+ graduate supply |
3,358 |
3,810 |
|
74% target of Level 8+ job openings |
4,328 |
4,819 |
|
Total NFQ Level 8 - 10 graduate supply as % of job openings |
57% |
59% |
It should be noted that the data above does not include non-Springboard+ Level 8 ICT graduates from the private higher education providers (e.g. National College Ireland, Dublin Business School, Griffith College et al).
