Microsoft worried by lack of IT graduates

A slump in the number of students taking IT-related A-levels could lead to a decline in computer science graduates coming out of university and more technology jobs going overseas, Microsoft's UK director of education has warned.

In an interview with Computer Weekly, Steve Beswick said the drop was a "worrying trend from an IT perspective and a business point of view".

The magazine said 15,962 students took an ICT or computing A-level in 2011, down 1.8 per cent from 16,251 last year. Since 2006, there has been a 49 per cent drop in the number of people studying IT-related subjects in further education.

Beswick said this trend will have to be reversed if the UK wants to ensure it does not fall behind its international competitors.

"IT jobs are growing at four times the rate of the standard jobs market," he commented.

"With fewer people with appropriate IT skills coming out of education, there'll be no one to fill the jobs available in the marketplace. We could see more offshoring to India and China as a result."