Tech degrees 'not important for employers'

Six out of 10 employers do not care whether graduate applicants for ICT jobs have ICT-related degrees, a survey has revealed.

The statistics, released by government-led skills agency e-skills UK, also show only two out of every five graduates working in ICT have an ICT-related degree.

e-skills UK chief executive Karen Price said: "Graduates from non-ICT disciplines have often developed skills in areas not yet widely included in traditional computing courses, such as business, project, communication and other interpersonal skills."

Price said the figures demonstrate that ICT-related degrees should "evolve to reflect the broader range of capabilities required to be successful in modern careers in IT and telecoms". She also claimed the statistics highlight the need for qualifications such as those earned through IT management for business (ITMB) degrees - which will be running at 12 universities by the end of the year. ITMB degrees have a greater focus on business, rather than pure technology skills.

Other findings arising from the survey of more than 1,000 ICT recruiters include: "55 per cent of employers consider the level of achievement in the degree to be 'important' or 'very important'", and "four per cent of employers consider the place of study to be important or very important".

Another recent e-skills UK study found 17 per cent of UK employers worry their staff lack sufficient IT skills.

David Meyer writes for ZDNet UK