Organization: Central Michigan University
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Sun, 13 Dec 1992 19:01:59 EST
From:         Elliott Parker <3ZLUFUR@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU>
Subject:      TH: IT personnel shortage to get worse

=======================  Forwarded  Message  ===========================
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 92 23:02:38+0700
From: Kamol Hengkietisak <kamol@ipied.tu.ac.th>


by Kamol Hengkietisak
THAILAND is suffering an acute shortage of skilled information
technology (IT) personnel and the shortage is getting worse,
according to Manoo Ordeedolchest, president of the Association of
Thai Computer Industry.

Manoo, who is also managing director of Datamat Ltd, was speaking
at a panel discussion on "Trends in IT -- the Challenge for
National Competitiveness" during the IT Week seminar on Thursday
at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

He said the country has about 5,680 professionals in the
information technology industry at present. Universities are now
able to produce graduates in the field of computer science and
computer engineering at a rate of about 1,000 per year.

This figure is a recent event for the last two years. Before that,
the country would be lucky to get 300-400 graduates 10 years ago.

A system analyst now has to supervise information technology worth
about nine million baht per year, but Manoo noted that in the year
2000 if the IT personnel graduation rate is maintained, one
analyst will have to supervise IT worth 30 million baht,
considering the growth in IT spending in this country. This is too
much a burden for the industry.

If the country cannot produce enough highly skilled professionals,
would it be possible to reduce the use of IT? Manoo's answer to
this was an emphatic "no." Thailand needs to keep up with its
neighbours and the world to maintain a competitive edge in the
global marketplace.

The need for highly skilled personnel will be even more pronounced
in the future when more complex and demanding applications are
used. For this reason, short- and long-term plans will have to be
devised to cope with the problem.

A short-term solution is to organise an intensive training course
to upgrade programmers to analysts. For this purpose, the Japanese
Government supports the establishment of a Software Training
Centre by the Ministry of Universities Affairs.

The sad thing is that only 15 turned up to apply for training,
according Manoo. The reason may be that due to full-time courses,
employers did not allow their employees to attend the course, or
public relations were sorely lacking.

For long-term solutions, government and private tertiary
institutes have to shoulder the burden, he said.

On this point, Prof Dr Pairash Thajchayapong could not guarantee
the delivery of enough such graduates. He cited the lack of
instructors as the main reason, as very bright students would
rather go to the private sector and earn 3-4 times more.

Prof Dr Pairash, president of King Mongkut's Institute of
Technology Lat Krabang and acting director of the National
Electronics & Computer Technology Centre, said several
universities tried to increase the number of students in the
information technology field, but as long as the shortage of
instructors cannot be tackled, the problem will not go away.

Giving them an extra teaching load with more pay could be a
short-term solution, but the instructors could only teach a
certain number of hours before the quality declines, he said.

More incentives need to be given to attract people into the
profession. Prof Pairash cited neighbouring countries such as
Singapore which pays the instructors at the same rate as they may
earn from the private sector.

Another point that compounds the manpower shortage problem is that
IT professionals are leaving the field to become managers or sales
directors. Manoo noted that only about 80% of graduates in the IT
field entered the profession.

The lack of highly skilled IT professionals is one of the reason
why Thailand is currently the manufacturing base of computers and
peripherals for multinationals, while higher valued-added
components such as design and testing facilities are located
elsewhere such as in Singapore and Japan.

On training IT personnel, Prof Dr Srisakdi Charmonman of KMIT Lat
Krabang, would like to see more coordination among Government
agencies.

He told the audience that Thailand had proposed Software Training
Centre with Japanese Government help even before Singapore but
could realise the project later due to internal rivalry between
the Ministry of Universities Affairs and the Science, Technology
and Environment Ministry.

Japanese Government was purplexed when they received assistance
from the two agencies. The matter had to be resolved by the
Cabinet resolution and that Ministry of Universities Affairs got
the nod to carry out the project.

Prof Srisakdi mentioned the lack of research and development
support from the Government and private sector as one of the
reason that universities' instructors have to teach too much and
thus lack necessary skills to keep up with advancing technology.

The lack of research fund could be cited as another reason for
perennial shortage of instructors in this vital field.

If the country continued to ignore R&D, "we may be able to use
only outdated technology," warned Prof Srisakdi.

Bunjong Tariyo, senior vice president in charge of computer
department, Bank for Agriculture & Agricultural Cooperatives
(BAAC), was more optimistic about the usage of IT in Thailand.

He said that he spent most of his adult life in the US and saw the
development of IT in that country. He just came back a few years
ago but were amazed how quickly Thailand adopted the new
technology.

Bunjong noted that by being late in adopting IT may not be
disadvantageous right now because the country could now afford to
adopt newer technology without paying the price of maintaining
compatibility of the outdated (old) technology as was the case
with several US companies.

Bunjong cared more about the efficient use of the existing
equipment. In his opinion, the present usage of IT is inefficient
due to lack of qualified personnel and know-how.

However, if the country keeps learning new technology and its
application, one day it will be able to catch up with others but
it would be unrealistic to catch up with the US, he added.

Since the IT is getting more sophisticated and varied, it poses
increasing problem for IT personnel to devise systems that satisfy
users' demands.

Concerning his clients who are mostly farmers, Bunjong said that
the bank needs to upgrade its information system so as to be able
to provide timely information to its clients to carry out the most
efficient production.

Bunjong saw the role of database as the necessary tool for
management to make informed decision in running the organisation.
So well-planned database structure is essential. Online
information should be widespread and the management must be
trained to use database effectively.
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