In addition, getting the right individual with just the right combination of IT skills is especially challenging. These companies need to train and retrain individuals and help to equip them with the combination of IT skills that they're looking for. Daley recommends that government, industry, and the education system create comprehensive education programs to teach students information technology from kindergarten to the Ph.D. level. The report cites many IT vendors and businesses that have partnered with education institutions to encourage IT talent. There are approximately six students for each computer in K-12 schools, according to the report.
Access varies, however.
But high school boys still represent the majority of secondary students participating in computer science courses. At the professional level, enrollment in certification programs is also increasing. For example, this year Microsoft says it expects to train about 1.2 million IT professionals in its technologies, and Oracle expects to train 520,000 IT employees through instructor-led training programs. Despite the progress, there' s much work to be done, says Daley, who admits federal, state, and local governments as well as the education system should have recognized the need for IT training years ago. One of the hallmarks of this administration has been a serious reaching out to the private sector to try to solve these problems.