Sri Lanka is poised for growth in
knowledge industries and high-value-added services and expects to create 1
million employment opportunities by 2020 in such industries and services.
Information and Communication Technologies and Knowledge/Business Process Outsourcing
are two key industry areas expected to considerably contribute to this growth. IT/BPO
industry is expected to contribute over US$ 5 Billion by 2020. It is also likely
that a 1,000 startups in the technology sector will be created by 2020.
The key requirement that needs to be satisfied to achieve such ambitious growth targets is the availability of sufficient number of adequately qualified personnel. Sri Lanka annually produces around 7,500 graduates in ICT and related disciplines. However, an optimistic estimate of the man-power requirements to support the planned growth targets is at least 20,000 skilled personnel per year. Thus, we have a challenging task ahead of us to satisfy the industry needs, both quantity wise and quality wise. Another variable in the supply-demand equation is the skills of graduates produced by universities. While graduates from IT and other related disciplines have no trouble in finding employment, not all are absorbed in to the direct IT/BPO related companies.
A lack of skills, especially in Communication, Team Work, Leadership, Presentation and lack of awareness in the Work Culture and work ethics have been identified in several studies. Moreover, the skill requirements also keep changing and we need a system that quickly adopts to these changes. Another factor that is going to have an impact on the local availability of qualified and skilled human resources for the IT/BPO industry is the predicted global shortage of technically qualified people in emerging trends such as IOT, Data Analytics, Data Science etc.
1.
Introduction
to skills and Employment
Sri Lanka has achieved great success in access to education with 74% of students completing primary schools, well above the regional average of 34%. However, the country has consistently failed to capitalize on this achievement beyond the level of secondary education mainly due to lack of opportunities within the country’s educational system, in the state sector and lack of financial power in the private sector.
The ICT sector has shown a consistent growth over the last two decades. The growth of the industry has also created a considerable man power base, taking the country to the top of several global indexes. It is estimated that around 80,000 persons are employed in the industry that generates around US$ 800 million. However, the next phase of the industry’s development plans envisage raising the revenues from the IT/BPO products and services to US$ 5 billion within the next 5 years. An optimistic estimate of the man-power requirements for this development puts the requirements at around 25,000 qualified persons per year conserving the total man-power requirements of IT industry at around 200,000 persons by 2022 to generate US$ 5 billion revenue, whereas today the man-power base stands at around 80,000 persons generating US$ 800 million. .
This man-power requirement poses a major challenge to the government and the private sector involved in post-secondary education. Currently, the country produces around 7,500 graduates and around 2,500 persons with other qualifications related to IT/BPO sector. It is not viable to imagine increasing this number 2.5 times without a major investments and far-thinking planning. The planning requires the policy makers to address the gaps between the man-power supply and demand in terms of quantity as well as the quality.
2.
Future
trend for Demand and supply of skills
A
sufficient number of IT qualified personnel will be important for several
reasons:
(a)
to
sustain the growth of the IT industry to a multibillion dollar revenue stream
and a job creation strategy
(b)
to
equip the positions that will be created in achieving the government’s strategy
of “Digitizing the Sri Lankan Economy” with suitably qualified and skilled
personnel
(c)
to
support the creation of new industries generating wealth in the nation
(d) to support the government plans to make Sri Lanka, a global “Knowledge hub”
Addressing the IT man-power needs of the country has to be seen from multiple angels. The demand for IT human resources will be affected by several factors.
First is the target growth plans of the IT industry. It is estimated that around 120,000 new personnel has to enter the IT industry within the next 5 years, if the country is to achieve US$ 5 billion revenue and 1000 startups.
Next is the predicted shortage skills in developed countries. Numerous global studies are pointing to an impending severe shortage of professionals with IT based skills For example, a report published by Mckensey states that by 2018, the United States alone could face a shortage of 140,000 to 190,000 people with deep analytical skills as well as 1.5 million managers and analysts with the know-how to use the analysis of big data to make effective decisions. Similar predictions exist for all major developed countries, for e.g. Canada requiring 182,000 people to fill several IT positions by 2019 and UK and Europe predicting a shortage of 850,000 qualified in IT. A demand of this nature from developed countries will inevitably entice some of our own talented to youth to seek greener pastures in these countries.
Continuously changing global technological landscape will have a major impact on the availability of suitably skilled human resources. For example, recent advanced in products and services based on Artificial Intelligence will require a base of professional with a deep knowledge in this niche area. There are many other evolving areas in the field of ICT that are similar in nature For example, robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Data Analytics, Data Science, Big Data are some of the most commonly heard terms in the industry.
3.
Key
areas and issues
In
order to identify the key skill gaps as perceived by the industry and the
academia, a series of stakeholders meetings were held with representatives from
different sectors the following key issues have been identified:
(i)
Lack
of work culture, work ethics and softs kills among the job seekers
(ii)
Shortage
of graduates and diploma holders with required attitudes and skills
(iii)
Inability
of the students to pursue graduate education due to financial problems
(iv)
Unavailability
of a program to attract O/L and A/L dropouts to the IT/BPO industry
(v) Absence of a concerted national program to build the skills to be in shortage within the next few years
The committee also identified the need to carry out a comprehensive survey to see an accurate picture of demand-supply skill gaps This is being planned and will be carried out soon.
4.
Recommendations
and conclusion
These issues cannot be successfully addressed by taking a simple approach of increasing the intake but keeping the same curricula for IT / Computer Science programs. The country as a whole requires a policy framework that encourages and fosters a flexible education system that is able to adjust and adopt to the latest trends so the required man-power is produced at the time of need. As outlined in the WEF report, we should seriously consider that while formulating strategies for “reskilling” and “upskilling” the work force, we should also look at “right skilling” our future workforce in line with the country’s economic and digital strategies.
The
following are the key recommendations stemming out of several stakeholder
meeting discussions.
1.
Provide
government support for internship programs. Internship program provide
on-the-job training that improves the job-readiness of students while they are
following their studied. Internships enable graduates to possess the required
work-related skills that are vital to
make the readily employable. A good internship program would cut down the amount
of on-the-job training an employer has to provide after recruiting a passed out
graduate. Currently, internships are implemented by several universities, but
the number admitted to these internship
programs are limited.
Companies find that providing internships is a costly affair with very little immediate benefit. One an intern is admitted, he/she needs to be provided with space, an allowance, other benefits and more importantly valuable time from senior staff members who mentor these interns. However, if the government can subsidize a part of the cost of providing internships, then companies can be encouraged to take more students, turning them into more employable graduates in the long run. This should be implemented through Industry-educator partnerships and they will strengthen the the matching of skills with jobs.
2. Formulate a comprehensive graduate conversion program whereby graduates from other streams of study. Through the program such graduates will be put through a short-term intensive training programme to “reskill” them in required skills in IT/BPO industry. In addition, they will also acquire other work-place related skills such as work ethics, work culture, communication, team work and leadership during the program. A government backed loan scheme from banks should be used to recover the operational costs of the program. The loan can be recovered once a person passes out and is recruited to a company.
3. A program to attract youth at a younger age to IT based disciplines and careers before they can be influenced by peers, parents and teachers to ditch science and technology based courses in favor of other streams. A strategy is also needed to capture those who drop out of the school system after the O/Ls and A/L.
This initiative will require coordination among several government organizations as well as the private sector and IT related industry associations. This initiative will also support the Hon. Prime Minister and the Education Minister’s vision to provide 13 years of schooling to all students. Those dropping out should be encouraged and supported to follow a specialized ICT based technical and vocational study programs.
4.
Create and/or enhance a mechanism to update
the data required to forecast the skill supply demand information with
sufficient advance time. This is of paramount importance as the supply side,
i.e. universities and other training organizations, require at least a 2-3 year
lead time to produce a professional with a new skill set. It is important that policy makers set a
“think tank” that consist of industry leaders, academics and other technologists
to identify “round-the-bend” technologies that would have a global impact and
identify the man-power needs. The committee should assist in design and
delivery of responsive and diversified programs based on their findings. This
information can be fed to the educational institutes to take proactive action in a timely manner,
preparing the future man-power needs of the industry.
While these key recommendations will form the foundation for a comprehensive human-resource development plan for the IT/BPO industry, further discussions are needed to strengthen it. Further conducting an industry survey is essential to correctly identify the demand-supply skills gaps and forecast such gaps for the next 4 years.
References:
·
http://www.itworldcanada.com/article/canada-needs-182000-people-to-fill-these-it-positions-by-2019/287535#ixzz4EjTLBCiM
·
http://fortune.com/2014/05/13/americas-tech-talent-shortage-is-it-just-myth/
·
http://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/dotcom/Insights%20and%20pubs/MGI/Research/Technology%20and%20Innovation/Big%20Data/MGI_big_data_full_report.ashx
·
Report on Findings & Recommendations on
Increasing the Allocation for Education to 6% of the GDP, Prepared By the
Committee Appointed By Secretary, Ministry of Policy Planning, Economic
Affairs, Child, Youth and Cultural Affairs
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