Updating the IT skills gapJohn O’Sullivan April 28, 2016 Igor Bercu Chisinau, Moldova

Moldova ICT Summit 2016

DisclaimerThe author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessary reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

What’s it all about ?

• A fresh view of the (alleged) IT skills gap• Updating earlier studies• Baseline for further projects by USAID and others• Methodology: Research + Interviews + Surveys

• 197 companies• 211 students• 78 graduates

Economic and political dramas

• Banking, economic and political crises:

• GDP down by 2.5%• Inflation up from 5 to 13%• Interest rates up from 3.5 to 19.5%• Military action and unrest in Ukraine

• Six recent Governments• Impact on ICT is not clear

ICT sector in Moldova

• Hundreds of companies, growing at about 20 per year• Four large, > 250 people: Allied Testing, Cedacri, Endava, Global Phoning• Six medium, 50-250: Amdaris, Arax-Impex, DAAC, Neuron, Pentalog, Tacit• Four telecoms: Moldcell, Moldtelecom, Orange, Starnet• Accurate statistics are not easy to obtain

Services and Markets

• Full range of ICT services and sectors• Outsourcing dominates• Government and Agriculture/Food look low

Number of IT Jobs

• National Bureau of Statistics reports 10,340 for 2014

+ Under recording+ Freelancers+ IT people in other sectors, eg banking

• So total could be about 12,500• Highest paid sector in Moldova, double national average: 8,500 lei in January 2015

• High productivity: 1.8% of workforce; 1.5% of GDP• Very high exports

Occupations

• Programming dominates

• But lots of others too

Recruitment methods

• Advertising and personal recommendation are favourites

But good people are difficult to find

• Lack of skills is the key issue

Sources of new entrants

• UTM dominates• Lots of others

Platforms and languages needed

• Wide variety of everything• No dominant technology

Even more variety

Testing skills needed too

• All aspects of testing are required

Foreign language and personal skills needed

Some employer quotations

Struggling to maintain people.

Direct recruiting from universities has not been successful.

Main problem is quality of people.

Teaching staff are poor – teachers should be certified.

The skills gap is growing.

Graduates lack product skills.

Everything is the same – still disappointing.

Hours of practice must increase.

The problem is quality and organisation of practical work.

Students do not understand what a system is.

Typically six months to recruit.

72% of companies do not collaborate with education

But what do students think ?

Current university

Speciality

Why IT ?

Which is best for IT ? Why ?

Internship - How obtained ? How useful ?

Overall ratings

Continue your education ?

Young graduates

Overall satisfaction with education

Additional training needed

e-Guvernare

More additional training needed

And even more additional training needed

Career progression

Continuing your education

Overall career satisfaction

Why ?

So, is there still a skills gap ?

Some recent improvements

• Education Code• Curricula improvements• Labs updated• Many ICT start-ups• Government and political support• e-Government services• Law on IT parks• Communications infrastructure• Tekwill

But there is still a gap

• Industry is still complaining• So are the universities• It’s quality, not quantity

• Improve industry - university engagement• Further improvements to curricula

Industry - University engagement

• Participation on governing and management bodies

• Advice on curricula

• Provision of case studies, projects

• Guest and visiting lecturers

• Internships – for lecturers

• External examiners

• Provision of equipment, software, and educational materials

• Help with teacher training

Curricula improvements

• More practical work, less theoretical• OO programming, Java, C# and C++• Linux, Mobile, Database, Applications• Personal skills• Foreign languages, especially English

Agenda for Action 2012

Theme: Teaching facilities

A1 Resolve that every new computer installed from now on will have licensed software

ALL 0 Medium

A2 Introduce IT Lab management maintenance and budgeting process Schools and universities

1 Low

A3 Maintain hardware and software regularly, eg in semester breaks 1 Low

A4 Update IT Lab hardware in schools and universities over a five year program Schools and universities

2 - 5 High

A5 Update IT Lab software over three year program 2 - 3 High

A6 Set up outsourced IT lab maintenance service for schools at district level Ministry of Education 2 Medium

A7 Introduce CTO function at educational institutes Ministry of Education 2 Medium

A8 Develop and expand central resource of educational software Ministry of Education 3 High

A9 Create environment, furniture for group work Universities 2 Low

Theme: Curricula

B1 Develop and introduce formal annual curricula review process with industry Universities and ATIC 1 Low

B2 Collaborate with international university (Europe, US or Asia) Universities 2 Low

B3 Collaborate with additional international university Universities 3 Low

B4 Introduce one vendor education programme in universities Universities 1 Medium

Theme: Teachers and teaching methods

C1 Introduce performance management system with annual appraisal Ministry of Education 1 Low

C2 Establish improved salary system based on performance Ministry of Education 2 Medium

C3 Expand staff development schemes for in-service teacher training for ICT Ministry of Education 1 - 2 Medium

C4 Upgrade existing network of teacher education centres for ICT Ministry of Education 2 Low

C5 Internships for teachers in companies, say one semester every 5 years Universities, Colleges 2 Medium

C6 Visits to industry for school pupils Ministry of Ed, Industry 3 Low

C7 Careers information and guidance for universities Industry 2 Low

C8 Careers information and guidance for schools Ministry of Education 3 Medium

C9 Provide further training to teachers on action oriented teaching Universities 3 Medium

C10 Establish ICT teacher association ATIC ? 2 Low

C11 Academic exchanges, two way, twinning with foreign universities Universities 2 Low

Theme: Governance of Education

D1 Complete and adopt new Education Code Ministry of Education 1 Low

D2 Implement Education Code: Doctoral schools Ministry of Education 3 ?

D3 Implement Education Code: VET Ministry of Education 2 Medium

D4 Implement Education Code: University autonomy Ministry of Education 1 Low

D5 Set up Quality Assurance departments in each university Universities 1 Low

4. Governance of Education

1. Physical assets

3.Teaching2.

Curricula

Conclusion

• Good progress

• Still lots to do

• Keep up the good work

• Good luck