EMC urging students to choose ICT college courses

EMC, which has a stand at the exhibition, emphasised the expansion of the ICT industry and Ireland’s potential to be a key player in the sector.

“As students weigh their CAO applications over the next couple of weeks, we would strongly urge them to choose ICT courses because, over the coming decade, the global technology sector will expand dramatically and we need skilled Irish graduates in place to take up new, well-paid jobs in growth areas,” said Jason Ward, EMC’s country manager.

“Increasingly, the global ICT sector will need new recruits, such as cloud architects and data scientists who can create cost-effective and efficient virtual platforms that replace traditional IT infrastructure and, at the same time, make sense of the huge volume of information generated by citizens, businesses and public-sector organisations.

“We are moving into the information economy where jobs can be created, risks avoided and lives improved by exciting developments in global ICT - and Ireland can lead this revolution if we apply ourselves now to capturing the advanced skills tomorrow’s graduates will need,” said Ward.

The message comes after an IDA survey revealed that 47pc of all foreign direct investment jobs created in 2011 require ICT, science and technology skills. A recent IrishJobs.ie survey also showed that while the total number of jobs advertised online decreased towards the end of 2011, the demand for ICT employees increased.

“Our colleges offer a wide range of courses that match graduates with ICT industry needs so that we can capture our share of the global jobs market over the coming years,” said Ward.

“Ireland already hosts nine of the top 10 global ICT companies in the world, including EMC, and the sector accounts for one-third of our exports.

“We must ensure, however, that we encourage our students to opt for courses in science, technology, engineering and maths so that we can advance our pre-eminence in the global ICT sector and create the kind of high-quality jobs that will last and hasten our economic recovery," said Ward.