Open University Looks To Close IT Skills Gap In UK

The Open University has launched new undergraduate degrees in IT and Computing to help close the UK skills gap.

The two new undergraduate Computing and IT degrees have been developed with e-skills UK and industry representatives, and are really designed to help the UK overcome a recruitment crisis which sees companies struggling to fill an estimated 110,000 new IT jobs created this year.

The two degrees, namely a BSc (Honours) Computing and IT, and the BSc (Honours) Computing and IT coupled with a second subject (such as a business degree) are said to incorporate work-based learning and offer credit for prior work experience. This has been done to ensure they are fully compatible with current industry needs.

Industry Input

“We worked closely with e-skills UK, which is the Sector Skills Council for Business and Information Technology, representing employers views,” Kevin Streater, the OU’s Executive Director of IT and Telecoms told eWEEK Europe UK. “Those employers were saying that there was a lot missing from current Computing and IT degrees.”

“The e-skills research showed that employers want people who offer them real usable skills,” said Streater. “They want graduates who are client ready and who know how things run. The problem is that nobody is really teaching this in computing degrees at the moment, as current IT and Computing degrees tend to be very academic focused, and not actually giving people the skills they can use from day one. This is why we have revised our curriculum.”

Streater said that the revised Open University undergraduate degrees offer two options, namely the usual computing degree, but also the second option allows for a second subject to be added, such as a business degree or vendor certification or workplace skills. “The end result is that graduates will be very employable,” said Streater.

Skills Delivery

Streater said that the shortest time frame that an OU degree can be completed is 2 and half years, although the average is four years, but can take as long as seven years. It really depends on how much time the person can put into the degree, as the OU course is designed to accommodate the individual needs of students at various stages in their working life, and employers of all sizes from all sectors.

“We deliver individual modules in six and nine month blocks, so that people doing degrees today can start picking up these revised modules now, which means that it will be next year when these new skills will be delivered,” said Streater.

So why has it taken so long for academia to realise the needs of employers?

“You have to help the faculty understand why these skills are needed,” said Streater. “The OU knew it needed to change, but needed additional input from outside. It does take external input to help academia understand what is needed today.”

Other Initiatives

Streater said that one key course, dubbed “my digital life” is about where technology is going in the future, “We are trying to reinvent that excitement about technology, and giving them technology they can work with,” said Streater.

Meanwhile other initiatives are also trying to fill the IT skills gap in the UK. These  include the Cyber Security Challenge, which is now in its second year of operation, and in March CA Technologies announced that the creation of its Mainframe Academy to combat the mainframe skills shortage.

This is not the first time the Open University has sought to inject real life skills into academia. In February the OU licensed the International Data Group (IDG) CIO Executive Council’s Pathways competency framework to give potential IT managers a route from IT staff to board level.