KEY POINTS:
New Zealand will be shunted from the developing world if it does not start churning out more qualified computer technicians.
Those in the business of recruiting information technology staff for Kiwi businesses say there are far more jobs than candidates to fill them.
Ajit Narayanan, professor and head of school of computing and mathematical sciences at AUT University, says if tertiary institutions do not start attracting more students to the field the country will find itself in a "skills shortage crisis".
Narayanan says the computer sector is deeply concerned that the Government's digital strategy is projecting that ICT will make up 10 per cent of the country's gross domestic product by 2012.
"It's at about 5 or 6 per cent, so what the Government is talking about is doubling the contribution to the economy from the ICT sector."
Such a sharp increase requires a workforce of 50,000 to 60,000 and there are only 20,000 to 25,000 ICT employees in New Zealand, Narayanan says.
"At the moment the total university sector is only producing about 15,000 graduates a year in ICT, and if we need about 25,000 graduates for the target for 2012, there is an immense shortfall of suitably qualified graduates going into jobs," he says.
If New Zealand does not have the manpower to reach the ICT target, it will be left behind the developing world and will "haemorrhage its qualified students to other countries", Narayanan says.
"The risk is not being a member of the developed world anymore but perhaps reverting back to being a developing nation rather than a developed nation."
Paul Leacock, managing director of Candle ICT Talent Specialists, says local businesses are sourcing highly specialised staff from overseas.
He says it is not a new phenomenon for demand to outweigh supply in ICT, and competition is only going to increase as the world becomes increasingly dependent on technology.
"It's getting harder and harder to attract the right people," he says.
Leacock says New Zealand needs to work on promoting its innovative IT industry globally in order to lure top IT specialists.
"We've got businesses here doing world class things, but we don't seem to be very good at profiling them," he says.
Rozanne Corrick, director of Newmarket-based software company Reveal, says she struggles to find local IT staff.
While she says universities are doing a good job, the unique skills Reveal seeks makes it hard to attract people.
"I haven't seen any resumes from New Zealand universities from people we could hire because they have not had the sort of specialist educational training that we require, bearing in mind we are niche. We are looking for a very specific thing.
"We literally have to spend three to six months bringing our technical people up to speed with our technology."
The small company has not yet tried to bring in talent from overseas but will look into the option over the next six months.
Narayanan says heads of computing departments from eight universities will work with the Government to address the shortage over the next few years.
"The only other solution is to go abroad and to have massive immigration in IT qualified staff," he says.
"But then we have to make New Zealand an attractive place for those highly qualified staff to come to.
"Again, we are not seeing much movement in that either."
He says universities are trying to make computing a "sexy" subject to get into - that it's about problem solving, ethical issues, social issues, forensics, science, drug design and medical diagnoses.
