Dr. Brendan Murphy:

I wish to thank the Chairman and other members of the joint committee for the invitation to participate in today's discussion. With me today is Mr. Denis Cummins, president of Dundalk Institute of Technology.

At the outset, we compliment the joint committee, and particularly Senator Clune, for its work in reviewing the information and communication technology skills demand. I intend to keep our opening remarks quite short and would point out that the institutes of technology have a stronger presence in STEM subjects - that is science, technology, engineering and maths - than in languages and food production which are mentioned in the committee's invitation.

When IOTI met with the committee around this time last year, we gave a comprehensive overview of the work we were undertaking to try better to match skills supply with skills demand. As a member of the Forfás expert group on future skills needs, I am also conscious of the significant contribution of the work of that group to this important debate.

Whilst today's discussion will understandably focus on ICT skills gaps and how best to address them, we should not lose sight of the positives. The fact is that, today, the ICT industry in Ireland employs over 90,000 people and the top ten technology companies in the world have a base here. Those companies say they are not here just for the favourable corporation tax rate or EU market access. Collectively, Ireland is doing quite a lot right but we should always be conscious that we can and must continually improve.

I will cite an example of some of the improvements that have been made since we last met the committee, involving my own institution, Cork Institute of Technology. In 2011, CIT initiated the first masters degree in cloud computing in the world and we have just produced our first 65 graduates in that discipline. The success of this programme has meant that it is oversubscribed both nationally and internationally. When I say internationally, we have had students from Russia, India, America and China. Not only is the programme's subject matter cloud computing, but it is also delivered by the cloud even to the stage where the labs are virtualised.

Critically important, however, is the fact that the programme was developed and continues to evolve in collaboration with the EMC corporate centres of excellence worldwide, so that it remains a high quality, relevant and state-of-the-art programme. The lecturers are drawn not only from academia in Ireland and abroad but also from the industry. The students are attracted by the fact that a state-of-the-art programme is being delivered here.

Similarly, in response to the twin issues of a shortage of graduates in IT with language skills, Dundalk lnstitute of Technology has developed an honours degree programme to produce software professionals who have a high level of proficiency in French.

The committee's ICT report highlights many of the issues which the institutes of technology encounter on a daily basis. We agree with the conclusion in the committee's report that it is crucial to bring a greater understanding of ICT, and in particular ICT as a career choice, to the second-level classroom and curriculum. For a long time now, we have been cognisant of this vital link and the institutes have many initiatives in this area. Perhaps the most notable of these initiatives right now is the CoderDojo movement, which is supported and hosted by institutes of technology around the country. While these initiatives are important, they are no replacement for the integration of ICT, and computer programming in particular, into the formal curriculum. The IOTI would support and facilitate any such initiative.

We also believe that there is a constant need to devote attention and resources to the continued professional development of teachers in the use of ICT in teaching many subjects. In referring to continued professional development we are not talking about the development of content. There is plenty of content. We are talking about the delivery by teachers to students, not just a once-off course but continuing professional development.

ICT is a broad field and careers in ICT are many and varied. They range from multi-media and design through to support and administration, management and strategy, and software engineering to name just a few. It would be misleading to give the impression that a very high level of mathematical competence is a prerequisite for all, or even most, ICT careers. However, there are fundamental building blocks of knowledge which are common to the fields of mathematics and ICT, including problem synthesis and problem solving. This is why IOTI broadly supports the direction being taken by the project maths initiative, which primarily focuses on developing the students' skillsets in these fundamental areas.

As well as improving ICT literacy, the institutes believe it is important that second-level students are given a sense of what a career in ICT could entail. To this end, we have sponsored and brokered enterprise-to-school relationships allowing second-level students to tour ICT facilities and bringing ICT professionals - very often our graduates - into schools to speak to students.

A related area of activity concerns the many ICT entrepreneurship and innovation competitions run by institutes of technology for second-level schools and students. These serve the twin purpose of improving ICT skills as well as giving the student a sense of what it would be like to be an ICT professional.

Turning to the recruitment of school-leavers into third-level ICT courses, the figures still remain relatively low in comparison with the high water mark of the mid to late 1990s. In the last five years, however, we have seen a 40% increase in the numbers undertaking studies in ICT-related programmes. Past experience has also shown us that this increase will result in a more engaged and committed cohort of students, and this will ultimately lead to improved retention and completion rates.

As well as the standard cohort of school leavers, all the institutes have been active in providing accessible and flexible programme delivery to encourage a broad range of non-standard students to pursue information and communication technology, ICT, programmes. The committee earlier heard about the Springboard programme run by the Higher Education Authority. One useful and productive initiative is the ICT skills level 8 conversion programme which commenced this year and is in the middle of its first cycle. This programme provides the opportunity for professionals and graduates who already have a level 8 degree in a discipline other than ICT to improve their skills by providing them with a level 8 qualification in ICT. Nationwide, there are more than 700 students enrolled in these programmes and there is significant unmet demand from prospective students for additional places and courses.

In general, these students are above average in their commitment and motivation, leading to positive outcomes in programme completion and employability after graduation. These conversion programmes were built with the ICT industry, which also provided many internships. Many of these internships are now turning into permanent jobs. It has been a success for students coming off the live register, taking a course and securing employment at the end.

Another good example is the programme in Dundalk Institute of Technology which specialises in the area of health care computing. This programme was developed in consultation with the medical device industry. This industry is cognisant of the safety-critical nature of medical device software and the ongoing requirement for graduates who are well versed in highly effective software practices. We believe the proposed graduate skills conversion programme will be equally successful in providing similar reskilling opportunities to a different cohort of students. We encourage the roll-out of this initiative as soon as possible. Initiatives such as these have the highest potential for addressing skill shortages in the ICT industries in the short to medium term. We would encourage not only their continuation but their expansion.

We thank the committee for its work on the ICT skills issue and we are very happy to participate in today's discussion.