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However, data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from 2009/10 suggest that 14.7% of Computer Science graduates (as defined by HESA) are unemployed 6 months after completing their degree, the highest rate of unemployment among graduates of any subject, and significantly above the 9.1% average across all degrees30. Philip Hargrave, Chair of the ICT Knowledge Transfer Network has recently written to the Chief Executive of HESA to highlight the issue of overly-broad categorisation and to request that a more detailed analysis be undertaken. Further support for our decision to treat this information with suspicion can be found in a NESTA report which found that there are many university courses purporting to provide specialist training for the video games and visual effects industries, but that ‘a strengthened accreditation system for such courses would highlight their industry relevance’31. It should also be noted that large numbers of entry-level jobs have been lost through the demise of graduate training schemes and off-shoring of entry level jobs which means that industry is making higher demands of the skills from graduates they wish to employ. Finally, we observe that the measure of employability is based on an individual’s status six months after graduation, which is hardly a reflection of long-term value, particularly in a recession. There is potentially a powerful link between Computing and entrepreneurial activity. The two most successful recent start-ups in the Computing and business world – Facebook and Google – were led by people who had been writing software at university.
The Cabinet Office estimates that cyber attacks cost the UK economy £27 billion per year, and this figure is growing rapidly. There is currently a shortage of Computer Science experts who understand how to combat cyber-crime in both the UK and the US32. 3.1.3 Impact on the relevant sectors Figures from the ONS Labour Force Survey 2010 show that 1.5 million people are emplyed in the IT and Telecoms workforce – 598,000 in the IT industry itself, 264,000 in the Telecoms industry and 674,000 as IT and Telecoms professionals in other sectors33. NESTA reports that global sales relating to the UK video games industry alone in 2008 amounted to £2 billion34. More recently, a Council for Industry and Higher Education (CIHE) report claims that the creative35, digital and IT industries in the UK employ over 2.5 million people and contribute £102 billion in GVA, and that the worldwide IT industry is now worth $3 trillion36. It is often noted that there is a trend for IT jobs to be offshored to low cost economies. However, there are some data to suggest that at the same time more highly skilled jobs are created. For example, 70,000 computer programming jobs were offshored in the US between 1999 and 2003. Over the same period 115,000 more highly paid and highly skilled computer software engineering jobs were created in the US37. Offshoring lower skilled jobs has reduced costs, permitting companies to invest more in Research and Development, which has been focused in those countries with the most advanced education systems.
30 HESA 2011 Destinations of leavers from higher education. Cheltenham: HESA. 31 NESTA 2011 Next gen: transforming the UK into the world’s leading talent hub for the video games and visual effects industries. London: NESTA. (See www.nesta.org.uk/library/documents/NextGenv32.pdf) 32 Cabinet Office 2011 The cost of cyber crime. Guildford: Detica. 33 E-skills 2011 Technology insights 2011 UK. (See www.e-skills.com/gamesreport). 34 NESTA 2011 Next gen: transforming the UK into the world’s leading talent hub for the video games and visual effects industries. London: NESTA. 35 DCMS data shows that Software, Electronic Publishing and Digital & Entertainment media (Computer Games) remains the largest of the ‘creative’ industries contributing 44% of Creative industries GVA, 33% of total Creative employment and 45% of Creative businesses. 36 Council for Industry & Higher Education 2010 The Fuse. London: CIHE. (See www.cihe.co.uk/cihe-task-force-urges-far-reachingchanges-to-ensure-uk-is-a-leader-in-the-creative-digital-and-information-technology-industries) 37 Dash, S 2005 The economic implications of outsourcing. (See www.ssrn.com/abstract=779005). Shut down or restart? The way forward for computing in UK schools 27