Technological innovations are ushering in an intelligent world, one in which everything is smart, connected, and seamless. The opportunities are often accompanied by challenges, and this is true for the development of the ICT ecosystem as well. According to a recent report, there is a severe lacuna in the availability and skill set of ICT professionals in India. The number of skilled workers will need to increase nine times by 2025 to keep pace with the demand. A Gartner report revealed that IT executives view this shortage as a barrier to the adoption of 64% of emerging technologies, which further reinstates the need for urgent action to create a thriving ecosystem that supports ICT education, to meet the industry demand for talent.
Here are the five crucial steps that public and private sector agencies must take to bridge the ICT talent gap:
- Ramp up industry-academia partnerships for employability:
Higher education has always prioritized theoretical knowledge over the requirement for practical application. This increases the strain on graduates as well as employers, who must bear the burden of providing the necessary practical expertise. As a result, partnership between businesses and academics is mutually advantageous since it not only facilitates resource sharing but also guarantees that talent supply matches need and prepares students for real-world ICT difficulties. Even UNESCO applauds the collaboration of educational institutions with corporate partners, as well as the role that industrial titans have played in transforming digital technology into an effective tool for advancement.
- Ensure global competence and international exposure:
Global tech giants are taking a three-pronged approach to building a vibrant talent ecosystem in the ICT industry, combining education, on-job practice, and lifelong learning. Organizations also collaborate across continents to scale up their projects and leverage a greater resource pool. Providing students with exposure to cross-cultural learning will help them work better with diverse teams, and clients, and improve their employability. International competitions and exchange programs are some ways that this can be done.
- Improve access to highly skilled mentors:
Mentors act as role models and guides who can help students and young professionals navigate uncertain territories. They can even help individuals recognize their innate but latent abilities. While full-time educators are tasked with providing thorough technical and theoretical training to students, skilled mentors can help enormously by showing the path to a successful ICT career.
- Improve digital infrastructure for wider access:
Improving rural digital connectivity will help connect students and teachers to high-quality resources and provide better exposure to learning. This also opens avenues to improving the delivery of content, either through virtual gamification or simulations, that will help students immerse themselves in the content.
- Encourage a culture of innovation:
By developing curiosity at an early age, as well as the courage to seek solutions through experimentation and research, students will organically develop skills across multiple domains. At a macro level, policies should remain supportive of competition in the market, while encouraging the growth of startups and SMEs. Such reinforcement of a culture of innovation will help in developing not just individuals with ICT skills, but innovators in ICT, for generations to come.
To make this possible, at Huawei ICT Academy, the focus is primarily on 5G-centric and telecom technologies including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), big data, robotic process automation (RPA) and encourage students to get Certification and develop talents with practical skills for the industry and community.
(The author is Mr. Sarad Shrestha, Director – Sales, Huawei Technologies India and the views expressed in this article are his own)
