Virtual world environments such as Second Life have immense potential, providing a shared and interactive space where groups of people can meet and work together in real time, regardless of their physical location.

The graphical interface and three-dimensional platform of virtual environments allows people to interact easily and cost-effectively in a form that might be expensive or even risky in the real world. Almost anything is possible, provided you have the funds, imagination and the technical expertise.

So it comes as no surprise that the business and leisure sectors are making increasing use of virtual worlds. For example, organisations from global technology firms to hotels have set up islands on Second Life to facilitate collaborative product development, problem solving, recruitment, training and customer feedback.

Virtual worlds also have the potential to enhance and enrich education. Such technologies can bring learning to life in a way that is not readily matched by other digital media.

For example, virtual environments can offer students a vibrant, fully immersive location where they can meet each other and their teachers to receive lessons, undertake projects and present work. Second Life and similar platforms also provide a format for students to talk to people they would rarely have the chance to encounter in person, such as senior business leaders.

Virtual worlds provide an inclusive and accessible environment for work-related learning, enabling students to work on genuine business problems under the guidance of an industry supervisor. The platform is ideally suited to simulation-based learning, something particularly relevant to science and technology-based subjects such as IT.

Simulation-based learning allows students to experiment, model and test new systems without having to worry about potential faults. Virtual worlds also engage young people and reflect how such individuals now communicate with each other.

New graduates have grown up with technology and social computing sites such as YouTube and Facebook, and the Web 2.0 phenomenon of user-generated content is helping to transform how people maintain social networks and share information.

Sector skills council e-Skills UK’s latest research into future trends in IT has revealed that the “digital native” generation responds best to a flexible and collaborative approach to education ­ something virtual worlds are well-placed to support.

In many ways virtual world environments are still in their infancy. The real potential, benefits and limitations of use are still emerging and there remains a number of obstacles in terms of use in education.

For example, users appear in Second Life in the guise of a virtual avatar identified by a pseudonym. These rules can make it difficult for teachers and lecturers to get to know individuals and their educational needs, particularly if the virtual world environment is not complemented by traditional face-to-face learning.

It can take time for organisations and individual users to get to grips with the technology, and costs can rise steeply if you choose to buy and develop your own island. However, such issues will be resolved over time.

As the sector skills council for IT and telecoms, e-Skills UK is committed to making the most of new technologies to enhance our activities and add value for our customers and stakeholders.

We were fortunate in being able to use IBM’s Second Life facilities to run our special event for employers and university students ­ – see 'Uniting employers and students through virtual worlds' below.

The event provided a glimpse into the potential of virtual world environ ments. And in 2008 we will be running a virtual careers fair as part of the new Revitalise IT programme, which is a major initiative to transform the attitudes of young people to IT-related education and careers.

The fair will bring school and college students together with employers and universities running technology-based courses. We will also be back with more IT Management for Business (ITMB) events on Second Life.

The UK needs IT professionals who can add clear value to organisations, whose skills are easy to identify, and whose development will enable them to continue to succeed in the competitive global market.

This requires a consistent approach to IT professional capability and development ­ presented in clear, simple language and applicable to businesses of all sizes, across all sectors.

In 2006 IT sector skills council e-Skills UK set out to develop that approach. With the support of more than 200 employers, including BT, Computacenter, EDS, IBM, Microsoft, NHS, UBS and the government, as well as our Professionalism in IT Alliance partners BCS, Intellect and NCC, we established e-Skills Procom -­ the IT Professional Competency Model. Procom is a high-level framework for qualifications that builds on existing skills and development programmes to ensure an industry-wide approach.

Two key themes emerged early in the discussions: IT professionals want recognised career paths with progression routes and structured development programmes; and employers want evidence and external recognition of what a person can actually do.

Through employer workshops and one-to-one discussions, we explored how these themes could best be addressed through Procom. Employers agreed that to truly add value, Procom needed to be high-level, simple and flexible; able to support the wide range of backgrounds and flexibility of roles that exist in IT.

It had to unite successful existing programmes for skills development and job specifications, such as SFIA (Skills Framework for the Information Age), the BCS Chartered Professional Programme and the National Occupational Standards for IT ­ the building blocks of all IT-related qualifications. And it had to provide a firm foundation for new professional development programmes designed to meet the ever-changing skills needs of our rapidly evolving industry.

Seven broad areas of work were defined. These were complemented by vertical levels of progression, with professionals at the same stage of progression sharing a comparable depth of knowledge, understanding and skills. The third element of the model addressed the increasingly important area of transferable and leadership skills, including the business, project management and interpersonal skills required by all IT professionals regardless of their disciplines or role. Leadership skills naturally become increasingly important at higher levels of progression.

As an overarching framework, Procom will be at the heart of qualifications reform for IT, helping to ensure that development programmes, qualifications and learning provide the UK’s IT professionals with the world class skills they need in today’s global economy. This will enable an external recognition of competence that employers can use to support recruitment, professional development, staff morale and retention. We are at the start of an exciting journey.

The UK economy depends on the vitality of the IT professional workforce. Yet fewer and fewer young people are studying technology or choosing a career in IT. We must take action urgently to turn this tide.

In today’s global, knowledge-driven economy, technology has become critical to competitive advantage and business success in every sector. A recent European Commission report tells us that technology is now driving 50 per cent of the EU’s growth (i2010 - Annual Information Society Report 2007, 30 March 2007, European Commission).  In the UK, the IT industry is growing at five to eight times the national average and around 150,000 entrants to the IT workforce are required each year

However, every year fewer young people choose to study technology-related subjects at school and university, and every year fewer of these technology graduates choose to embark on a career in IT. 

Between 2001 and 2006 there was a drop of 43 per cent in the number of students taking A-levels in computing (from 10,913 in 2001 to 6,233 in 2006). The uptake of IT-related degrees almost halved between 2001 and 2005 (from 27,000 in 2001 to 14,700 in 2005); with a mere 15 per cent of applications coming from women. Of the UK’s IT graduates, only around three in 10 choose to enter IT occupations upon graduation. 

There is a mismatch with the needs of the economy that urgently needs to be addressed.

To begin with, we need to consider what appears to be driving these downward trends.  There is a growing chasm between technology-related education at school and university and what employers actually need.  At school level, most IT courses focus on IT user skills, with little of relevance to today’s IT careers.  We need courses that bring out the excitement and relevance of IT to modern-day lives and that transform the attitudes of young people, particularly women, towards careers in IT.

Furthermore, at university level, many IT courses focus on computer science, often with little business content. There is an urgent need for more university-level courses to combine IT and business, with creative and stimulating programmes of study that enable students to develop the full range of skills required for a modern career in IT. 

Taking action works.  The Information Technology Management for Business (ITMB) degrees, developed by e-skills UK through a new partnership between employers and higher education, will be running at 13 UK universities by the end of this year.  These innovative degrees give equal weighting to technical, business, project management and personal skills – a mix seen by employers as providing the best foundation for a successful career in IT. Application numbers are high, and include an encouraging number of young women. In addition, increasing numbers of employers want to be closely involved with the degrees through lectures, projects and work placements.

This is just one example. We would like to encourage many more employers and universities will collaborate to reform IT degrees into challenging business-oriented, people-focused courses that attract the most capable candidates and prepare them well for an exciting modern career in IT.

In May this year, e-skills UK, together with the British Computer Society, Intellect and the NCC formed the Professionalism in IT alliance: Prof IT.

The Professionalism in IT initiative is about building an IT profession that is valued and respected by all.

As part of this initiative we are establishing a common language for skills that will support ongoing professional development and make it easier for companies to recognise what people can do.

In the first phase of this work we have been talking to a wide range of employers about the skills and knowledge they would like to see in their IT professionals.

Why is it so important to get the skill set right?

Globalisation has resulted in the emergence of global markets, global competition and – for many developed countries, including the UK – the offshoring of many traditional, entry-level IT roles. These roles have generally provided new entrants to the IT profession with the technical and business experience they need to progress to higher levels.

To help address the challenge of this disappearing skills ladder, we are looking to establish a fast-track ‘critical skills’ programme for new recruits into the sector - to accelerate development in the period between entry and 10 years into the profession.

This is being developed in the context of an overall skills model for IT professionals that will encompass job specific technical skills; core ‘non-technical’ skills (such as problem solving, teamwork and communications skills); and strategic skills such as business change management and leadership.

From this skills base we will develop skills profiles for specific roles – such as project manager, for example – that include not just relevant professional qualifications (PMI certification in the case of a project manager), but also the communication, financial, facilitation skills etc. a project manager requires to perform effectively.

We welcome comments and contributions from employers: what are the key skills for IT professionals, particularly with regards to non-technical skills?  What kind of challenges, if any, do you face when it comes to recruiting or developing these skills in your staff? Get in touch and let us know!