Worrying shortage of ICT students

9 August 2007

BRUSSELS – A 25 percent drop in the number of information science students is expected in five years’ time, resulting in a pressing shortage of IT workers. Agoria, the federation for the technology industry, says that 14,000 job openings will go unfilled.

Fewer and fewer students are registering for degree programmes for information science, even though IT workers in Belgium are almost guaranteed a well-paying job. 443 students had enrolled in information science at the Catholic University in Leuven in 2003; last year that number had shrunk to 279. The University of Ghent reports a similar drop.

Interest in information science is also waning in adult education; there were 2,431 students registered in 2004, and only 2,136 last year.

Subject: Belgian news