Shortage of IT grads hurts industry

DANIEL McCABE | Hey buddy! Can you spare an electrical engineer? How about a computer scientist or two?

That pretty much sums up the position of the province's leading information technology companies. These firms are poised to expand, but they're having problems finding the IT specialists they need to do the work.

A recently released report, The Supply of Information Technology Professionals: A Challenge for Quebec's Economic Future, indicates that while IT companies have grown by about 20 per cent in recent years, the supply of Quebec graduates in computer science, computer engineering and electrical engineering hasn't kept pace. The number of Quebec-trained graduates with the skills these companies need has only increased by about three per cent during the same period.

The report was prepared by Montreal TechnoVision, a nonprofit group made up of representatives from some of Quebec's leading companies, including Bell Canada, Nortel, Spar Aerospace and Biochem Pharma, and other major technological players in the province, including McGill, Université de Montréal and the National Research Council.

According to the report, the placement rate for university graduates with IT skills is close to 100 per cent. Companies are running out of Quebec graduates to hire and are increasingly recruiting employees from outside the province to meet their needs.

More troublesome, says the report, is the fact that "an increasing number of companies either move some of their activities outside of Quebec or limit their plans for expansion" because of the shortage of qualified staff.

The report suggests establishing a multi-million-dollar fund to enable universities and CEGEPs to "double the production of IT graduates over the next five or six years."

TechnoVision realizes this won't be easy.

"Because of the salary discrepancy with the private sector and the competition from other universities, most notably from Ontario, Quebec's institutions are facing growing problems, not only in recruiting new professors, but also in keeping those already hired."

The report proposes possible solutions to the professor shortage -- universities and companies could work together to create endowed chairs and joint research and compensation programs. A greater number of IT professionals on secondments from industry could help to teach courses at the universities.

As for students, the report calls for programs aimed at encouraging more women to pursue their studies in IT programs. More students should be studying natural sciences and technical training at the CEGEP level and the drop-out rate in such programs, judged to be too high by TechnoVision, must be addressed.

The report contained few surprises for Dean of Engineering John Dealy.

He knows full well that companies are clamouring for more graduates with the kinds of skills the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering provides to its students. But instead of growing, the department has had to cut student enrolment in recent years.

Why? Not enough professors, for one thing. With highly skilled IT professionals in such demand, the department has been losing professors to higher-paying jobs in industry and other universities faster than it can hire new faculty.

"The competition for staff is so intense and the salaries we're able to offer are totally inadequate. Even with money [for higher salaries], it would be a big fight. Without the money, we're not even in the game. We've lost 13 people in the last five years," says Dealy.

"The University has tried gamely to protect us from budget cuts. But that hasn't even allowed us to hold our ground. Three of our technicians have been hired away all at once."

While Dealy welcomes TechnoVision's report, he doesn't think the IT industry has done much to help the universities out. "The noise hasn't translated into anything concrete.

"We've had industry people volunteer to teach courses for us, but even there, we have a lot of volunteers for a very few areas. That still leaves us with other areas we urgently need to find people for.

"We've greatly expanded our course offerings in the summer in order to squeeze as much as we can out of our faculty and facilities, but that can only take you so far."

Dealy says the problem isn't all about manpower, either. "We have to invest in lab equipment if we're going to offer a proper education. Undergraduates coming into the University for the first time spot our equipment and recognize it as obsolete."

The School of Computer Science has had an easier time of it, says Professor Denis Therien, the school's director. "We recently had three openings and we hired three outstanding faculty members.

"We don't have problems hiring. We have an excellent academic reputation, for one thing. Also, when people come here for an interview, they see that this is a friendly place."

Therien says his school has already dramatically expanded its student body -- it can't stretch any further. "In 1991, we had fewer than 200 FTEs (full-time equivalent students). Last year, we had 350 FTEs.

"I don't think we can go any higher than that if we want to maintain the same quality of students."

In addition, Therien says he doesn't have enough professors to properly cope with the students he has now. "We have 17 professors and I submitted a request to the dean stating that we should expand to 25 professors within the next five years.

"In our 500-level courses, there are 175 students. You can teach a 200-level course with a zillion students in it, but it's very difficult at the 500 level."

Therien notes that the Ontario government has taken action to assist its IT industries, funnelling millions of dollars to the province's universities to enable them to greatly expand their computer science, electrical engineering and computer engineering programs.

"Most of the Ontario universities are recruiting like crazy. It's obvious that the Quebec government has to make some kind of move."

Therien says universities, industry and the government need to sit down together and do some planning. He hopes the government doesn't act recklessly.

"If we were told tomorrow to hire 10 new professors all at once, I would have reservations. Where will we find them? There are only so many good people out there. I don't want to see our quality go down. There are only so many good students out there, too.

"I would say McGill probably has the best computer science students in the province. It's possible that a lot of the jobs that need to be filled don't require the sophisticated training we offer our students.

"Maybe we could offer two kinds of computer science degrees. The one we currently offer, and one that wouldn't be of the same calibre, but would be sufficient for industry's needs. We could offer that degree to many more students."

Dealy says action needs to be taken, but agrees that the action should be well thought out. "Industry people tend to think short-term and a quick shot in the arm isn't enough for us. When we hire a professor, we're making a long-term commitment. We need enough money to pay that person over the long haul, or they won't agree to come here.

"Even if we do receive the sort of assistance that would really make a difference, people can't expect instant results." According to Dealy, McGill would need strong base budget support for at least a ten-year period to properly meet the demands of industry for more graduates with IT skills.