Respecto a la Tecnoloi:ía

Supply source of the ICT workforce is training organizations. Training organizations in Sri Lanka offer variety of courses on ICT that are leading to different levels of job qualifications. Since the first survey in 2004, the ICT Workforce Survey provided estimates of supply of graduates in the country with projections for forthcoming periods. The current Workforce Survey has estimated the supply of graduates for the period 2011-2013 and the projection for 2014.

5.1 Overall Supply of the ICT Graduates

According to the last workforce survey in 2009 the total number of graduates projected for 2010 was 5610. Estimates of the current survey indicate a gradual increase in this number to 6611 in 2013. This implies a 5.6 % CAGR. This total supply figure is inclusive of number of degrees, post graduate diplomas and masters qualified trainees.

Figure 5.1: Supply of graduates

5.2 Supply of the ICT Workforce by Levels of Qualification

Figure 5.2 shows the supply situation of graduates by respective qualification levels. According to that number of graduates supplied have increased rapidly from 2009-2012 and a slight slowdown in growth can be observed thereafter. This indicates an overall increase in the capacity of intake of students in the period concerned both in government universities and private degree awarding institutes. This has led to quick rise in supply of graduates from 3941 in 2009 to 5390 in 2012 and maintaining the level thereafter. Supply projection suggests a slight increase output of graduates in 2014.

3916 ₃₈₆₆ 4298 4925 5230 5610 5788 6075 6611 7010 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 To tal su p p ly

FINAL SURVEY REPORT 23

Figure 5.2: Supply of graduates by level of qualifications

5.3 Supply of Major Skills

Skills offered by training courses are highly important as they determine the quality of the workforce. Table 5.2 provides a profile of skills offered by training courses at different qualification levels. Listed in the table are skills identified by the highest percentage of respondents from training organizations under the categories of essential and complementary skills.

Table 5.1: Essential and complementary skills taught in different courses

Type of courses Top essential skills taught Top complementary skills taught Diploma courses Systems analysis

Programming

Hardware engineering & maintenance Database design & admin.

Internet & systems security

Visual Basic Team working Training Professional ethics MS Windows Advanced diploma courses Systems analysis Programming

Hardware engineering & maintenance Project management

SQL Server

Professional ethics SQL Server

Systems/applications testing Sales and marketing Visual Basic Degree courses Systems analysis

Programming Systems design

Database design & admin. Project management Java MySQL SQL Server PHP Visual Basic Post graduate diploma

courses

Systems analysis Programming Systems design Network design

Internet and systems security

Customer service

People and organizational change Training

Systems/application support Creative thinking skills Masters courses Systems analysis

Systems design Project management Creative thinking skills Programming MySQL Customer service Team Working Java C# 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Degrees 2210 2752 3200 3758 3941 4473 4786 5390 5477 5778

Post graduate diplomas 793 434 395 581 562 560 390 205 206 192

Masters 913 680 703 586 727 577 612 480 928 1040 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 Su p p ly

FINAL SURVEY REPORT 24 According to the table, essential skills offered by all types of courses come under the category of core skills. System analysis and programming have been identified as essential skills taught in all levels of courses. Project management has also been identified as an essential skill in all courses except in post graduate diplomas. From the degree level upwards, systems design is also included as an essential skill. Overall, closely similar profiles of essential skills are taught in all types of courses and they mainly cover core skills.

Some variation could be identified in the case of complementary skills taught in different courses. Except in post graduate diploma courses, they mainly cover soft and technical skills. This brings in some balance to the course profiles. However, coverage of complementary skills is dominated more by technical skills. Overall, coverage of soft skills is limited in all levels of courses. It needs to compare these skills taught in courses with skills demanded by employers. Section 6.2 presents a comparison of demand and supply of skills.

5.4 Strength and Quality of Training Staff

Another important aspect that determines the quality of the workforce is qualifications and experience of teaching staff in training organizations.

5.4.1 Qualifications of Staff

Figure 5.3 gives a profile of qualifications of training staffs. Fifty seven percent of the training staff positions are occupied by graduates or post graduate scholars. It indicates a slight improvement in the qualifications profile of training staffs from 54% in 2009. Significant number of (43%) diploma and higher diploma holders are also employed in the training organization staffs. Staff share of trainers with post graduate qualifications remains at the same level as of 2009 having higher share of PhDs.

Figure 5.3: Qualifications of training staff

5.4.2 Experience of staff

Experience profile of training staffs is as follows:

Instructors - 38%

Lecturers with 1-3 years’ experience – 17.4%

Lecturers with 4-7 years’ experience – 19.4%

Lecturers with over 8 years’ experience - 25%

Ph D 8% Masters 11% Degree 38% Adv. Diploma/Diploma 43%

FINAL SURVEY REPORT 25

Figure 5.4: Experience of training staff

It indicates a reasonably balanced profile of experience in training staffs. As far as qualification of respective experience categories are concerned, diploma and higher diploma holders occupy the majority of instructor positions. In case of lecturer positions, the highest share is occupied by degree holders in all experience categories. The share of post-graduate scholars increases with the number of years of experience.

5.4.3 Staff Engagement: full-time and part-time

Figure 5.5: Fulltime and part-time engagement of training staff

A significant proportion of staff positions are covered by part-timers. Positions covered by part-time trainers are relatively high in Lecturer positions, especially with middle level experience. Compared with the situation in 2009, the share of part-time staff has increased in Lecturer positions with 1-7 years’ experience categories. However, respective shares of part-timers are low among Instructors and Lecturers with over 8 years’ experience. There are only 6% part-time staff members in Instructor positions.

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Lecturers with over 8 years experince Lecturers with 4-7 years experince Lecturers with 1-3 years experience Instructors

Ph D Masters Degree Adv. Diploma/Diploma

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Lecturers with over 8 years experince Lecturers with 4-7 years experince Lecturers with 1-3 years experience Instructors 72 61 59 94 28 39 41 6

FINAL SURVEY REPORT 26