Commerce Secretary Evans Releases Major Report Examining Information
Technology Education and Training Landscape in 21st Century
Commerce
Secretary Don Evans today released “Education and Training
for the Information Technology Workforce: Report to Congress from
the Secretary of Commerce,” which was mandated by the American
Competitiveness in the 21st Century Act of 2000.
The
225-page report provides an extensive exploration of employer demand
for information technology (IT) workers, the IT education and training
landscape, and the role of employers and workers in IT education
and training. The report’s executive summary contains dozens
of specific findings and five broad findings:
--
The IT education and training infrastructure has grown significantly
in size and scope over the past decade. Today, there is a vast array
of IT education and training opportunities, with different types
of programs and curricula serving different purposes.
-- Jobs in the IT field are varied, complex, and specialized, as
are the knowledge, skills, and experience required to perform them.
-- Employers seek workers who possess a specific combination of
technical skills and experience, often coupled with a college degree,
soft skills, and business or industry knowledge. Typically, employers
prefer job candidates with the exact skill set who require no additional
training.
-- There is no single path to prepare a worker for a professional
IT job.
-- The training landscape is complex, rapidly evolving and therefore
challenging to navigate.
“While
the education and training landscape is rich with consumer choice,
it is also complex. In this report, we lay out the landscape, with
the hope that policymakers in government, education, and business
will find this information useful as they develop education and
training policies and programs designed to ensure a world-class
IT workforce for the United States,” said Secretary Evans.
“We also hope that the information will help make choices
clearer for IT workers seeking skills and managing their careers,
and for employers seeking training for their workforce.”
The
report was prepared following an extensive review to identify and
analyze the education and training programs through which Americans
prepare for IT jobs and maintain the skills needed in an ever-changing
digital technology environment. The Commerce Department’s
Technology Administration conducted a broad outreach effort to solicit
the perspectives of employers, IT workers and education and training
providers.
In particular, the Commerce Department’s Technology Administration
conducted eight roundtables across the country; provided a Web-based
qualitative survey mechanism through which representatives of each
stakeholder group were able to provide their perspectives on a variety
of IT education and training-related questions; and met with a variety
of employer, education and training provider, and worker representatives.
Six of the roundtables convened employer representatives and education
and training providers, and two convened IT workers, gathering insights
from a total of 145 individuals. The Web-based survey attracted
nearly 300 respondents, of which more than two-thirds were from
IT workers. Responses to the survey may be reviewed at www.technology.gov/ittraining.
The
report is available for download on the Web site of the Commerce
Department’s Technology Administration,
www.technology.gov/reports.