The Mid-Pacific ICT (MPICT) Center announced this week that it is conducting a study of California ICT* Workforce demand on behalf of a coalition of government, industry and education stakeholders.

James Jones, MPICT Executive Director, said: “There is currently a skills mismatch problem, in which a majority of employers report difficulties finding appropriately skilled ICT Workforce.  The survey is designed to help identify a set of employer-generated, clearly defined competencies expected of the future ICT Workforce that will be used to create better alignment across community college programs and employer needs.”

This work is important to the K-12 education community because many of the ICT courses taught in high schools have pathways which align with courses taught at community colleges.

California employers, who have direct knowledge of ICT Workforce competency needs, are invited to participate in an online survey at www.caictresearch.com. The survey takes about half an hour to complete and employers may opt to receive $50 reward.

Using the results of this study, MPICT will be engaging ICT educators in the spring on how to use these employer generated competencies to develop consistent foundational Student Learning Outcomes for ICT programs in California Community Colleges.

*Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an umbrella term, widely used outside the U.S. and in the U.N., to encompass all rapidly emerging, evolving and converging computer, software, networking, telecommunications, Internet, programming, information systems and digital media technologies.