Yesterday's last session was a panel discussion on global academic trends. There was a short presentation done to show showed some interesting statistics about Malaysia - namely, that there was more than an adequate supply of ICT students graduating, yet many companies still could not find qualified professionals. At the same time, ICT enrollments were declining and those students who were signing up for the ICT courses were not necessarily the best-of-breed students. The panel then went on to discuss how each of them in their respective countries saw similar issues. One of the panelists mentioned something about raising the bar - for instance, he said, in a design school, if you're like me and can't draw, they wouldn't let you in. We don't have any such restrictions in the IT field. Quite true.
Over dinner, I continued this discussion with the Singapore faculty. It's an interesting problem that none of us really have the solution for. At Microsoft, we do run a number of programs to make IT "cool" (e.g. Imagine Cup, Microsoft Student Partners, etc.), but how can we really make a difference? And what is the right balance for academicians in teaching both fundamentals and industry-specific skill sets? A tough problem indeed to even begin to think about.
So where do we go from here? Clearly, we need to do more in terms of glamorizing IT - it could be as simple as creating student icons or showcasing really successful professionals. Does the Imagine Cup have a role to play? How can we reach more students with the Microsoft Student Partner Program? And how we get the best of breed students who are potentially taking up non-IT courses interested in IT? Plenty of questions to answer.
Anyway, I've got a number of action items to take away from the dinner. It's a start - but we've got a long way to go.
- Re-vamp the Microsoft Student Partner Program (more breadth and communities, and more depth for MSPs)
- Make certifications affordable/free to interested and top-tier students
- Communicate with Singapore faculty on a more pro-active basis - they are the ones seeing/mentoring students on a daily basis
- Think about how we leverage the Microsoft Innovation Center to make IT "cool"
