Bursaries encourage school leavers into IT careers

South Africa`s information technology (IT) companies must provide more bursaries to encourage school-leavers to embark on careers in the industry, says Bev Cunningham, Human Resources Director at the Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE: CSC) in SA.

She says that while internship and learnership programmes are filling a necessary gap in the IT industry, more should be done to provide long-term IT bursaries that will attract the country`s best Grade 12 maths and science scholars to the industry.

Companies currently receive an incentive of R40 000 per intern from the ISETT SETA, but no incentives for bursary programmes.

"The lack of government incentives for bursaries should not limit the industry`s support for bursary programmes. There is a danger that young IT talent will continue to be lost to the IT industry simply because there are no incentives to provide bursaries for these students, as is the case with internships and learnerships."

She says most IT companies wait until students reach their third or fourth year before providing financial assistance, while others pick graduates or headhunt staff from other companies.

"These methods do not provide a long-term solution to the black IT skills shortage in SA," says Cunningham.

Four new bursars joined the CSC programme in 2005. Together these four scholars, all from disadvantaged backgrounds, achieved 18 distinctions in the 2004 Grade 12 examinations. Among them is a scholar from Khayelitsha, Cape Town, who achieved six distinctions and will be studying for a Computer Science at UCT degree during 2005.

She believes incentives should not be the deciding factor when weighing up support for IT skills development programmes. "Commitment to providing quality training is much more important."

Monique Adams of Career Wise, a company providing services in the areas of student recruitment, development and bursary administration, agrees with Cunningham.

"This year is likely to see fewer than 3000 African Grade 12s obtaining a C symbol in Higher Grade Maths and Science - prerequisites for a degree programme in IT or information systems. Unless the industry is seen as giving opportunities in the form of bursary funding to these candidates, they will move into other areas where support is available, for example Engineering and Accounting."

CSC, which launched a bursary programme four years ago, currently funds bursar studies for 10 students and provides hands-on work experience during university holidays. Of the 10 students, two have already graduated via the CSC scheme, both with BComm degrees in Information Systems from the University of the Witwatersrand. One of the two will be doing his Honours in 2005 while the other plans to complete a post-graduate diploma in Management Studies.

Providing practical business and technical experience three times a year is key to the success of the CSC bursary programme, says Esme Smith, Training Manager at CSC in South Africa.

"While other IT companies do provide bursaries, CSC is the only IT company to provide on-going, practical experience. The hands-on training is important because it provides students with an understanding of just how complex situations can be in `the real world`, compared to the university experience."

She says vac work gives bursary students an advantage over graduates who have technical and academic qualifications but who often lack `soft skills` and other important business-related skills.

In addition to its external bursary programme, CSC provides 10 graduates with an eight-month IT internship through the ISETT SETA programme. The programme gives these previously unemployed students the opportunity to hone their technical skills and to acquire business skills.

Smith says it`s important for IT companies to identify areas of growth and to give internships experience in these areas - even if the interns aren`t particularly interested in a specific IT discipline.

"By gaining experience in all aspects of IT, particularly those areas experiencing growing demand, the graduates increase their chances of long-term and permanent employment."

By providing invaluable workplace experience, the internship helps the graduate make more informed choices about his or her future career in IT, says Smith.

But the benefits of a quality, well-managed internship programme don`t only accrue to the interns; those managing them have also gained from their involvement in the programme.

"Many of these managers are technical specialists who have the opportunity to develop their mentorship and coaching skills, thereby allowing them to develop skills they would not usually acquire in their day-to-day work environment," says Smith.

Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to internships and learnerships, says Cunningham. "Too often learners are denied opportunities to acquire new skills because the company employing them doesn`t have adequate resources to manage them," she says.

"Unless companies are willing to ensure there is sufficient management and coordination support for learners, they should steer clear of employing large numbers of interns or learners - or risk being accused of exploiting learners for tax benefits and adding to the pool of unemployed skilled persons," she says.

While internships are often regarded by IT companies as more flexible than learnerships, Smith says it is unwise to compare the value of internships and learnerships because the two programmes have different objectives and fulfil different needs.

"It is more important to look for synergies between the two programmes and to focus on providing those employed in these programmes with a balance of technical, business and academic skills," she says.

Investing in, and subsequently retaining, new talent is always a challenge for companies but CSC believes its investment in staff training, the Internship Programme and its internal and external bursary programmes will provide future rewards.

"Nurturing and developing one`s own staff is often more beneficial to a company than bringing in new talent at middle management and senior levels," says Cunningham.