IT companies flag $50M of IT opportunities and $250,000 of scholarships for Aussies

$50 million worth of Australian IT jobs and $250,000 worth of scholarships are on offer in the next twelve months, a consortium of ICT vendors including IBM, Microsoft, CSC and KPMG announced at the ACS Foundation’s ‘Great IT Jobs Debate’, this week.

The event delegates consisting of 25 CEOs, CIOs, educational representatives, employees and ICT graduates agreed to combine industry and marketing muscle to broaden the brand 'ICT' when it comes to communicating the benefits and opportunities of the sector to potential employees.

Moderated by global workforce specialist and best selling author, Peter Sheahan, the debate focused on job opportunities within the ICT industry and the challenges confronting the industry's workforce in the coming three to five years. An initiative of the ACS Foundation and supported by the ACS.

Some key topics discussed included: The growth and opporunities of ICT industry, employment opportunities as well the industry's best relationship with the Australian economy?

ACS Foundation executive director, John Ridge, said the Debate was the first in a series of annual events to bring industry minds together to leverage the significant job opportunities afforded by the Australian ICT sector.

“Australia’s ICT sector is a gold mine of opportunity for current and future workers – and if we can harness this opportunity carefully, our sector can help take the Australian economy into a new frontier,” said Ridge.

The 11 universities supporting the new ACS Foundation scholarships so far include the following: University of Technology Sydney; University of Sydney; Charles Stuart University; Queensland University of Technology; University of Queensland; University of Canberra; Australian National University; RMIT; Curtin University; Edith Cowen University and Murdoch University.

Information and applications for these scholarships can be found via the relevant University web sites and the ACS Foundation web site.