Cardiff University To Tackle Wales' IT Shortage

Cardiff University and the Welsh government have developed a 'National Software Academy' in a bid to tackle the shortage of IT skills in Wales.  

The Academy is designed to train and educate the next wave of software engineers in the country via a three-year degree programme in BSc Applied Software Engineering.  

The programme is being run in partnership with Newport-based Alacrity Foundation and was set up by Cardiff's School of Computer Science and Informatics.  

The degree will be delivered at 'Platfform', the home of the Welsh government's new digital innovation company in Newport, and forms part of its key agenda to regenerate the city.  

According to research by the government, Wales is currently in need of 2700 qualified software engineers each year, but the supply of graduates is too low.  

Industry also perceives those who do graduate in this area to lack essential skills that will ready them for the workplace when they graduate.  

Those enrolled in the National Software Academy will take part in 'real life' projects in order to tackle this issue.  

Boosting The Welsh Economy  

"Science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills are vitally important to the Welsh economy and this programme fully supports our vision of attracting and building capability in this area," claimed Welsh Economy, Science and Transport Minister Edwina Hart. 

"We are a pro-business government, committed to working with  the sector to find practical solutions to Wales' economic needs. I am delighted we are launching the National Software Academy because it will ensure our graduates entering this highly specialist profession have the right skills and training to hit the ground running," Hart added.  

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