State agencies and several large multinationals have appealed to Leaving Certificate students and their parents to use the final phase of the CAO process to select computer-related courses following a 25 per cent drop in applications for the sector.
A campaign involving the IDA and Forfás, and supported by companies such as Intel, Hewlett Packard and Fujitsu, will run for the next month and a half in an attempt to get students to use their CAO "change of mind form" to select an information technology course.
CAO figures from earlier this year showed a 25 per cent drop in overall applications for IT and computer-related courses. The slump in the hi-tech sector and resulting media coverage of dot.com companies is believed to be a significant reason for this drop. Students have until July 1st to change their earlier CAO preferences.
This year, parents have encouraged their children in many cases to choose more traditional options such as business, arts and the law, rather than look at options in computing, engineering and technology.
The campaign began yesterday in Dublin with a press conference at which the participants said that parents and students may have over-reacted to the downturn among IT companies late last year.
Research shows that parents play a pivotal role in the course choices of students and the campaign hopes to dispel what it calls some of the myths about the IT sector among parents.
The Institute of Guidance Counsellors has endorsed the campaign. Its president, Mr Brian Mooney, said that there would be no jobs in "ancillary" areas such as business and the law if the hi-tech sector experienced a serious crisis.
The campaign, headed by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs and ICT Ireland, is initially seeking to influence parents. When the exams start to wind up, it will turn its attention to students.
Spokespeople from the agencies and some of the companies are expected to take to the airwaves, particularly local radio, in an attempt to influence opinion.
Dr Danny O'Hare, chairman of the Expert Group, said: "I would ask parents of Leaving Certificate students, when advising them of the choices available, to consider the excellent medium to long-term growth prospects of these industries." He pointed to the recent job announcements by Intel, Oracle, Microsoft and EDS.
Mr Brendan Butler, director of ICT Ireland, said that they expected a shortfall of 3,000 information communications technology (ICT) graduates each year for the next five years.
"It is an imperative that a sector with over 1,000 companies and 100,000 employees be replenished with fresh graduates on an annual basis," he said.
Mr Frank Turpin, Intel's education manager, who has sat on several key committees dealing with science and technology education, said that his company was hiring once again and particularly looking for graduates. However, he pointed out that the jobs involved were becoming increasingly "value-added" and said that few people without a degree were likely to be recruited.
Ms Una Halligan, of Hewlett Packard, said that jobs in the IT industry came with a certain lifestyle, particularly the opportunity to travel, which should appeal to young people. "Those who go into this area are very marketable anywhere in the world," she added.