prijava
SARAJEVO, October 27 (FENA) - A study titled "Analysis of the necessary skills for the software industry" was presented today in Sarajevo, which showed that the ICT sector represents a strategic chance for the progress of BiH economy, but also that this sector lacks quality labor force.
According to the data collected in the study, out of an average of 926 open positions for IT specialists per year, 388 of them cannot be filled. In most cases, the reason is the lack of candidates with the appropriate knowledge and skills.
The study was conducted in cooperation with the Bit Alliance during 2019, within the project 'Better Governance for Faster Economic Growth' (EGG), funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Norway and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in BiH.
The UNDP Deputy Resident Representative in BiH Sukhrob Khoshmukhamedov said Covid pandemic has caused many problems for economies and people around the world, including BiH.
"There has been a drop in GDP, and at the same time an increase in unemployment. The information and communication sector can play a big role, both in terms of economic recovery and in terms of re-employment," said Khoshmukhamedov.
He stressed that every 100 jobs created in the IT sector, in parallel or ancillary industries result in the creation of another 160 jobs. At the same time, he added, it is disappointing to see that approximately one-third of advertised vacancies in the IT sector are not filled after job offerings. Especially when it is known that this is a sector in which salaries are far higher than the average in the country.
Khoshmukhamedov added that 80 percent of those interviewed in the study said that the education sector does not provide the skills needed for employment in this sector, and stressed the need for dialogue between the IT industry and the education sector.
"In a way, we tried to initiate a platform for that dialogue with the support of our partners, the Norwegian Embassy in BiH, i.e., the Norwegian government. Of course, this is just the beginning, and we have a long way to go," said Khoshmukhamedov, adding that this study offers a quality basis for this dialogue and for all the steps that need to follow.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Olav Reinertsen, said that this is a sector that represents the future and that they are especially focused on these issues in order to promote business and the economy. Over the years, the Norwegian Embassy has supported the development of three IT incubators in BiH, in Mostar, Tuzla and Banja Luka.
"Of course, we have to do a lot more, especially regarding bilateral economic relations between Norway and BiH. The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized an ICT forum for business people from Norway and BiH in March, and based on that initiative in March, I decided to establish a bilateral association of business people from BiH and Norway, which will start working on December 1 this year," said Reinertsen.
According to him, the ICT industry is an area in which there is great potential for cooperation and interest of business people. That is why, as the Norwegian ambassador emphasized, it is necessary to support projects like this in order to look at the situation and challenges in this sector.
Although most IT companies conduct continuous trainings of employees, 78.1 percent of surveyed employees believe that professional IT education should be modernized, i.e., that it should be open to new teaching methodologies.
Measures to overcome the current situation include revising enrollment policies and adapting them to the needs of the software industry, then establishing specialist high schools of computer science and ICT, further strengthening of retraining and retraining measures for IT occupations through employment offices, and improving IT education in primary schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Bit Alliance association representing the software industry, believes that the IT industry should be declared strategic for the development of the economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
"The study on which UNDP and Bit Alliance worked together in the past period is extremely important, not only for the IT industry but also for the entire economy of BiH, given that it gives a cross-section of the current situation, but also the exceptional potential that our industry has in the context of the future prosperity of BiH," said Tatjana Vučić, Executive Director of Bit Alliance.
An analysis of the skills required for the software industry done in 2019 also pointed to the fact that employment in the ICT sector has grown ten times faster than in other industries in the past seven years.
(FENA) S. R.
