International trends in the quantity and quality of entrants to computer science courses in higher education

The paper presents evidence of serious skill shortages in the information technology (IT) sector and in ITrelated occupations in France, Germany, Singapore the UK and the US. The extent to which higher education (HE) has responded to the increased demand for skills by providing an increasing number of study places in computer science courses, is examined. In Europe and Singapore the proportion of the age group entering IT courses has increased since 1990. Germany shows a rapid increase since 1995. The US shows a downward trend after an increase in the early 1980s. In Europe, expansion of entrants to IT took place when participation rates were flattening out after growth in the 80s and early 90s. Expansion indicates that entrants were switching to IT from other subject areas. The quality of entrants to IT HE was measured by performance on pre-requisites. In 1998, in all countries except France and Singapore, the quality of entrants to computer science courses was below the average for all HE entrants.