Information Industries Competitiveness Study

[Roger Buckeridge]

Thanks for the interest Jan

Labour market planning has not been Australia's strong suit in the
information industries - certainly not in the way that places like
Singapore have operated, in meticulously planning output of engineers and
technicians to support the ambitions of their industry development
policies. 

We certainly plan to undertake some analysis in this area - the hypothesis
being that we have an emerging gap in production of qualified people who
can populate our present $40 billion-odd IT&T and MM industries, let alone
the $80 billion output that people forsee for early in the next decade. As
you properly point out, a thriving domestic market needs "literate"
consumers for its services, so that matter is a legitimate issue for the
Competitiveness Study and will receive attention. Any analysis or data on
the topic that are at your disposal would be most welcome.

Kind regards

Roger Buckeridge         rogerb@world.net
tel. +61 (0)2 9362 4796
fax. +61 (0)2 9362 0726
mobile +61 (0)418 347 891
40 John Street, Woollahra,
NSW, 2025, Australia

----------
> From: Jan Whitaker <jwhit@primenet.com>
> To: Roger Buckeridge <rogerb@world.net>
> Subject: Re: Information Industries Competitiveness Study
> Date: Friday, 13 September 1996 7:42
> 
> Hello, Roger.  I'm going to take you up on your offer of a channel for
> shaping the study.  I encourage your team to take into account the human
> aspects of competitiveness in terms of education and skills development.
> The word *industries* harkens back to the hard and heavy manual labor
> times of manufacturing.  The current status of things is far different
and
> DEMANDS a highly educated workforce to maintain the status quo, let alone
> manage any progress and be competitive.
> 
> This is what has bothered me about the government's shift in policy
toward
> higher education and what appears to be their attempts to REDUCE the
> access of persons to the education arena.  The exact opposite should be
> true; more persons should be encouraged to develop their minds with the
> latest in expertise, NOT with apprenticeships with people based in the
> field only.  [Actually, as I read that, I would probably opt for a
> combination of the two for the best result.]
> 
> Perhaps your study can take a look at the impact of a reduction in
> educational levels on competitiveness in the 'industry'.  After all, if
we
> don't have a prepared workforce, there will be no competition.  We lose
by
> default. 
> 
> [There also won't be a DOMESTIC market.  Just more footy and beer.  :-) ]
> 
> Jan
> 
> Jan Whitaker
> JLWhitaker Associates     \--------/ - jwhit@primenet.com
> Educational Technology Consultant / - Video and Computer Specialties
> Melbourne, VIC, Australia   \----/ - http://www.primenet.com/~jwhit/
> Voice: (+613)9592-5752       \--/
>