Initiating IT interest is vital to the economy

CONTRARY to the popular image of hi-tech nerds as high achievers, it seems our brightest students find computers a bore.

At least that is the considered opinion of Canadian expert David Parnas, a world leader in software who heads a research team involved in projects under way at the University of Limerick (UL). A key question being examined in a wide-ranging project in which the Government is injecting 5 million, is how to convince young adults to take up computer science.

With many computer companies mired in difficulty, the industry is facing a personnel crisis as firms struggle to fill 14,000 jobs over the next three years.