A set of three new reports covering seven countries in the Middle East and Pakistan shows that unless networking skills shortages are addressed urgently there will be in just three years a shortage of almost 265,000 skilled people required to help drive economic growth in these emerging markets.

The reports were part of a series from IDC, commissioned by Cisco Systems. The study found that by 2009 demand for skilled people necessary to develop, build and manage IT systems required to support continued economic growth would outstrip supply by 35 per cent in countries surveyed in the Middle East region and Pakistan. In actual numbers, this equated to a shortfall of 114,800 skilled professionals there. As well as Pakistan, the countries surveyed were Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt.
Additionally, the results showed that Pakistan, Jordan and Kuwait were likely to experience gaps of more than 40 per cent by 2009.  In contrast, findings from the same study carried out across Western and Eastern Europe in 2005 revealed an average networking skills gap of 11.8 per cent by 2008. The Middle East region has recorded some of the highest GDP growth rates in the world over the past three years. This growth, combined with the demand by businesses for more sophisticated Information Communication Technology (ICT) technologies to improve business agility, has led to the unprecedented demand for general and more advanced networking skills. Insufficient training programmes also compounded the situation across these regions, the study showed.
The situation is further impacted by shortfalls in advanced networking technology skills in the areas of IP telephony, security and wireless networking. In these areas, the Middle East has a projected gap of 41 per cent, amounting to a total advanced networking skills gap of 156,500 people. Countries surveyed in the Middle East are more likely to ‘leapfrog’ traditional technologies in favor of advanced technology adoption, which could potentially create a premature demand for ITC skills.
While there are a number of regional initiatives currently underway to promote educational programmes and enhanced training in science and technology, the potential gaps in all of the countries by 2009 highlighted the need for additional efforts to provide appropriate training courses and encourage increased student enrollment, Cisco said.
Samer Alkharrat, general manager, Cisco Systems Gulf region, said: “These findings represent a call to action for governments, the private sector, educators and individuals to do more to address the need to make more educational programmes and training opportunities available. If plans are not put into place now, technology adoption, business competitiveness and market growth will be at risk.”
Alkharrat stressed that the networking skills shortage could become critical in hindering technology adoption and economic growth. By having skilled people in place, businesses could take advantage of productivity gains that could be generated with rapid advances in technology.