As Tech Jobs Rise, Changes Are Needed To Lure Youth To The Field

This is a total fluke:<br />
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UW plans grand expansion of Canada's largest mathematics and computer science outreach program <br />
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WATERLOO, ON, Nov. 8 /CNW/ - The University of Waterloo will greatly expand Canada's largest youth outreach program in mathematics and computer science - currently reaching close to half-a-million young people - because of a gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.<br />
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The US$12.5-million donation is a "visionary gift," says David Johnston, president of the University of Waterloo. "It will allow our Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) to expand its world-class outreach program to reach hundreds of thousands more youth and educators around the world."<br />
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UW and the foundation share a common goal to give young people the opportunity to develop the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in an ever-changing world.<br />
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The gift comes at a time of growing concern about the decline in interest of young people in the fields of mathematics and computer science across North America.<br />
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The most recent Statistics Canada figures show that the number of students enrolled in undergraduate programs in mathematics, computer science and information sciences dropped by 8.7 per cent between the 2000-01 and 2004-05 academic years. The significant decline occurred while total undergraduate enrolment soared by 21.6 per cent over the same period.<br />
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<a href="http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2007/08/c5899.html">http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/November2007/08/c5899.html</a><p>---<br>"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va

My son took an information systems degree. When he entered the program it was boasting 100 per cent job placement upon graduation and a minimum starting salary of $35,000. Two years into the program, graduates from his program began to have difficulty finding work. By the time he graduated in 2000 the starting salary was under $20,000 if you could find a job.

It is not surprising that parents are leery of encouraging their children to take on massive educational debt for such a risky career.

You really have to know what was happening to appreciate the irony here.

Microsoft was one of those multinationals that drove the salaries of its employees down by contracting out its work to low income countries especially India.

The use of the Bill Gates Foundation in this way may be a sneaky way in which to bring about another over-supply of workers in the field to push salaries of its employees down all the time getting a big tax benefit.

With the government's Science & Technology strategy & all the other private r&d stuff the government is doing I doubt that will happen.

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"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va

And not to mention the prohibitive tuition fees that only the wealthy can afford. But we`re supposedly all free to cash in on the 'knowledge economy.'

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Dave Ruston

It's not so surpising that young people are increasingly thinking about turning to gangs and drugs, given the crapshoot we call "work" nowadays. Oh, not in large numbers at all -- but ever on the increase........

It's becoming a "kinder, gentler" version of what the Afghan farmer has to go through in growing poppies..........

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"When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
-Max Planck

Interesting too that "The Fight club" is the most popular movie on the Vancouver Facebook network...

My son just about finished his engineering/computer science degree at SFU. Time will tell about this choice!

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"We are all in this together somehow, some more than others somehow"

[Bill Gates has said that Microsoft gets more grads from there than any other university. I would say it's getting people into the field & also keeping them in the country. -- NSay]<br />
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One of the larger proposed Microsoft campuses will be in BC.<br />
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<a href="http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/322652_msftvancouver06.html">http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/322652_msftvancouver06.html</a><br />
<p>---<br>The preceding comment deals with mature subject matter, however immaturely presented. Viewer discretion is advised.<br />

"Why Island Tech?<br />
With the help and support of its members, VIATeC is hosting Island Tech 2007, a one-day exposition of more than 80 Vancouver Island technology firms and research agencies."<br />
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<a href="http://www.viatec.ca/staticpages/index.php?page=2007_IslandTech_Expo">http://www.viatec.ca/staticpages/index.php?page=2007_IslandTech_Expo</a><p>---<br>"George Bush has declared the war on terrorism to be the cause of his generation. The cause of Canadian sovereignty will be ours." - John Godfrey, MP for Don Va