Education and Science, Estonia, Technology

International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Thursday, 28.03.2024, 16:30

Estonian young people not greatly interested in ICT studies – survey

BC, Tallinn, 13.11.2018.Print version
Of Estonian high school students 7% are definitely planning to continue their studies in a specialty related to information technology and 16% say they are very likely to do it, it appears from the findings of a study by Kantar Emor commissioned by Transferwise, cities LETA/BNS.

On the other hand, more than half of young people rather are not thinking about a career in IT and a quarter have not yet made up their mind, Transferwise said.


Alvar Lumberg, development manager at Transferwise, described the findings as not surprising. He said that Transferwise has set its heart to encourage young people to choose an IT related specialty when deciding about their future career. Digital know-how is becoming increasingly important by the day – be it in start-ups, medicine or agriculture, he said.


According to the survey, 34% of boys are sure about choosing an IT-related specialty for their career or consider doing it, compared with just 15% of girls. The main obstacle to choosing an IT related field is absence of interest in the field, which was cited by slightly over half of the young people interviewed. 


Trust in the success of a person's career in IT meanwhile is very high, with only few respondents naming insufficient career opportunities it as a factor preventing them from choosing a profession in IT. 


The survey also queried respondents about their career examples. The most frequent answer to that question, especially among boys, was Elon Musk, with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Estonian Presidenti Kersti Kaljulaid also getting mention.


Very many young people also named parents and family members as their career examples.


The survey was carried out by Kantar Emor by interviewing pupils of Estonian high schools. The aim of the survey was to gauge the interest of young people in technology education and chart their interest in a career in technology, but also learn about the greatest obstacles to choosing a profession in a field connected with IT.

 






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