The present picture

The Report of the Inter‐departmental Working Party, published in 1967, gave estimates of the numbers of specialist staff required to work in UK computer installations by 1970. These numbers, though often critized as being very conservative, seemed alarmingly impossible to achieve when compared with those then existing. Related developments in the further education sector preceded the publication of the Report by at least eight years in respect of short course provision and by two years in respect of formal courses. In spite of this and the subsequent growth of FE courses, the shortfall in the required numbers of specialist computer staff seems likely to remain, as long as the facilities offered in FE are not fully taken up. Before surveying the available provision in FE, it would be useful to restate the responsibility of FE colleges in this field, as this has largely determined the pattern of courses developed.