Science skills shortage warning

There are not enough skilled workers in the science and engineering professions, one expert has said.

According to Azim Premji, Chairman of technology solutions provider Wipro, the West is not addressing a worsening skills shortage in the industries, Silicon.com reports.

This technology skills shortage stems from education at the primary-school level, with Mr Premji blaming inadequate mathematics lessons.

'A serious shortage is building up of science and engineering graduates in the Western world and we are completely underestimating how serious this shortage is,' he told leaders in the technology sector at a Wipro conference.

Mr Premji stated that India produces 500,000 engineering graduates a year while in comparison, only 75,000 engineers graduate from US universities.

And one million science graduates are produced by higher-education institutes in India - 4,000 of which will be employed by Wipro. The company claims to be the largest recruiter of IT professionals.