23rd Oct 2007 14:00
Micro Focus (R), a leader in enterprise application management andmodernization solutions, today announced it has successfully partneredwith 22 colleges and universities in the United States as a part ofits Micro Focus Academic ConnecTIONS (ACTION) Program initiative.While the fear of an impending skills shortage is slowly gripping theindustry that still relies heavily on existing enterprise IT systems,ACTION is designed to minimize the legacy skills shortage among ITprofessionals. Through the ACTION Program, Micro Focus is providingstudents around the world with the latest technology and tools forenterprise application development, such as access to free software,support, books and courseware and research engagements. £ In a recent independent survey of 650 enterprise respondents,Micro Focus found that more than three-quarters of CIOs indicated thatthey expect to maintain key IT department focus on recruiting COBOLprogrammers over the next five years. This study also revealed, 73percent were already finding it hard to find and hire trained COBOLprofessionals. £ Just launched in May 2007, the Micro Focus ACTION Program helps tobridge the gap between the IT skills and capabilities of today'scomputer science graduates and enterprises' need for IT specialiststhat understand management and modernization of enterpriseapplications. This widening gap has resulted in concerns regarding animpending skills shortage among IT departments nation-wide. £ To help fill that void, the Micro Focus ACTION Program has rolledout at 22 U.S. campuses, including New York City College ofTechnology, Kansas State University, University ofWisconsin-Platteville, Central Carolina Technical College and ColoradoTech University. The program has been deployed globally by MicroFocus, with participating universities in 5 countries across the U.S.,Europe and Asia. £ "As educators we must not only expose our students to thetheoretical and 'hot' programming languages, but we must also providethe knowledge of systems and languages that are more prevalent in thework environment," said Professor Harrison Simmons, Computer sciencelecturer and Module coordinator, from New York City College ofTechnology. "By incorporating joint initiatives, such as ACTION intothe curriculum, we provide our students better ways to equipthemselves for today's large-system, enterprise computing jobs." £ "We are excited about the momentum of the ACTION program in theU.S.," said Kevin Moultrup, executive vice president, North Americanoperations at Micro Focus. "The expansion into current academicprograms is not only a critical component to the continued success offuture IT professionals, but also to our customers and partners whoneed the best and the brightest in enterprise IT knowledge." £ Micro Focus currently has granted over 3,500 licenses and supportcovering more than 2,500 students every year in North America toensure Enterprise Application Modernization, core language skills andarchitectures including SOA are available - supporting students toconnect directly with the needs of the industry. For furtherinformation, please visit http://www.microfocus.com/academic. £ About Micro Focus £ Micro Focus, a member of the FTSE 250, provides innovativesoftware that allows companies to dramatically improve the businessvalue of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus EnterpriseApplication Modernization and Management software enables customers'business applications to respond rapidly to market changes and embracemodern architectures with reduced cost and risk. For additionalinformation please visit www.microfocus.com. Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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