Why don't tech savvy students study IT?

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"There's tremendous evidence of shortages down the pipeline, and we have got to do something about it," said Rodd.

Negative perceptions are damaging to the number of girls taking computing courses, too, said Jeanette McMurdo, who organises women's IT courses for Bradford College and works for the UK Resource Centre for women in the technology sector. While 1.4 per cent of male students taking A-Levels opted for the computing course, there was even fewer female students - just 0.1 per cent. Over 5,000 male students took the computing A-Level this year, while just 575 female students did. "There's still a perception it's a male thing," said McMurdo. "There isn't anything inherent stopping girls doing it, it's just a cultural thing."

One way of battling this could be women-only classes, she said. "That might be an answer... look at how many girls do it at a single sex school, which produce engineers in greater numbers than mixed schools," she noted.

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