Pambuccian: US crisis - opportunity for Romania

Romania has to speculate the favourable situation of its IT and telecommunications industry, yet unharmed by the problems faced by its Western peer, and do it fast, Varujan Pambuccian, chairman of the IT and Telecommunications Parliamentary Committee, told a seminar organised by Omnilogic BGS and TotalNet.

“The crisis in the US is Romania’s lucky break, as many companies fire people there but hire here,” Pambuccian added. “This phenomenon will not last for more than three years, so that we have to make the best of these advantages.”

This is why, Pambuccian feels, one must take into account two important issues in order for the IT industry to grow: broadening its human resource base and democratising access to computers. Showing that only 40% of those holding a computer science degree actually find employment in the industry after graduation, Pambuccian said this is a very harsh signal about the system’s incapability of giving those graduates the possibility to integrate.

“Maybe we should devise the entire curriculum again and make it more business-oriented. It is important for us to be able to train people which could be absorbed by the industry right away and then achieve the fast growth of this industry,” Pambuccian commented.

He feels these things can be done only through e-learning mechanisms, which would allow attaining two goals: penetration of “remote” areas and employing the skills of a higher number of specialists. Although Romania has no e-learning system at the moment, it may be built by teachers and software producers in two or three years, he says.

“We should make preparations this year, so that it could boom next year, or else there is no chance for success,” Deputy Pambuccian said.

Talking about the gaps between technologically advanced countries and those less advanced, Daniel Delhrim, Israel-based NetSchool Company representative, said they could be closed only by introduction and use of the technologies available at the moment.