19 October 2011

Press Release

Employers in the Townships are desperate to employ graduates of Cégep and University computer programs, but supply is not meeting demand and four local post-secondary institutions are tackling the problem head on.

Cégep de Sherbrooke, Champlain College Lennoxville, Bishop’s University and Université de Sherbrooke have joined forces to build awareness about the number and type of local jobs available for Computer Science and Information and Communications Technology graduates in the Eastern Townships.  During the IT Career Week the four public institutions are organizing events showcasing some of the diversified careers in the IT industry. The IT Career week is scheduled from October 24 to 28.

According to a report prepared for TECHNOCompétences by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, 50% of the jobs in IT require a university degree and 40% require a collegial diploma in Quebec.

The Université de Sherbrooke will kick off the week with a conference given by a professor in their Computer Science Department and a specialist in medical imagery, Dr. Maxime Descoteaux, entitled Comment les mathématiciens et les informaticiens changent la médecine aujourd’hui.

Also on Monday, the Cégep de Sherbrooke will hold a lunch time presentation from 1:00 to 2:20 p.m. on Professions in Applied Sciences animated by professionals and professors from the Université de Sherbrooke to inform youth of the employment prospectives and the fields of study attached to these sciences.

On Tuesday, the Cégep de Sherbrooke will host a conference entitledInformatique: des mythes, une réalité. Representatives of employers in IT will speak about the technical tasks and destroy myths about the computer wolrd.

Bishop’s University will sponsor activities on Wednesday highlighted by a conference, A Career in Computer Science, Journey through 20 years given by Luc Groleau, BU class of ’90, who is currently working as a Senior IT Specialist at IBM.

The week will wrap up at Champlain-Lennoxville with a round table discussion entitled Probléma-TIC on Thursday, October 27, moderated by Gordon Harling Eng., Director of Business Development in Information Technologies at Sherbrooke Innopole.  The panel will be comprised of local business leaders and the President DG of Réseau ACTION TI at the provincial level, Mr. Patrice-Guy Martin.  The panel will address the plight of this much in demand profession.

Admission to the activities is free, and the general public as well as educators are invited to participate in any or all activities.  The activities at the Cégep de Sherbrooke and the Université de Sherbrooke will be conducted in French, and the activities at Bishop’s University will be held mainly in English with questions and comments in French welcome.  The round table discussion at Champlain-Lennoxville will be in French, however, English comments or questions will be welcome.  Additional information concerning all of the week’s activities can be found at www.crc-lennox.qc.ca

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Contact:Claire Bureau
Coordinator, Computer Information Systems
Co-coordinator, Computer Science and Mathematics
819-564-3666, ext. 137
Champlain College-Lennoxville
2580 College Street
Sherbrooke, Quebec  J1M 0C8