The UK faces a serious shortfall of highly-qualified IT professionals within the next three years, according to the British Computer Society.

The professional body for IT expects there to be a 25% shortfall of computer science graduates by 2009.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt, President of the BCS said that the lack of graduates would impact on the UK economy.

“Large companies may be able to re-direct their creative work overseas. Small companies, traditionally hiring locally, may find that they are unable to recruit staff necessary to develop their businesses at a cost they can afford. Similarly, public services will be hit more heavily than private companies” he said.

Postgraduate numbers were also said to be showing a similar decline. Prof Shadbolt warned: “Nothing can now halt the decline in the number of computing graduates through to 2009.”

He called for immediate action to change the way computer science is taught in school to “introduce children at school to the excitement of computing and information technology in the age of the Web”.