The British Computing Society is celebrating a 20 per cent surge in membership to an impressive 50,000 people. Which is going to make it difficult to find a venue for meetings - Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, usually home to Rangers, has room for just over 50,000.

The BCS has increased membership by 20 per cent in the last year. It credits the need for reskilling and the threat of offshoring for the the increase in numbers.

David Clarke, BCS chief executive, said: "The UK IT profession is currently battling against the threat of offshoring of traditional IT skills on one hand while striving to meet the demands for new skills sets from employers on the other."

Clarke added that skills like systems design and implementation, software testing and security are most in demand. The number of people taking BCS certified foundation and practioner courses in IT service management grew by 100 per cent and 40 per cent respectively.

The BCS believes that a "huge growth in expectation from the UK IT industry" means that more people want professional accreditation.®

Related stories

• IT spend failing to support UK.biz (4 May 2006)
• BCS embraces professional contractors (16 September 2005)
• Ethical concerns vex IT workers (9 September 2005)
• BCS on renewed professional standards campaign (12 May 2005)
• EC honours European tech innovators (27 April 2005)
• Tesco offshores 400 IT jobs to India (7 January 2005)
• BCS certifies Freedom of Information (6 December 2004)