The education system is broken when it comes to technology.
That was one of the key findings of a Manchester roundtable made up of education and business experts.
The UK has been slow to prioritise coding and other technical skills on the national curriculum compared with nations such as the US and Sweden.
Estonia, for example, has embedded tech into every part of its education system, and is now considered a world leader in the sector.
The skills gap is now being felt by businesses across the board 鈥� and it seems to be widening.
鈥淯niversities are criticised for not producing the kind of graduates that we need, but there are thousands of companies and it is difficult to match the requirements of them all,鈥� said Paul Bason, digital innovation director at Manchester Metropolitan University.
鈥淚鈥檒l be frank 鈥� I think the university model is broken when it comes to the tech sector, and the reason I say that is because it moves so quickly.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e a historian, you can read all the books that exist then channel that knowledge in a particular way to students.
鈥淸In tech] there鈥檚 a smaller development cycle and shorter time for lecturers to understand new tech.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that people are not competent 鈥� there just isn鈥檛 enough time to get to know this stuff.鈥�
Steve Pettifer, director of teaching strategy at the school of computer science at the University of Manchester, said students deserve to be equipped with skills suitable for the workplace.
鈥淭he challenge these days is to produce graduates who are fit for the employment market,鈥� he said.
鈥淪tudents pay considerable amounts of money for their education today so we have to make sure that they鈥檙e employable and get the kind of jobs they鈥檙e looking for.
鈥淐omputers have been around for 50, 60, 70 years; most graduates will now be working for another 50 years 鈥� so the idea that we can give them all the knowledge that they will possibly need for that time is bonkers.
鈥淭he world will change enormously. All we can do is focus on the fundamentals, get students to engage with the latest developments through hackathons and competitions and contact with industry.
鈥淏ut it takes a lot of work to get tech partnerships between universities and tech companies.鈥�
Martin Bryant, community editor at Tech North, agrees.
鈥淭he education sector doesn鈥檛 always feel like it鈥檚 geared up for what鈥檚 to come,鈥� he said.