It is A Level results day in the UK, with just over a quarter of students celebrating an A* or A mark this year.

While the hard work of this year’s students should be recognised and celebrated, there are some worrying figures for the UK IT and tech industry.

While the industry grapples with a digital skills shortage, ICT was found to have one of the lowest pass rates in 2016 alongside media, film and TV studies. Only one in 10 ICT students gained top grades, an A or A*, this year, down from 12% in 2011. Of huge concern is that the number of students choosing ICT as an A Level subject also continues to fall – 8,7000 students took the course this year, falling by 3,300 in five years.

Commenting on the disappointing ICT results, Andy Lawson, UK&I MD for Salesforce, said: “The drop in the A-level pass mark for ICT is a disappointing reversal of previous years’ results. The fact is, advances in cloud and mobile technology – as well as emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality – are changing almost every aspect of our everyday lives.  As such, we’ve seen remarkable growth in the tech sector, with job growth outpacing the rest of the market by 2.8 times, according to Tech City.

“Some of today’s most in-demand jobs – web developers, software programmers, IT security experts, data analysts – hardly existed 20 years ago. To make certain the UK continues to grow and thrive, we need to ensure students are prepared to meet these needs, and are able to pursue some of the most rewarding and lucrative careers available.

Today’s results also reflected the ongoing gender gap – a gap which is ever-prevalent in the technology and IT industry. A worryingly small number of girls took computing, with boys making up 90.2% of all students taking the course in 2016. Boys also made up the majority in courses such as Further Maths (72.5%) and Physics (78.4%), highlighting the lack of females taking up STEM subjects. Andy Lawson believes that the remit of teaching girls about STEM extends past teachers, saying:

“With women still very much underrepresented in the technology industry, it’s up to parents, teachers and those of us in the sector to encourage the young people in our lives – especially girls – to pursue STEM-related subjects. Collectively, we must dispel the notion the technology is a ‘boys’ club’ and help educate girls about all of the amazing opportunities a career in technology opens up.”