According to research from the Computing Research Association (CRA), numbers of U.S. undergraduates taking computing majors increased by more than 29 percent during last year’s academic year.

The CRA survey also found that graduates were continuing in education to higher levels, with an 8.2 increase in those earning a Ph.D. from the previous year.

The rise has come as graduates increasingly become of aware of the importance of IT, with skills in high demand, with many science field demanding applicants with a high level of computer literacy.

Peter Harsha, the CRA's director of government affairs, said that computer degree uptake is based somewhat: “on the perceived strength of the IT sector”.

Under-utilisation of skills is hampering innovation