Sydney: Australia is likely to face a crippling shortage in information technology professionals unless policies are changed, a new study has found.

A report by Australian Computer Society (ACS) released last week showed the shortage could grow by 29 percent by 2010 to over 14,500 full-time positions. This could increase to over 25,000 by 2020.

"Even using the most optimistic forecasts for levels of domestic graduates and of migration into Australia, IT skills shortages will continue or get worse at least until 2012," said John Atkinson, who heads Charles Stuart University's (CSU) School of Business and Information Technology.

"This is a worrying trend considering the strategic importance of IT sector to the Australian economy. According to 2006 data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, IT is one of the main contributors to productivity gains in all sectors of the Australian economy.

"It is also economically more significant than agriculture, defence, education and mining, with over five percent of Australia's full-time professionals and technicians employed in ICT," he added.