Risks and conflicts in the formation of human capital for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) activity in the state of Ceará-Brazil

Abstract

The study presents the results of quantitative diagnoses of human capital formation in information and communications technology (ICT) in higher education institutions (HEIs) based in the State of Ceará in Brazil. The methodology employed uses the information contained in the Higher Education Census (1995 to 2019) and in INEP’s Manual for the Classification of Undergraduate and Sequential Courses (CINE Brazil), plus the information provided in the e-MEC database of the Brazilian Ministry of Education, combined with information on sectors of economic interest (ICT clusters) defined by government bodies (SEDET, ADECE and IPECE) and the Observatory of the Federation of Industries of the State of Ceará (FIEC). Descriptive statistical and trend analyses of future scenarios (2020 to 2040) were carried out using ARIMA and SARIMA models. The results show that human capital was trained in the region in the last decade (2010 to 2019) at HEIs located in the metropolitan region of the capital of the state of Ceará. The findings also made it possible to highlight the undergraduate courses that require greater attention and coordination between the public authorities and the productive sector to guarantee sustainability and identify the risks of human capital formation for the development of the region's economy.