The ICT Profession needs professional recognition

ICT Certification Gains Wide Sector Support

PRESS RELEASE – NZ Computer Society Inc. (NZCS)

19 June 2008

For Immediate Release

In an unprecedented show of ICT sector unity, the NZ Computer Society’s bid to lead the implementation of an ICT Competency Framework has received strong endorsement from a key Steering Group made up of a range of government stakeholders, and has been backed by every significant sector group in NZ.

“Never before has such a wide group of ICT sector bodies rallied in support of a single initiative,” NZCS Chief Executive Paul Matthews said today. “The unprecedented unity shown by the sector in supporting NZCS leading the implementation of this project highlights how absolutely essential this has become for our profession”.

“The ICT Profession needs professional recognition”, Matthews said.

The Society recently presented plans to implement a Competency Framework and Professional Certification to the ICT Qualifications Steering Group, a group assembled from government and the sector to look into an ICT Competency Framework. This was part of an RFI response to become the Lead Organisation for this project, and the NZCS initiative received a very strong endorsement from the Group.

The ICT Qualifications Steering Group is made up of the Department of Labour, Tertiary Education Commission (TEC), Ministry of Education, NZ Qualifications Authority (NZQA), National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications (NACCQ), ITP New Zealand, ETITO, IPENZ, and previously the HiGrowth Project.

After investigating the NZCS’s plans in detail, the Steering Group concluded that “the NZCS is the logical organisation to lead the development of a Competence Framework for ICT professionals in New Zealand and endorses the approach that is being taken to achieve this.”

 “The Society’s bid to lead this project was also supported by every key nationwide ICT sector organisation in New Zealand, as well the key drivers of ICT Certification internationally,” Matthews said.

This included the Telecommunications Users Association of NZ (TUANZ), NZ Software Association (NZSA), Women in Technology (WIT), InternetNZ, Web Developers Association of NZ (WDANZ), the Association of Local Government Information Management (ALGIM), Canterbury Software Inc (CSI), and the PPTA ICT Taskforce.

IPENZ and NACCQ also made supporting statements, although stopped short of making full endorsements as they sat on the Steering Group considering the NZCS initiative. Both have since shown strong support for the project.

The NZCS approach was also formally supported by the International Federation of Information Processors (IFIP), British Computer Society (BCS), Australian Computer Society (ACS), Canadian Information Professing Society (CIPS), and the International Professional Practice Program Taskforce (IP3 Taskforce), the key international drivers of ICT certification.

“We’re proud of the support the New Zealand and international ICT sector organisations, and government stakeholders through this Steering Group, have shown in the NZCS to raise the status of ICT as a profession, and we’re working hard to make ICT Certification in New Zealand a reality”, Matthews concluded.

ENDS

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