Use of the Skills Framework for the Information Age by Australian Governments

The "Whole-of-government ICT strategic workforce plan 2010-2013" from the Australian Public Service Commission The whole-of-government strategic ICT Workforce Plan was underpinned the Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA). SFIA originated in the UK and so, not surprisingly there are many more mentions of it on UK government web pages (97) than the USA (2). What is surprising is that there are even more on Austrlaian governments web pages (127). However, 90 of these are from the Queensland Government, 6 from the SA Government. Of the 6 federal government references, three are in APSC reports, one is the ACS Submission on Higher Education, and one an archived discussion if the UK's use of SFIA. There appears to be only one instance of the Austrlaian Government mentioning SFIA in a job related web page (by IP Australia).

Development of Young Professionals

I crept out of the opening session of the 2009 International Young ICT Professionals Conference in Sydney, to talk to some of the exhibitors. This conference has a different focus to the usual technical IT event. This is about career development for young professionals. It is applicable to other professions and some of the people here are qualified in other disciplines, such as economics. Most of the exhibitors I am familar with, such as the ACS Foundation, who organise scholarships for students. Inspired Training Solutions I was not familiar with are delivering short courses on business practices for professionals. IBM have an unusual exhibit on their Smarter Planet initiative, with a colouring in competition for adults. Charles Stuart University are talking about their Master of Information Technology (MInfoTech) and Graduate Diploma of Information Technology (GradDipInfoTech) courses, but interestingly CSU also offer industry certifications as well.