International certification for ICT professionals

The ACS Canberra branch meeting this week had a presentation on changes to the Australian membership categories to fit in with global standards. It might be of concern if Australia had to fit in with a standard from elsewhere, but in this case Australia was one of the driving forces behind the process.

The "Seoul Accord" was launched on 6 December 6th, 2008 at a meeting in Seoul, South Korea, of ACS (Australia),
CIPS (Canada), JABEE (Japan), ABEEK (Korea),
BCS (UK) and ABET (USA). The participants agreed to ... establish a system of mutual recognition in the computing and IT-related disciplines amongst member organizations".

The detail of international agreement is being handled by the International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3).

There will be three categories of membership:

1. Certified technologist. This is for people early in their career and is at Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) level 3.
2. Certified professional: These are a step up from technologists. They are at SFIA level 4, 5 or 6. This is the level for the bulk of the industry.
3. Certified Specialist: This is for leading specialists. These will likely be at SFIA level 5, 6 or 7.

Certified professionals and Certified Specialists are covered by limited liability legislation in Australian states and territories (apart from SA and TAS were negotiations are ongoing).

The current nine categories of ACS membership will be simplified to the three levels. This is all being launched on 13 September 2010.

This will be confusing for the average person in the IT industry. In particular the SFIA framework is a bewilderingly complex standard, with seven levels and dozens of skills categories for each (it took me months to understand SFIA while writing the ACS CPEP course on Green ICT). However, this should have long term benefits, provided other nations bodies also implement it.

Those ACS members who apply for regrading to CP before 13 September 2010 will not need to pay a fee. As I already had status as a "PCP" under the ACS's previous professional program, I am automatically transitioned to the new CP status (but I have to remember to do 30 hours training a year).

One aspect of the Seoul accord which will be of interest to Australian university educators is that the agreement includes a detailed set of "Graduate Attributes":

The following table provides profiles of graduates of three types of postsecondary educational computing programs. See Section 4 for definitions of complex, broadly-defined, and well-defined computing problems and activities. Note that the Seoul Accord applies only to the Computing Professional graduate, and that the columns for Computing Technologist and Computing Technician are included for comparative and clarification purposes only.

	Differentiating Characteristic	… for Seoul Accord (Computing Professional) Graduate	… for Computing Technologist Graduate	… for Computing Technician Graduate
Academic Education	Educational depth and breadth	Completion of an accredited program of study designed to prepare graduates as computing professionals	Completion of a program of study typically of shorter duration than for professional preparation	Completion of a program of study typically of shorter duration than for technologist preparation
Knowledge for Solving Computing Problems	Breadth and depth of education and type of knowledge, both theoretical and practical	Apply knowledge of computing fundamentals, knowledge of a computing specialization, and mathematics, science, and domain knowledge appropriate for the computing specialization to the abstraction and conceptualization of computing models from defined problems and requirements	Apply knowledge of computing fundamentals, knowledge of a computing specialization, and mathematics, science, and domain knowledge appropriate for the computing specialization to defined and applied computing procedures, processes, systems, or methodologies	Apply knowledge of computing fundamentals, knowledge of a computing specialization, and mathematics, science, and domain knowledge appropriate for the computing specialization to a wide variety of practical procedures and practices
Problem Analysis	Complexity of analysis	Identify, formulate, research literature, and solve complex computing problems reaching substantiated conclusions using fundamental principles of mathematics, computing sciences, and relevant domain disciplines	Identify, formulate, research literature, and solve broadly-defined computing problems reaching substantiated conclusions using analytical tools appropriate to the discipline or area of specialization	Identify and solve well-defined computing problems reaching substantiated conclusions using codified methods of analysis specific to the field of activity
Design/ Development of Solutions	Breadth and uniqueness of computing problems, i.e., the extent to which problems are original and to which solutions have previously been identified or codified	Design and evaluate solutions for complex computing problems, and design and evaluate systems, components, or processes that meet specified needs with appropriate consideration for public health and safety, cultural, societal, and environmental considerations	Design solutions for broadly-defined computing technology problems, and contribute to the design of systems, components, or processes to meet specified needs with appropriate consideration for public health and safety, cultural, societal, and environmental considerations	Design solutions for well-defined computing problems, and assist with the design of systems, components, or processes to meet specified needs with appropriate consideration for public health and safety, cultural, societal, and environmental considerations
Modern Tool Usage	Level and appropriateness of the tool to the type of activities performed	Create, select, adapt and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern computing tools to complex computing activities, with an understanding of the limitations	Select and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern computing tools to broadly-defined computing activities, with an understanding of the limitations	Apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern computing tools to well-defined computing activities, with an awareness of the limitations
Individual and Team Work	Role in, and diversity of, the team	Function effectively as an individual and as a member or leader in diverse teams and in multi-disciplinary settings	Function effectively as an individual and as a member or leader in diverse technical teams	Function effectively as an individual and as a member in diverse technical teams
Communication	Level of communication according to type of activities performed	Communicate effectively with the computing community and with society at large about complex computing activities by being able to comprehend and write effective reports, design documentation, make effective presentations, and give and understand clear instructions	Communicate effectively with the computing community and with society at large about broadly-defined computing activities by being able to comprehend and write effective reports, design documentation, make effective presentations, and give and understand clear instructions	Communicate effectively with the computing community and with society at large about well-defined computing activities by being able to comprehend the work of others, document one’s own work, and give and understand clear instructions
Computing Professionalism and Society	No differentiation in this characteristic except level of practice	Understand and assess societal, health, safety, legal, and cultural issues within local and global contexts, and the consequential responsibilities relevant to professional computing practice	Understand and assess societal, health, safety, legal, and cultural issues within local and global contexts, and the consequential responsibilities relevant to computing technologist practice	Understand and assess societal, health, safety, legal, and cultural issues within local and global contexts, and the consequential responsibilities relevant to computing technician practice
Ethics	No differentiation in this characteristic except level of practice	Understand and commit to professional ethics, responsibilities, and norms of professional computing practice	Understand and commit to professional ethics, responsibilities, and norms of computing technologist practice	Understand and commit to professional ethics, responsibilities, and norms of computing technician practice
Life-long Learning	No differentiation in this characteristic except level of practice	Recognize the need, and have the ability, to engage in independent learning for continual development as a computing professional	Recognize the need, and have the ability, to engage in independent learning for continual development as a computing technologist	Recognize the need, and have the ability, to engage in independent learning for continual development as a computing technician