The research, Technology Insights 2011 by eSkills in January 2011, shows that demand for IT professionals has increased over the last year. 1.5 million people are currently employed in the IT workforce – equivalent to 1 in every 20 people employed in the U.K. This year alone, the IT and telecom workforce will require 110,000 new entrants to keep up with demand. Almost half of these will be individuals employed in other occupations moving into IT and telecom, while 17% will need to come directly from education.
CompTIA is launching a new program, CAPP Academy, to directly replace E2C (Education 2 Careers). Its focus is to help schools and colleges, not-for-profit training organizations and government-funded agencies to deliver CompTIA certification courses to address the skills gap in IT.
CompTIA’s Authorized Partner Program (CAPP) for Academies benefits all IT stakeholders by:
1. Preparing students with qualifications that employers recognize.
“I champion CompTIA A+ all the time. I went from knowing nothing about computers to being able to walk straight up to a computing system and work out the problem. I’ve gone from nothing to where I am today in nine months and it’s changed my life. It’s opened up doors I didn’t know were there and made me totally passionate about my career,” said David Bonnet, a CompTIA A+ student.
2. Supporting instructors with resources to build curriculum that fits within the QCF and available funding
“As a college, budgets are tight, so anything that reduces costs while maintaining valuable support is extremely welcome. When I joined Milton Keynes College, I pushed to introduce CompTIA certifications because they are industry recognized and provide students with an excellent start in the world of IT, and was keen to join E2C because of the excellent support it provided. The main hurdle to signing this off in a college was the cost. This announcement should eliminate that barrier for anyone currently teaching. For anyone keen to see how beneficial CompTIA certifications are to students, now is the perfect opportunity,” added Ken Lamb, computing and IT team manager, Milton Keynes College.
3. Allowing businesses to access qualified CompTIA certified individuals quickly and easily.
“As an employer, you don’t know if younger candidates have only touched the equipment for only 10 minutes in the classroom. With a CompTIA certification, you get a great idea of the skill levels. It puts a mark that says this person has the skill, this person has the knowledge and this person has the commitment to have bothered to do the course,” said Malcolm Newdick, managing director, Riverbank.
Some of the new CAPP Academy benefits in the U.K. include:
- Free instructor resources, lesson plans, student recruitment, employer engagement and how-to guides,
- Access to the Academy Web portal including an instructor community, blog, webinars, videos, testimonials, case studies, best practice documents and instructor-of-the-month program, and
- Access to the Student Web portal including competitions, case studies, links with employers and student-of-the-year program.
Other benefits carried over from E2C include:
- Heavily discounted exam vouchers,
- Free instructor vouchers,
- Free marketing materials, posters, sales kits, use of logo, and
- Access to CompTIA research and trend reports.
Existing E2C members will be offered full support in transitioning onto the new scheme.
To find out more, check out http://www.comptia.org/global/en-GB/capp/academy.aspx.
