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 THOMSON
EXPLAINS PROMETRIC SALE
As reported below, Thomson Corporation has decided to divest the
Thomson Learning Division, which includes the Thomson Prometric
testing business. Thomson says that since Prometric’s business
model is different from the other companies in the Thomson Learning
portfolio, it believes Prometric and its clients will be better
served by being sold independently of the rest of the Thomson Learning
business. Thomson anticipates continued growth at Prometric throughout
2006, and expects it to continue to prosper under new ownership.
Oct 2006
SKILLSOFT
TO BUY NETG, PROMETRIC TO BE SOLD
 Thomson
Corporation has announced that it is selling its Thomson Learning
businesses. Thomson NETg will be sold to SkillSoft for about $285million.
The sale is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2007.
Thomson is seeking buyers for Prometric through a competitive bidding
process, and expects the sale of Prometric to be concluded in 2007.
Based on unaudited figures, consolidated revenue for the NETg business
was approximately $160 million in 2005, of which 74% came from its
core e-learning content and the remainder from other products and
services, including instructor-led training, custom consulting services,
print-based content and third party content products. SkillSoft
says the acquisition “will help SkillSoft to reach critical
mass and shorten its timeframe to approach its long term operating
profitability objectives through incremental scalability and significant
cost synergies”. Oct 2006
MOVING
ON
Long-term UK & Ireland General Manager of HP Education Services
Andy Wilson is to leave his post at the end of October. Oct
2006
ARNETT
LEAVES INTELLEGO
In a brief statement to the LSE, Intellego announced that Edward
Arnett, commercial director, had left the company and ceased to
be a director of the company with immediate effect. The Board wished
him well for the future. Intellego was admitted to AIM in December
2004. Oct 2006
FIRTH
IS NEW MD AT PARITY TRAINING
 Rick
Firth is the new Managing Director of Parity Training. Firth has
over twenty years’ successful experience in the education
and training sector, having previously held senior roles at NCC
Education, Pearson Education and Edexcel. Oct
2006
MASKREY
AND BEARD MOVE UP AT SUN
Simon Maskrey, Educational Services Manager at Sun Microsystems,
is moving to a new EMEA role with responsibility for the Authorised
Sun Education Reseller (ASER) program as well as product portfolio
management for Sun’s range of education deliverables for its
customers. Nick Beard has been appointed as Sun’s Chief Learning
Officer in the UK, a new title reflecting a wider remit for the
delivery organisation supporting Sun's customers, employees and
partners. Oct 2006
STEED
VOWS TO CLAMP DOWN ON SELF-FUNDER TRAINING MARKET – AND SLAMS
LSC
 Appearing
on BBC TV's consumer watchdog programme Inside Out, Institute of
IT Training chief executive Colin Steed has vowed to clean up the
‘self-funder’ training market. Steed said the Institute
has launched a campaign to protect the public from practices that
are plaguing the industry, such as promising jobs and using hard
selling techniques. The Institute has formed a steering group of
training providers to compile a rigorous accreditation programme
for the self-funder market. Explained Steed: “We shall set
up the scheme so that the buyer is protected against mis-selling
in much the same way as the FSA has cleaned up the financial services
industry”.
Steed wants the LSC to help him in the campaign, since LSC Career
Development Loans are used in the majority of cases. "We are
making every effort to get to the right people in the LSC, but our
efforts to date have been fruitless", he said. Oct
2006
GLOBAL
KNOWLEDGE APPOINTS THOMAS LEE
Global Knowledge has announced the appointment of Thomas Lee as
Chief Architect. The position has been created to reflect the increasing
importance of the Microsoft market to Global Knowledge. In his new
role, Lee will be responsible for the development and delivery of
leading edge training programmes on Microsoft technologies, identifying
future market trends, and recommending new products. Lee will be
working with Global Knowledge’s European operations to develop
and grow their overall Microsoft capabilities. Lee has been a Microsoft
Most Valued Professional (MVP) continuously since 1995, and was
previously Microsoft Chief Architect at QA. Oct
2006
SIGN
UP NOW FOR ProfIT WORKSHOPS
 e-skills
UK is running a series of workshops as part of the new 'Professionalism
in IT' (ProfIT) programme, which it runs jointly with the British
Computer Society, Intellect and NCC. The workshops will share best
practice and help to prioritise and shape a number of potential
programmes for IT professionals. These initiatives include fast-tracking
early career development for IT professionals; establishing a common
language for skills; and making sense of training provision to ensure
it meets employer needs. Register
online. Oct 2006
SHAREPOINT
COURSES FROM QA INTERQUAD
With the release of SharePoint 2007 scheduled for early next year,
QA InterQuad is launching a new range of Microsoft SharePoint courses,
giving attendees the chance to begin working with the latest collaboration
technologies as well as providing in-depth support for those deploying
and managing SharePoint. The courses are designed to help users
of SharePoint at all levels, providing a management level understanding
of what the technology can offer, through to courses for site administrators
and end users. Oct 2006
NEW
HORIZONS ON THE UP
 New
Horizons London is continuing to develop its portfolio and extend
its reach. It has won a large contract with Volkswagen Financial
Services for the provision of e-Learning content and LMS, and extended
its agreement with MySQL to provide facilities across the world
for its training courses. Oct 2006
NHS
HIRES MOBILE CLASSROOMS TO BOOST TRAINING
The NHS is bringing in extra trainers to strengthen support for
its £12bn IT modernisation programme. It has signed a deal
with PC Coaching which will provide mobile training units and training
staff to support the rollout of the National Programme for IT in
England. The two-year deal will address the training facility shortage
across the NHS for end user training delivery, and is designed to
strengthen support for the massive tech programme, one of the largest
public sector IT projects in the world. The NHS employs more than
1.3 million people and says it recognises the importance of helping
them to understand and effectively use the new IT systems being
implemented. (Reported by silicon.com) Oct
2006
REDTRAY
5TH IN TECH TRACK 100
 RedTray
has been listed in 5th position in The Sunday Times 2006 Tech Track
100, which ranks Britain's fastest-growing private tech companies
based on 2003-2005 sales growth. RedTray announced a 2005 turnover
of £4.5 million compared to £750,000 in 2004. The greatest
impact was delivered through its five-year £16 million agreement
with IT services company Computer Sciences Corporation, and its
acquisitions of Knowledge=Power and BlueU. Oct
2006
INFOSYS
TARGETS UK GRADUATES
Offshore Indian IT giant Infosys is launching a drive to recruit
UK graduates for entry-level jobs as the company expands its European
operations. The company has already recruited 125 graduates for
a similar programme in the US and is now looking initially for 25
graduates from UK universities. Infosys has almost 60,000 employees
worldwide, with 1,500 of those in its UK operation. The graduates
will spend six months in India doing full-time classroom training,
from which they will earn a certification and gain hands-on experience
working on projects, before they are put to work with clients back
in the UK. (Reported by silicon.com) Oct
2006
ACADEMY
INTERNET ACQUIRES ADVAL ASSETS AND STAFF
Academy Internet has announced that it has acquired the exclusive
global intellectual property rights to the Originate rapid e-learning
authoring tool - seen as key to Maxim's success before its merger
with AdVal which is now in administration. It has also retained
six of the core members of the award winning e-learning team from
Maxim (formerly known as KnowledgePool e-learning), and most of
their former customers. Oct 2006
BCS
PLANS NEW QUALIFICATION FOR MAINFRAME PROFESSIONALS
The British Computer Society is to launch a new set of qualifications
for IT professionals working with mainframes. These will be based
on a modular structure that will allow tailored certifications for
individual organisations. As part of this development the BCS is
currently seeking to hear from members who are mainframe specialists
who may wish to have some input into the quality review process.
If you are interested, please email
Stephen Daniels at BCS Oct 2006
QA
INTERQUAD AWARDED NOVELL ELITE PARTNER STATUS...
 QA
InterQuad has been awarded Elite Partner status by Novell in recognition
of its high standard of customer service, quality of training delivery
and the growth in its authorised Linux training. The company –
now a ‘Linux Centre of Excellence’ – is one of
only 25 organisations worldwide to be awarded this status, and the
only one in the UK. The company’s results showed the highest
level of customer satisfaction and growth for the EMEA region. Oct
2006
...
AND VOTED BEST TRAINING COMPANY BY DEVELOPERS
QA InterQuad has also demonstrated its expertise in providing training
for the developer community by being voted Best Training Company
by the readers of Visual Systems Journal (VSJ). QA won the award
in each of the three previous years. The VSJ reader awards are based
on an open vote by the magazine's readers, and also include a range
of categories such as software and developer tools, as well as books
and web resources. Oct 2006
COMPETITION
COMMISSION AWARDS MTS CONTRACT TO KNOWLEDGEPOOL
The Competition Commission (CC) is aiming to improve access to training
and make efficiency gains after awarding an innovative managed services
contract to KnowledgePool. KnowledgePool is providing its web-based
training administration system which will enable Commission staff
to search a catalogue of soft skills and IT training courses from
preferred suppliers, and to book them directly from their desktop.
In addition, KnowledgePool will design and deliver an accredited
management development programme and will provide on-demand training
in specific areas such as customer service and interview skills.
Oct 2006
PEOPLE
ON THE MOVE
Nigel Pearson has left Global Knowledge, where he was European COO.
And Janet Way has left The Matchett Group, where she was COO. Oct
2006
CONCERN
OVER BLACKBOARD E-LEARNING PATENT
Learning Light has expressed concerns over the international implications
of an e-learning related lawsuit in the USA. News from the USA that
Blackboard Inc, a provider of enterprise software and services to
the education industry, has been issued a US patent for technology
used for internet-based education support systems and methods (and
subsequently is suing its competitor, Desire2Learn) has caused concern
among the e-learning communities on both sides of the Atlantic.
The patent covers core technology relating to certain systems and
methods involved in offering online education, including course
management systems and enterprise e-learning systems. Mark Pittaway,
CEO of Learning Light, commented: "Things covered by this patent
include many common systems and methods that people in higher education
and the corporate sector had used for years before the filing date
of Blackboard's patent request.” Oct 2006
LEARNING
TREE COURSE ON CMS FOR WEB SITES
Learning Tree International has added a new hands-on course to its
Web Development and Web Services curriculum. Content Management
Systems for Web Sites is a 3-day course providing practical experience
in creating and implementing a Content Management System (CMS) solution.
The course is aimed at anyone who is involved in the evaluation,
planning, design or implementation of a CMS-driven Web site. Oct
2006
ISEB
IS EVOLVING
 On
Tuesday 17 October at Café de Paris in London, ISEB will
be officially announcing how it has moved forward with its range
of qualifications and how IT practitioners will benefit. The event
content is based around the new ISEB portfolio, which can be seen
as a pdf here.
The event is aimed both at those who are responsible for IT training
in their organisations, and at IT training companies looking for
a broader portfolio. To attend the event or to find out more about
the benefits of the ISEB portfolio, email
Stephen Daniels at BCS. Oct 2006
NEW
TRAINING ON THE HUMAN SIDE OF PM
People Deliver Projects is a new consortium of independent consultants,
trainers and professional actors who have joined forces to provide
a range of project management training which addresses the 'people
issues' in project management. Andy Taylor, of the People Deliver
Projects team, says: “It's people who make the tools work,
not the other way around. Yet, when we look at the project management
training market, it's simply saturated with methodology-based training
courses. Our purpose is to redress this imbalance”. Oct
2006
OFFSHORE
STAFF WILL DOUBLE BY 2008, SAYS OVUM
 The
number of people in offshore locations delivering software and IT
services (SITS) to the UK will double to over 130,000 in the next
three years, according to a new study by Ovum. The report predicts
a 6% fall in the number of UK-based SITS staff by the end of 2008,
which equates to the loss of 5,000 onshore positions each year.
It says the bulk of job reductions will fall in programming, other
lower-level technical roles, call centre/help desk and back-office
corporate administration. Rather than fight this trend, Ovum advises
UK firms to focus on business-centric IT skills, as these will be
critical to the success of both the IT sector and the wider UK economy.
Oct 2006
THE
LIVE SOFTWARE SIMULATION CHALLENGE
A new high profile opportunity for learning software developers
will create an interesting interactive feature for delegates to
the World of Learning Conference at the NEC in November. Learning
software specialists are being invited to compete in a challenge
to develop and demonstrate a training software simulation package
that can teach a new internet user how to search for and purchase
an England football shirt on eBay. The workshop will take place
live on stage with an audience of conference delegates, who judge
the performance of each training programme against a set of learning
criteria including ease of use, innovation and appearance and then
vote for a winner using interactive handsets. Oct
2006
E-LEARNING
AWARDS SHORTLIST
The shortlist has been published for the E-learning Awards 2006,
which are run in association with the eLearning Network and e.learning
age magazine. Now in their second year, the objective of the awards
is “to recognise excellence in the industry - the programmes,
projects and strategies which have enjoyed the greatest success
during the past year”. Organisations shortlisted for one or
more of the e-learning awards include City & Guilds, Information
Transfer (for its blended learning programme for Priory Group),
Brightwave, eOrigen.com and Atlantic Link. The full shortlist can
be found here.
Oct 2006
QA
INTERQUAD LAUNCHES 'FIRST LOOK' MICROSOFT TRAINING
QA InterQuad has launched a range of First Look workshops for early
adopters and IT professionals considering implementing the much
anticipated Microsoft technologies to be launched later this year.
Combining a high-level overview of the new technologies and features
with an insight into the benefits of implementation, these one-day
workshops will provide the skills needed to begin the implementation
and administration of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows Vista
and Office System 2007. Oct 2006
BUPA
BENEFITS FROM E-LEARNING
 An
e-learning programme, developed for BUPA by Tata Interactive Systems
(TIS), is claimed to have reduced training time by 40%, reduced
travel costs significantly and “is proving so popular with
BUPA staff that only one person has requested the classroom-delivered
training alternative to the e-learning programme since the programme
was introduced in June”. The programme teaches BUPA staff
how to operate their Blackberry PDAs efficiently and effectively.
The e-learning programme also provides easily accessible refresher
training at any time. Oct 2006
WCIT
TO FOUND CITY ACADEMY?
 The
Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT), the City
of London Livery company for the IT industry, is considering plans
to set up a City Academy specialising in IT. If the WCIT goes ahead
with the project the school - likely to be in London - could be
up and running within 3-4 years. It would probably teach the 11-18
age group and would specialise in technology and creativity, but
the full curriculum would be covered. John Leighfield, master of
the WCIT, says: “We see the opportunity, under the academy
scheme, to set up an exemplar school which would use the technology
in a comprehensive and concerted way to the benefit of the particular
academy and its students and, because it will become an exemplar,
to the benefit of many other schools”. (Reported by silicon.com)
Oct 2006
BROADSKILL
SHORTLISTED FOR COMPUTING AWARD
Computing magazine has announced the shortlist for its 2006 Computing
Awards, and IT training company BroadSkill has been short listed
in the 'Most IT-enabled small business' category. Computing says
entries this year were of a very high quality and there was a record
number of submissions, so it was very difficult to create a shortlist
of just 5-6 companies. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony
in London in October. Oct 2006
NEW
LONDON CENTRE FOR MAVEN TRAINING
Maven Training, a provider of project and programme management training,
has opened new training premises in London. All publicly-scheduled
courses in London will be held in the centre’s five training
rooms, which are conveniently located close to several city stations,
quality accommodation, cafes and restaurants. Rooms are available
for hire by clients who do not have access to their own training
facilities, and are also suitable for corporate meetings and events.
Oct 2006
HAYS
PARTNERS WITH BRIGHTWAVE
Hays, which provides specialist recruitment and HR services, has
partnered with Brightwave, the workplace learning specialist, to
develop a blended training programme for the Office for National
Statistics' (ONS) upcoming Census Test in 2007. The programme will
mix classroom based learning with e-learning to make sure the Census
teams have the right skills to maximise the returns from the Test.
Brightwave will develop several e-learning modules for the ONS that
will cover the general introduction to the Census as well as role
specific information for team managers and enumerators. There will
also be an online resource library for staff. Oct
2006
E2TRAIN
OPENS NEW OFFICES AFTER RAPID GROWTH
The e-learning software provider e2train has opened a new head office
in Cirencester after growing out of its previous home in just two
years. In 2005 e2train was ranked second in the Deloitte Rising
Star Technology awards, a ranking of the fastest growing technology
companies in the London & Southern Region. Rankings were based
on average percentage revenue growth over three years between 2002
and 2004. e2train grew 920% during this period. Its customers include
Nissan Europe, O2, Ofcom, House of Fraser, Waitrose, various police
forces and NHS Trusts and seven of the UK’s top 10 building
societies. Oct 2006
EORIGEN.COM
TO MARKET NHS E-LEARNING
eOrigen.com has secured a multi-media marketing programme for a
major e-learning project for the NHS. Earlier this year, the government-sponsored
Non-Medical Prescribing e-Learning Project was awarded the IVCA
Gold Award. The new marketing programme, which includes print production,
web site development and a DVD, is designed to raise awareness and
increase the number of practitioners taking the course. The target
audience will be made up of nurses, midwives, health visitors, pharmacists,
and other health professionals. Oct 2006
CREAT
FROM TATA
E-learning producer Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) has launched
Customized Range of Enterprise Application Training (CREAT). The
company says enterprise application training provides the constant
challenge of producing training materials for a system that is still
under development and so will continue to change - right up to its
deployment, when the training materials will be required. CREAT
allows TIS clients to safeguard their investments in enterprise
software by ensuring that training for users maps to their specific
needs and facilitates seamless integration within the business,
so that employees are fully competent at 'go-live'. TIS says CREAT
is distilled from its experience with its clients worldwide. Oct
2006
INTELLEGO
WINS CONTRACT WITH TRAVELEX
 Intellego
has won a contract with Travelex, the world's largest non-bank foreign
exchange company. Intellego will provide a full-service e-Learning
solution to Travelex comprising a Learning Management System and
content authoring tools. Additionally, Intellego has been retained
by Travelex to migrate an existing Anti-Money Laundering training
programme into easily editable format using its Composica programming-free
authoring technology. Oct 2006
POLL
SAYS FOREIGN WORKERS NOT NEEDED BY UK IT
Mind the IT skills gap? Not according to technology users voting
in a silicon.com reader poll, the majority of whom firmly believe
it is unnecessary for overseas workers to be drafted into service
in the UK. 77% of respondents said they don't believe the UK needs
to bring in skilled IT workers from overseas to fill posts. Philip
Virgo, strategic advisor to the Institute for the Management of
Information Systems, has already cast doubt on the existence of
a skills shortage, saying the problem is instead a lack of "opportunity/incentive
to maintain, upgrade and update" the skills of the existing
IT workforce. (Reported by silicon.com) Oct
2006
THE
EUROPEAN QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK
The European Commission has adopted a proposal to establish a European Qualifications
Framework (EQF). The core element of the EQF is a set of eight reference levels
describing what a learner knows, understands and is able to do – their
learning outcomes – regardless of the system where a particular qualification
was acquired. The EC says this approach supports a better match between the skills
needs of the labour market and education and training provisions; facilitates
the validation of non-formal and informal learning; and facilitates the transfer
and use of qualifications across different countries and education and training
systems. EQF is intended to encompass general and adult education, vocational
education and training, and higher education. The draft recommendation foresees
that Member States will relate their national qualifications systems to the EQF
by 2009. (Reported by IITT) Oct 2006
TRAIN
TO GAIN GOES NATIONAL
The Government’s new £1 billion national training programme
is currently being rolled out across England. 'Train to Gain' offers
fully subsidised training up to a first full level 2 qualification,
and support for progression to level 3. The scheme is expected
to help 50,000 employers and 350,000 employees every year. The
service is managed and delivered by the Learning and Skills Council,
and gives employers access to a free Skills Broker service, offering
advice to match training needs with training providers. Oct
2006
LONDON
SMES: MORE FREE MCP TRAINING
London SMEs (i.e. those with fewer than 250 employees) have a further
chance to get free training for their staff, including any one
Microsoft Certified Professional course and one exam towards the
MCDST, MCSA 2003, MCSE 2003 and MCDBA.NET. 50 further places are
available at the courses, run by Exchange Group, following the
popularity of the previous scheme. (Reported by The Register) Oct
2006
OECD
VERDICT ON UK EDUCATION
The OECD’s annual Education at a Glance - OECD Indicators
2006 finds that the UK is maintaining a high level of investment
in education as a proportion of GDP; spending on educational institutions
in the UK increased from 5.5% of GDP in 1995 to 6.1% in 2003, above
the OECD average of 5.9%. The report also says progress is being
made in tackling historically low post-16 staying-on rates, with
the UK ranking improving by four places compared to last year’s
report. In Higher Education, the UK remains in the top eight countries
for graduation rates and in the top five OECD nations for successful
completion of degrees, with 78% of university students in the UK
successfully completing their degrees compared to the OECD average
of 70%. The UK has one of the highest entry rates for ‘vocational’
tertiary education, improving from 6th to 5th rank between 1998
and 2004. Oct 2006
20TH
NATIONAL TRAINING AWARDS
This year’s National Training Awards have generated over
two hundred entries. UK Skills, which runs the awards on behalf
of the DfES, has announced the finalists; they include many well-known
organisations, as well as more than 30 individuals. The Awards
were introduced in 1986 to celebrate individuals, businesses and
organisations that have achieved outstanding success through training
and development. This year’s finalists achieved their success
through a diverse range of training which has enabled them, among
other things, to improve customer service, diversify their business,
help young people find employment, increase the skills of managers
and supervisors, introduce new products and progress in their careers
or become self-employed. Regional winners will be announced at
a series of regional awards ceremonies held throughout the UK in
October and November. National Training Award winners will be celebrated
at a gala ceremony in London in December. Oct
2006
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