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 BCS
ANNOUNCES AWARDS FINALISTS
The British Computer Society has revealed the finalists for its 2007 IT Industry
Awards. Over 600 nominations were received for the 23 awards, of whom 200 survived
the first round of rigorous judging and will now go forward to the final stages.
The winners will be announced at a gala event in London in December. Finalists
in the IT Trainer of the Year category include candidates from QA-IQ, Xpertise
Training, Learning Tree International (2), LogicaCMG and five other providers. Oct
2007
GLOBAL
KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS WITH FOX IT FOR ITIL
 Global
Knowledge has signed a partnership agreement with Fox IT, a global
provider of IT Service Management and Governance solutions and services,
to provide a complete range of learning services and consultancy
solutions for corporate and public sector clients. Global Knowledge
will now run a wide-ranging Service Management public course schedule
on behalf of the two companies while Fox IT will focus on developing
consultancy and private training engagements in the UK and across
EMEA. In terms of publicly-scheduled courses Global Knowledge's portfolio
will also include ISO 20000 and COBIT training delivered from its
centres across the UK. Oct 2007
QA-IQ
LAUNCHES ITIL v3 BRIDGING COURSES
 Service
Management professionals can update their ITIL qualifications with
two newly launched bridging courses from QA-IQ. The courses – for
the Foundation and Manager's Certificates respectively – are
accredited by ISEB on behalf of the APM Group, and QA-IQ says they
are ideal for holders of certification from earlier ITIL versions
who want to quickly gain a good overview of the new content of ITIL
version 3, as well as achieving the certification. Oct
2007
ONLINE
GUIDE HIGHLIGHTS FUNDED TRAINING
e-skills UK is offering a free
online guide for employers, the Training and Development
Guide, highlighting funded or subsidised ICT training and
development opportunities in the UK. The new facility allows employers
to gain quick access to the UK's most comprehensive database of
funding opportunities for a number of purposes including training. Oct
2007
CISCO
CERTIFICATION HOLDERS RECEIVE FAST-TRACK IET MEMBERSHIP
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the professional
society for engineering and technology, and Cisco have announced
they are working together “to promote professional development
in the IT industry”. Under their terms of the agreement,
holders of a Cisco certification will be eligible to receive fast-track
entry to IET membership. Oct 2007
ASSIMA
SECURES FIRST DEAL IN FAR EAST
Assima Plc has secured its first contract in China, less than two
months after announcing its expansion into the Asia Pacific region.
The deal with Ping An, the country's largest insurance company,
will see the deployment of Assima's unique Software Simulation
tool, the Assima Training Suite (ATS), for several internal HTML
applications. Shenzhen-based Ping An employs 40,000 full-time employees,
200,000 agents and operates more than 160 internal applications. The
introduction of ATS is a result of Assima's new partnership with
eLearn Consult Ltd - one of the leading e-learning consultancies
in the region. Oct 2007
NEW
CLIENTS FOR INFORMATION TRANSFER
Information Transfer has won business from three more new clients.
PZ Cussons, a leading FMCG company, has asked Information
Transfer to train, coach and support its internal training
team to develop e-learning modules on a new system. For Trinity-Chiesi,
a pharmaceutical company, Information Transfer is reworking existing
training materials on a new product range for the field sales team.
And it is working with services, maintenance and building group
Interserve to develop e-learning materials to support the induction
of new staff. Oct 2007
ENSURE
SKILLS ARE IN PLACE FOR VISTA DEPLOYMENT IN 2008
QA-IQ says many companies are waiting for Service Pack 1 to be
released for Microsoft’s Windows Vista before beginning deployment.
Over 70% of attendees at QA-IQ’s recent Vista Deployment
Summit said they are more likely to deploy Vista following its
first significant update, currently scheduled for early 2008. But
the company says they should already be considering the skills
that their teams will need to deploy and support the new operating
system: “The changes to both Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft
Office System mean that organisations can’t rely on their
staff immediately adapting to the new systems – training
will ensure that productivity maintained”, it says. Oct
2007
HAPPY
COMPUTERS SHORTLISTED AGAIN
 Happy
Computers has once again been rated as one of the best companies
in the UK for customer service. Happy, a past winner, is one of four
companies shortlisted in the business-to-business section of the
2007 UK Customer Experience awards, which aim to identify which companies
are industry leaders in terms of serving customers. The judging process
includes visits to the companies, mystery shopping and talking to
customers. The winners will be announced in a supplement to the Sunday
Times on 11th November. Oct 2007
KNOWLEDGEPOOL
STRENGTHENS SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM
KnowledgePool has made three new appointments and says it has formalised
its client relationship and customer service functions to provide
improved support to clients at both the corporate and individual
levels. Lindsay Grieve joins from Centrica as COO; Sean Craig,
previously an account director, has been promoted to the newly-created
position of Head of Client Relationship Management; and Suzanne
Brewer has been appointed to the new position of Head of Customer
Services. Oct 2007
iPHONE
TO FUEL CONTRACTOR SHORTAGE
The Association of Technology Staffing Companies (Atsco) says demand
for content and applications for the Apple iPhone will push up
the cost of hiring IT contractors skilled in developing software
for mobile devices when it is launched in the UK and Europe later
this year. Atsco’s research shows that rates for contractors
in the telecoms sector have risen by 16% in the last 12 months
due to the shortage of software engineers experienced in developing
for platforms such as Windows Mobile, and it predicts this pressure
will increase with the launch of the iPhone . Oct
2007
EMPLOYERS
MUST CLOSE TRAINING DIVIDE, SAYS TUC
Britain's employers must act quickly to close the training divide
between graduate and unskilled workers if Britain is to compete
successfully in the global economy, according to a new TUC report. Time
to tackle the training divide analyses the latest official
data for training take up in the UK, to show that last year 41%
of graduate employees took part in work-based learning compared
to only 12% of their colleagues who left school without any qualifications.
The report also highlights the fact that over a third of UK employers
(35%) systematically fail to offer their staff any training at
work, and says this is a key reason why the UK has such a long
way to go before it has a highly-skilled workforce. Oct
2007
ORACLE
EDUCATION FOUNDATION LAUNCHES THINKQUEST
 The
Oracle Education Foundation has launched ThinkQuest International
2008, a global project learning competition open to students aged
9-19 from around the world. The competition encourages participants
to team with peers in other regions to create educational websites
and develop valuable skills. Entries are due on 2 April 2008, allowing
teams several months to build their websites. Oct
2007
SHORTLIST
ANNOUNCED FOR E-LEARNING AWARDS
The finalists have been announced for this year’s E-learning
Awards, organised by e.learning age. Among those shortlisted for
the eleven awards are Academy Internet, Atlantic Link, Epic, MyKnowledgeMap,
RedTray, Saffron Interactive and ThirdForce. The winners will be
announced at an awards ceremony in London on 8 November. Oct
2007
WOLCE
2007 MARKS STEP-CHANGE FOR ASSIMA (DACG)
To coincide with the forthcoming WOLCE exhibition, Assima (DACG)
is launching a new version of its Assima Training Suite, with new
Outlook/Vista look and feel, in-built collaborative workflow, enhanced
plug and play, and an enhanced Tutorial Content Builder. It will
also unveil an enhanced version of the Assima Performance Suite – including
advanced analytics which allow businesses to identify which learners
have problems in the live application, where, and how often – and
is show-casing its new Assima Change Management Suite. Oct
2007
UK
CONTACT CENTRES WASTE £2.53 BILLION PA, SAYS KNOWLEDGE
SOLUTIONS
A growing training and support gap in the UK's 6,000 contact
centres is impacting customer service for the worse, according
to Knowledge Solutions. Exacerbated by high rates of staff churn
(nearly 25%) and the need to train new starters, it claims this
is costing the industry £2.53 billion in unnecessary time
and resources – and that the solution lies in flexible e-learning. "The
true picture may be even worse than our figures show," says
CEO Adrian Palmer-Geaves. "It is impossible to quantify the
damage to brand when agents are unable to navigate applications
and provide fast answers to customers. Additionally, for organisations
looking to roll-out new applications or even update existing ones
flexible knowledge transfer is critical to their success or failure,
meaning that e-learning should be central to their deployment."Oct
2007
ATLANTIC
LINK ROLLED OUT AT BT RETAIL
BT has extended its uptake of Atlantic Link's rapid e-learning
software tools, rolling them out to BT Retail. Following a decision
to standardise on e-learning authoring tools, BT selected Atlantic
Link’s collaborative authoring system for creating, managing,
and tracking learning content. Atlantic Link says the system has
empowered subject matter experts to create their own training;
expanded the use of e-learning to new applications; and decreased
costs. Oct 2007
INFORMATION
TRANSFER DEVELOPS E-LEARNING FOR NHS
 Information
Transfer has developed a course on financial management for Leeds
Teaching Hospitals, the NHS’ largest Trust. The e-learning
module, written for non-financial staff in the Trust, covers Payment
by Results, a central element of the health service financial system. Oct
2007
BRIGHTWAVE
EXPANDS TEAM
Brightwave has made several new appointments to its team at its
new Brighton office as a result of continued project growth and
expansion of existing client contracts. Client management now has
an additional Account Manager, Carl Mason (formerly of Thomson
NETg), and a Project Account Manager, Victoria Cooper. The technical
department is now headed by a new Technical Manager, Paul Burns,
who was previously Development Manager at Futuremedia. Oct
2007
WILLIAMS
TO RUN VERHOEF FRANCHISE
Huw Williams has taken on the European franchise (excluding UK)
of Verhoef Training to develop the business into new countries
and geographies. Williams was at Amdahl Education until it was
taken over by RSM, and in the last few years has worked closely
with Verhoef USA on a number of projects and initiatives, including
a major project to develop a new generation of system programmers
for a leading US bank. Oct 2007
ECHELON
ENROLS NON-EXEC DIRECTOR
Alistair Morrison has joined Echelon as a non-executive director.
He was managing director of learning content producer Skillchange
Systems, and one of the leaders of the UK's embryonic e-learning
industry in the 1990s. Morrison was previously an operational board
director at defence and space specialists Vega, and later marketing
director at Lorien Customer Focus. Oct 2007
UNIVERSITY
ADDS PRINCE2 FROM MAVEN TRAINING
 Maven
Training has announced a partnership with the University of Westminster
to provide specialist project management training for students enrolled
in the School of Informatics at the University's Central London campus.
Students will now be able to pursue the PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner
qualifications. Oct 2007
CONSULTATION
ON RECOGNITION OF EMPLOYER TRAINING
The Government has announced plans for accrediting the in-house training schemes
of major companies, so that they lead to recognised qualifications. It says the
move is part of its drive to give employers a stronger role in shaping employees’ skills
to meet their needs, and will give them a leading role in reforming vocational
qualifications.
The DIUS has asked the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to launch
a consultation into how a national system of accreditation for employers’ training
schemes will work in practice. A framework will be developed to include and recognise
all good quality training schemes, wherever they are delivered and whoever is
in charge of them. This consultation is to enable employers and qualification
providers to share their views on the benefits of having their customised training
programmes recognised within the national system. They can also comment on how
best this might be achieved. A parallel consultation for private training organisations,
FE colleges and other providers of training who wish to have their provision
accredited will be launched shortly. Oct 2007
E-SKILLS
UK INITIATIVE TO REVITALISE INTEREST IN IT
e-skills UK, the Sector Skills Council for IT and Telecoms, has
announced a major new initiative to transform the attitudes of
young people to IT-related education and careers, and says it will
support universities in developing and promoting courses that reflect
the needs of IT professional careers. Supported by the Higher Education
Funding Council for England, the 'Revitalise IT' initiative brings
together employers, universities and schools “to help prepare
the UK's future IT professionals”.
'Revitalise IT' is based on two complementary themes: 'AmbITion'
focuses on changing attitudes and stimulating demand among young
people for technology-related degrees and careers, says e-skills
UK. It will include a special emphasis on widening participation
in higher education and improving the gender balance in IT. The
'Catalyst' programme focuses on degree curricula, promoting the
capabilities graduates develop from different types of IT-related
degree courses and encouraging curriculum development in areas
of industry growth. Oct 2007
EU
TO DRIVE FORWARD E-SKILLS
The European Commission says recent reports and surveys indicate
that Europe may face severe e-skills shortages and mismatches in
the coming years – and now is the time to do something about
it. At the same time, it says, e-skills are becoming central to
boost innovation, productivity and employability and to respond
to global challenges. So the Commission has proposed a long-term
e-skills agenda and a set of action lines at EU level following
extensive expert group and stakeholder consultations.
Member states are being encouraged to further develop their own
policies and initiatives, while the Commission will focus its own
efforts on actions bringing added value at EU level. It intends
to work on raising awareness; developing supporting actions and
tools (including the development of a European e-competence framework
and a European e-skills and career portal, and establishing quality
criteria for industry-based training); fostering employability
and social inclusion; promoting better and greater use of e-learning;
and promoting long-term cooperation and monitoring progress. The
Commission plans to organise a major conference at the end of 2008
to report on progress, present the results of the actions and discuss
the way forward. Oct 2007
52,000
EMPLOYERS JOIN TRAIN TO GAIN
Train to Gain has marked its first anniversary since it was rolled
out nationally. More than 52,000 employers have signed up so far,
and nearly 230,000 employees have begun learning through Train
to Gain, while almost 96,000 have already completed full Level
2 qualifications. The LSC says the service is evolving and expanding
as it enters its second year, and that it is working more closely
with training providers and other partners to help businesses understand
the importance and benefits of training. Oct
2007
FORECASTING
EUROPEAN SKILLS NEEDS
A report has now been published by Cedefop on the project to develop
a Pan-European skills needs forecasting capability (see below,
June 2007). The publication summarises previous efforts to create
pan-European skills forecasts and looks at the feasibility of a
common approach as well as classifications, data and models essential
for European skill needs forecasting. It also presents structured
information on methods, models, data sources and classifications
of forecasting approaches in 14 Member States Oct
2007
ONLINE
GUIDE HIGHLIGHTS FUNDED TRAINING
e-skills UK is offering a free
online guide for employers, the Training and Development
Guide, highlighting funded or subsidised ICT training and
development opportunities in the UK. The new facility allows employers
to gain quick access to the UK's most comprehensive database of
funding opportunities for a number of purposes including training. Oct
2007
JOB
MATCHING IN THE UK AND EUROPE
Job-skills mismatches (i.e. the extent to which an individual possesses
the skills appropriate for their job) are higher in the UK than
in any of the other EU-15 countries, according to new research
published by the SSDA. The research indicates that the average
proportion of employees who are 'matched' to their job in the EU-15
was 85% in 2000, compared to a UK average of 80%. Within the
UK, 11% of employees were under-skilled for their jobs and 8% were
over-skilled. The report concludes that both over- and under-skilling
can impact on productivity levels; and that active, targeted training
activity by employers can help to reduce job mismatches. (Reported
by LSC Research Newsletter) Oct 2007
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