February 09, 2009

By Jason Deign

A+, ECDL, CCNA®… as if doing an IT course were not tough enough, choosing the right certification can be quite a test in itself.

But now the European Union, a community well-versed in trying to deal with differing standards and benchmarks, has brought together Cisco®, Microsoft and other IT leaders, plus major education and certification organizations, to try to simplify matters-and improve the global competitiveness of the continent into the bargain.

In June 2007, EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Enterprise and Industry, endorsed the launch of an E-Skills Industry Leadership Board (ILB) co-chaired by Cisco and Microsoft.

"Your initiative is addressing an issue at the heart of the policy challenges faced by the European Union," he told 15 founding member organizations from the IT and education sectors.

"A highly skilled and adaptable workforce will be the foundation for Europe's competitiveness and prosperity in the 21st century."

Industry attempts to improve access to IT training have had a fairly convoluted history in Europe. Back in 2001, the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) recommended an EU-led approach to bridging IT skills.

In its 'Barcelona Declaration', the body noted: "As the global economy becomes increasingly digital, the competitiveness of the European market in turn becomes more dependent on the availability of skills in information and communication technologies (ICT).

"The ICT training industry in Europe strongly urges the European Commission and other decision-makers to consider … recommendations to help keep the European market competitive and encourage fair competition in the world-wide digital economy."

This call to action led to the formation of a group called the e-Skills Competencies Consortium (e-SCC), whose membership included Cisco, CompTIA, the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Foundation, EXIN (an IT examination provider) and Microsoft.

In 2006, the EU consulted with the e-SCC on the best way to improve the competitiveness of the Union through an ICT Task Force for Competitiveness.

The e-SCC's response was to propose broadening the scope of industry involvement and the inclusion of more players, resulting in the creation of the E-Skills ILB.

Currently the ILB counts 13 members: all five e-SCC founders plus HP, Intel, Oracle, Siemens, the grants consultant Econet, the examinations body Prometric and training providers Global Knowledge and INLEA Foundation.

In addition, the Council of European Professional Informatics Societies and the European Information Technology Observatory jointly provide an advisory committee.

So far, so bureaucratic; but the members of the ILB have no doubt that their work is critical to the future of an entire continent.

"With this initiative, businesses and EU institutions are working together to protect European competitiveness," says Yvon le Roux, Vice President of the Public Sector for Cisco in Europe.

Virtually every European nation is facing significant IT skills shortages, with more than an estimated 14 percent gap between demand and supply in much of Eastern Europe, Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, according to Cisco-sponsored research by IDC.

And while the industry has for some time been trying to alleviate the situation through the introduction of training programs such as the highly successful Cisco Networking Academy®, the fact remains that these have tended to address specific skills needs.

As a consequence, there are now many IT qualifications to choose from, such as the CompTIA A+, the ECDL and certifications from Cisco, Microsoft and other vendors, but little in the way of a wider, coordinated approach towards improving IT skills across the board.

The ILB should go a long way towards improving the situation. "We did not keep the e-SCC because it was very focused on certification and potential members such as HP were more interested in digital literacy," points out co-chair Antonio Herrera, of Cisco.

Currently the organization is aiming to boost Europe's IT skills on two fronts. The first is to help people who want to gain a professional certification by matching qualifications to job profiles which are standardized across Europe.

This already happens to an extent, says Herrera, but the ILB's work will help remove inconsistencies. It means anyone wanting a particular job in IT will know exactly what certification to aim for and will be able to use that qualification to work anywhere in Europe.

In addition, having a more standard approach to professional training will make it easier to integrate IT skills tuition into national education curricula, giving more people the opportunity to gain certifications with both academic and market relevance.

The second line of attack is to improve overall digital literacy, by addressing the skills requirements of non-IT professionals and trying to raise the level of IT knowledge in the general population.

"It is a slow process because of the complexity of the EU, the number of members involved in the ILB and the fact that we have only recently got started," says Herrera. "But some initiatives are already underway and should soon deliver results."

Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.