CompTIA’s IT Pro Pens Practical Agreement with Cengage Education to
Connect Students with Industry and Boost Professional Numbers
Sydney, 29 January 2007 – A landmark agreement was announced today that
is designed to deliver a practical solution to Australia’s increasing
ICT (information and communications technology) skills crisis. Gaining
the support of the Special Minister of State, Hon. Gary Nairn, MP, and
other executives from the Australian Government Information Office
(AGIMO), this new agreement connects the industry networking, mentoring
and development services of IT Pro, the CompTIA-backed community
association for Australian IT professionals, with the flexible online
learning and career support services of national training provider,
Cengage Education.
The Australian ICT industry has suffered a year-on-year drop as career
choice since the dot.com crash and post-Y2K downturn in IT spending,
which threatens the country’s long-term position as a leader in the
global economy. With this agreement, IT Pro and Cengage Education are
providing the first practical networking and services package to
encourage people from all walks of life, and throughout Australia, to
enter the ICT industry, and increase the ICT talent pool.
The Hon. Gary Nairn, MP, said, “The ICT industry is an exciting
industry to be in and the prospects for the future look great for those
entering the industry. With both Government and Industry increasing
spending on ICT projects, we need to ramp up the number of people
entering the industry to ensure we can resource and support the
projects in the long term.”
“With record low unemployment, the overall employment market is tight –
which in a way, is a nice problem to have – a feature of a growing and
prosperous economy. It is tighter in the ICT sector and there is a need
for creative solutions to fill the need. I commend this new initiative
as a great example of innovative thinking that will lead to quick
results.”
“We’ve been successfully promoting IT degree courses, but it’s become
evident that we need more and varied entry points to the industry, and
greater links between academia and industry, if we are to effectively
address this challenge for the long term. The Australian Government
recently announced its own Traineeship program designed to help school
leavers and mature age people to get into IT careers within the public
service. Now, by offering a combination of academic tuition and
practical industry guidance and contacts, IT Pro and Cengage Education
are providing a crucial service for additional people wanting to embark
on, trial or progress, careers in ICT. I congratulate them on this
important arrangement.”
Terms of Agreement
Edward Mandla Regional Director, IT Pro, said, “There have been three
years of gabfest with summits galore on how Australia should address
its ICT skills shortage, but until now few practical solutions. A key
challenge is that a three year, full-time ICT degree is too daunting or
impractical a commitment for many would-be ICT professionals, and
doesn’t necessarily prepare a student for all real-world IT jobs
anyway. Consequently, we’re seeing a reduced skill pool, and a worrying
recruitment trend where organisations would rather poach from each
other than invest in staff training particularly at the cadet level,
and this is impacting overall industry development.
“We wanted to provide a more practical learning option that increases
entry and exit points for IT professionals. That means we need more
manageable and flexible course segments. We need to better dovetail
industry and academia. We need to help students get a true feel for the
industry as they are gaining their qualifications, to experience the
different applications of IT to the business situation, and to explore
and attain the soft skills required in any IT project. We need to help
students transfer from education more ‘job ready’ so that they are
attractive and useful to employers. It’s only by doing all this that we
will increase the actual ICT talent pool.”
To this end, under the terms of today’s agreement, Cengage Education
has committed to fast-tracking the careers of its ICT students by
funding their membership with IT Pro. Membership of IT Pro provides
access to mentoring services, forums and comprehensive, career-boosting
benefits and discounts.
In return, IT Pro’s growing membership will gain a special discount on
Cengage Education’s distance learning courses, which range from special
interests to career-based qualifications, along with Cengage’s full
student support services.
Cengage’s flexible learning solutions are designed to facilitate a
work-life balance for people looking to enter the industry, who may
have to juggle their learning ambitions with other responsibilities. A
student can sign onto a course at any time, from any location with an
Internet connection, and they can pace the course to suit them. There
are also various payment options available.
“The flexibility built into this arrangement is critical,” said Malcolm Kinns, General Manager at Cengage Education.
“The ICT industry’s future depends on its ability to recruit young
people, mature-aged sea-changers, people in regional communities and
people juggling family and other life commitments with work. This
represents a valuable talent pool that doesn’t necessarily have time to
dedicate to full-time study at a fixed metropolitan location. It’s no
coincidence that 60 percent of Cengage’s distance-learning students are
from regional Australia, and that 84 percent are women with families.
“With some practical services, the ICT industry can take advantage of
this education-hungry population. To facilitate this, in addition to
providing flexible learning opportunities, we are providing them with
connections to the industry which rounds out their education in a way
that is so critical to Australia. Australia needs people not only with
technical skills, but project management, team management and sales
skills too – and that is best served by on-the-job learning. Our
relationship with IT Pro allows our students and graduates to gain
valuable industry insights and practical techniques as well as
mentoring and networking opportunities, which gives them a terrific
early insight into the industry and hands-on experience that will boost
their career progression.”
Significantly, this agreement is expected to amount to up to 3,000 new
student registrations with IT Pro a year, securing IT Pro’s position as
the fastest growing ICT industry association in Australia.
About IT Pro
IT Pro Australia is a program developed by CompTIA to provide a community for IT professionals. IT Pro Australia is supported by leading organisations in the global IT industry, including Apple, Cisco, CompTIA, Hewlett Packard, Microsoft and many others. It provides a wide range of quantifiable benefits to members, including: mentoring, education, peer-to-peer support, career advice and opportunities, and technical tools, as well as an array of discounts on products, services, training, events, subscriptions and more. More information is available from CompTIA
About CompTIA
The Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) is a global trade association representing the business interests of the information technology (IT) industry. For more than 23 years CompTIA has provided research, networking and partnering opportunities to its 20,000-plus members in 102 countries. The association is involved in developing standards and best practices, and influencing the political, economic and educational arenas that impact IT worldwide. More information is available from CompTIA
About Cengage Education
Cengage Education Pty Ltd– a division of the Cengage Learning. Cengage Education is a world leader in the field of distance education. Operating in Australia since 1921, Cengage Education is Australia’s largest and most respected distance learning institution. It currently has over 35,000 students with 26,500 enrolments in 2006.
Cengage Education training is offered via flexible, self-paced learning, which allows the student to study when and where it is most suitable. Cengage Education offers mentoring programs, an online student community, incorporating an extensive resource library, student forum and corporate services. The combination of industry affiliations, high-quality materials and expertise in the field of distance education, enables Cengage Education to assist in career advancement of its students helping address skill shortages nationally.
Media Enquiries
- IT Pro: Niki France, n2n communications, 02 9213 2307, 0417 214 308
- Cengage Education: Rani Burchmore, 02 9018 3338
- The Minister’s Office: Megan Magill, 02 6277 7600 or 0417 836 952