Press release
Today global IT trade association CompTIA announces the launch of CompTIA Strata, the UK's first completely independent course in IT fundamentals.
More people than ever before know how to use technology, but fewer are going into IT careers. The number of computing course applicants more than halved between 2001 (31,000) and 2007 (15,000). In contrast, numbers in the EU and other countries have remained fairly steady (e-Skills, 2008).
One of the problems is that existing entry-level courses are heavily biased towards specific computing applications such as Microsoft Excel. They do not offer a broad introduction to technology on which to build an IT career. Working with leading UK awarding body, Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR), CompTIA has used its 25 year history of developing vendor-neutral certifications to offer something new to solve the problem.
"Young people are digital natives," says Matthew Poyiadgi, CompTIA's European VP. "Making them do application-led courses turns them off - it's the youth version of teaching your grandmother to suck eggs. Our aim is to inspire them; teaching them the foundations is a stepping stone to something more technical. My message is that if you love using gadgets, why not get involved in adapting, developing and creating them? This is a fundamental first step."
CompTIA and OCR are working towards embedding the CompTIA Strata into the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) iTQ structure. This is the National Vocational Qualification for IT users. It is recognised and backed by employers and six major awarding bodies. The ITQ is customisable and can therefore be tailored to a business' needs.
"We've worked in partnership with CompTIA for several years," says John Deacon, OCR National Account Manager. "Our next project is to embed CompTIA Strata within the new QCF iTQ qualification. The QCF has opened up exciting opportunities for the IT professional industry and provides great opportunities to expand our valuable partnership."
CompTIA Strata will be delivered by FE colleges and iTQ training providers. CompTIA has a long-standing relationship with hundreds of UK teaching establishments, who are eagerly anticipating access to the certification programme.
"We've been looking for a level one technical course for a while and this suits our need as it¹s vendor-neutral," says Stuart Philip, IT Curriculum Leader at Highlands College, Jersey. "It's a welcome addition to the CompTIA suite as it provides a good all-round platform to more technical qualifications. We get a lot of people applying for CompTIA A+ who would benefit from an introductory course first - this new certification will get them where they need to go." Stuart is presenting on CompTIA Strata at today's Education 2 Careers (E2C) conference in Birmingham.
The certification delivery is flexible to fit in with the providers' teaching schedules. It is easily accessible; although the exams will be approximately £45 each the iTQ is heavily government-funded, so in reality students will pay a nominal fee or nothing.
