CEPIS President Speech at the ECDL Forum 2010

Dear colleagues,

It is my pleasure to address you this morning, and with a certain pride, that I, as CEPIS President, come to these annual ECDL Foundation Forums. Such a large and international gathering is a striking demonstration of the reach of ECDL and ICDL.   

CEPIS, as most of you in Europe know, represents the national informatics societies, who with the help of European Union funding, created ECDL as a means to raise digital literacy levels in Europe. This was back in 1995.

Now, almost 15 years later, ECDL and ICDL have grown exponentially in their success and with the support of ECDL Foundation much has been achieved, not just in Europe but around the world.  At a time of economic upheaval, the role of ICT in empowering people is more crucial than ever before as its potential can provide greater benefits when these benefits are most needed.  However, with budget cuts and instability around the world, the risk of exclusion, the risk of skills falling down the list of priorities, and the risk of training and certification being perceived as removable budget lines in industry and government alike, are also great.

Nonetheless, I believe that ECDL Licensees also have a great opportunity at this time.  The European Commission’s Digital Agenda for Europe, which you heard about yesterday from Damien, represents Europe’s plan for the next decade.  It replaces i2010, the previous policy framework that encompassed the benefits of ICT for social and economic life.  The Digital Agenda for Europe is the strategy that the European Commission and Member State governments will adhere to for the next decade. It is based on seven action areas: the most important of which is for us the one called ‘enhancing digital literacy; skills and inclusion’.

Through this action line in the digital agenda there are two key chances that represent for ECDL an un-missable occasion to position ourselves as the champions of this agenda.

It is important to know that the Digital Agenda gives us the chance to take action, and to make impact in ensure that this agenda is a success. It clearly defines two areas of action, that for us represent the two main and most important opportunities. I will tell you now what I believe these opportunities to be and how you can and should pursue them.

The first of these two key opportunities relates to the development of a long term digital literacy policy. This is a framework within which you can advocate to your national governments for such a policy to  involve ECDL, or indeed be based upon ECDL. You are the experts on digital literacy and skills in your national environments, offering your expertise to your government in the development of this plan would be a valuable asset.  This is the first opportunity that I think about.

The second key opportunity relates to funding.  The digital agenda provides a channel through which you can help your governments to choose digital literacy and certification as priorities for future funding.  This can take place through the European Social Fund for the next programme cycle.  Sustainable funding is often a challenge in our business.  The digital agenda provides us with a means of overcoming this challenge.  This is the second opportunity that you have.

We make ask us rhetorically why e-Skills became a challenge for the modern society. We all know that new skills are needed, from ICT practitioner skills to ICT user or eBusiness skills. In 60 years since 1950 I made some calculations that the world population has increased 2.6 times, the number of ICT practitioners       4,000 times and of ICT users 400,000 times!

In fact, the result is that the demand for ICT User Skills doubles every 2 ½ years as the intervals between successive radical breakthroughs in computer science decrease exponentially. We have to be prepared for this challenge!

Applications appear at a much reduced accelerated speed compared to technology advances and even more implementation is delayed by need of skills. That is a solid base for promoting eInclusion and fighting digital divide.

Digital Competences are therefore in great demand. ICT User Skills Gap is directly related to eInclusion objectives. Europe faces Shortages and more all types of ICT skills are demanded. The gap is estimated by EC at 700,000 by 2015.

The fact is that in 2010 we are still facing the first Digital Divide and a 2nd Digital Divide is developing directly related to broadband divide and other factors as well.

ECDL is an outstanding example of best practice and we have to make the next steps from Digital Literacy to Digital Competence!

Going back to Europe’s Digital Agenda, it can serve to help position ECDL and indeed to an extent ICDL, as the leading certification standard for the next decade. 

It is has an important potential for us, it can provide a sustainable source of funding for national programmes. Through this agenda, you can, embed ECDL into your governments’ national plans. You can position your organisation as the authority for digital literacy in your country.  These are real opportunities that are available to you.  The potential benefits must be seized and can only be seized through strategic, consistent, deliverable plans of action toward these goals in both advocacy and PR. These are important opportunities, the like of which we have not seen in the past and are unlikely to see again in the future.  At least not for another decade.

I compliment ECDL Foundation, Jim and Damien on the open letter to President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso and to other high-profile political actors.  ECDL Foundation has committed to ambitious yet achievable targets, and it is only through you, the Licensee network,  that these targets can be reached.  Publicly declaring these targets this will benefit the profile of ECDL; but replication through a public relations campaign serves to show your national commitment to making the digital agenda a success and will have a similarly positive impact for your organisation.  I encourage you therefore to follow suit with high profile pledges to your national-level media, government and other actors. And I encourage you then to deliver on the targets that you state – in particular through the two actions I have already mentioned – by working with governments to develop their digital literacy policy and by ensuring that digital literacy is a national priority for European Social funds in your country.

Where the potential gain of the digital agenda is great, as is the risk. The risk in this case, might lie in our inertia, in our lack of response to the opportunities that we have right now. We must ensure therefore that we mitigate against this risk.  The opportunities are there, now more than ever, but action is needed from each and every one of you.  On behalf of CEPIS - the organisation that has been at the very inception of ECDL - I urge you, to take firm grasp of these opportunities and to ensure that ECDL and ICDL are firmly aligned in public support of this agenda and play visible role in the digital recovery of the global economy.

In conclusion, I reaffirm our belief that eSkills are a Challenge of the Beginning of the 21st Century. They are needed for Building a Competitive and eInclusive Europe and World! And again I would like to urge each and every one of you to take advantage of the opportunities that the Digital Agenda provide.

For further contact please visit www.cepis.org

Thank you!

Dr. Vasile Baltac

22 October 2010

CEPIS — Remaining Relevant for the Next 20 Years

Paper published by UPGRADE - The European Journal For the Informatics Professional Vol. X, issue No. 4, August 2009

CEPIS — Remaining Relevant for the Next 20 Years
Vasile Baltac, President Elect CEPIS


The rapid, unparalleled development of technologies has challenged IT professionals in a way that no other profession has encountered. The future of the ICT industry will continue to make no less challenging demand on our IT professionals. CEPIS, as their European representative body has to respond to these challenges, the author outlines what these chal­lenges are likely to be and how CEPIS can put its experience to use in addressing them.


Keywords: Certification, Dissemination of Basic Skills, Education, E-Learning, End-Users, Entrepreneurs, Higher Education Institutions, IT Industry, Lifelong Learning, Pro­fessionalism, Research, Second Generation Digital Divide, Universities.


20 years is a long time in Information Technology (IT). The Web was invented just two decades ago and many of the Internet's features today were not even thought of then. This rapid, unparalleled technological development has chal­lenged IT professionals in a way that no other profession has encountered. The Council of European Professional Informatics Societies (CEPIS), as the European representa­tive of national professional bodies, has had the mission of coping with these developments. New professions have had to be included and professionalism, a major CEPIS preoc­cupation, has been defined and re-defined as we gave seen extreme European diversification that allows for everything, but simplification.

Information technology has become a day to day tool for a significant number of people. 20 years ago, what we today call the Internet was used by some thousands of peo­ple, whereas now more that 1.5 billion people (more that 23% of the world's population), use IT, mostly in networks. CEPIS responded to this phenomenal increase in the use of technology by defining and launching the European Com­puter Driving Licence (ECDL), the most recognised Euro­pean tool for certification of the basic skills needed to use IT. We are now approaching the issue of the 10 millionth ECDL Skills Card; a figure that demonstrates the adoption of the concept not only in Europe, but also on other conti­nents.


While the European Certification of Informatics Profes­sionals (EUCIP) has not yet met all expectations, it is still a CEPIS project with high potential aimed at helping IT pro­fessionals with a vendor neutral certification.

CEPIS represents professionals from both academia and the IT industry. This is the main reason why CEPIS set up a task force to examine the relationship between them. The task force found that universities and industry do not yet cooperate at a sufficiently close level. The changing world influences universities making them operate in an environ‑

Author
Vasile Baltac is a well-known Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) personality in Romania. He started his long career in information technology in 1961 as a computer pioneer and continued his studies in the '60s at Cambridge (United Kingdom) with Sir Maurice V. Wilkes, Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) and of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) Back in Romania he contributed to the development of the Romanian computer industry coordinating national projects leading to the creation of mainframes, minicomputers, and software engineering. Dr. Baltac went on to become a top manager of nationwide IT related research and manufacturing organisations. Dr. Baltac is currently President of ATIC (the ICT Association of Romania), university professor at the prestigious National School of Public Administration and Political Studies, a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and of other professional societies. He has initiated successful national projects in e-Government, IT skills dissemination (European/International Computer Driving Licences, ECDL/ICDL) and is involved in IT-policy projects within the European Union, UNIDO, World Bank, etc. Since 2006 he has served as Vice-Chairman of WITSA (World Information Technology and Services Alliances) in charge with Eastern Europe and from 2006-2008 he served as Vice-President of CEPIS. Since November 2008 he has been President Elect of CEPIS. He is listed in various Who's Who, received the Romanian Academy Award and the National Order For Merit of Romania. He has published books and papers on computers, information technology and society, the history of computers, etc. Recently he discussed the digital divide, social issues of IT, e-Readiness and technology foresight at important conferences in Romania, France, Malaysia, Germany, Hungary and Italy. Prof. Baltac is active in community social projects as member of the Rotary Club "Old Court" Bucharest (Romania). <baltac@cepis.org>.

ment where there is a trend towards part-time studies, in particular for computer-related subjects. While several uni­versities favour theoretical research and leave applied re­search to industry, the research activity in universities, both theoretical and applied, is the most important pillar for sus­taining teaching and bringing educators close to current in­dustrial practice. CEPIS believes that speeding up the ap­plication of research, to match the high innovation rate in ICT seems to benefit industry but forces universities into industry-like timeframes.

One of CEPIS 's findings was the present scarcity of ICT skills in Europe. While universities are mostly prudent about the qualitative aspects of ICT skills needed, they are also pushed by the market to adapt and provide solutions for the increasing scarcity of ICT professionals. The different ap­proaches of universities and industry to realising the skills required in graduates only increases the gap between what universities offer and what industry needs. Reconciling these divergent approaches for reducing the gap between the skills demanded by industry and the ICT skills offered by univer­sity graduates is difficult and may be impossible to achieve.

The present and future of the ICT industry present chal­lenges for professionals. CEPIS as their European repre­sentative body has to be able to cope with these challenges. Continuous advances in information systems technologies and applications require us to reconsider the skills needed by tomorrow's ICT professionals. Probably most important is to recognise that building an Information Society (and further a Knowledge Society) needs a new type of profes­sional, with new skills as yet unknown. A recent poll by ATIC shows that the IT industry in Romania (probably in­dicative of similar situations in other European countries), lacks system analysts and architects, database administra­tors, application services and security experts, product ap­plications, services and sales skills and Chief Executive/ Technical/Information Officers (CE0s/CTOs/CIOs).

The next advances in the industry will cover a wide va­riety of areas from Web 2.0 and 3.0 to Service-Oriented Architectures, grid-computing, Enterprise 2, Internet Pro­tocol Television (IPTV), etc. There will be dramatic changes in the world of media, news and publishing, further impact by search technologies and a deeper integration into our environment paralleled by a proliferation of new levels of high speed connections. At the same time there will be a rise in privacy concerns (and institutions are slow to change). Already some people question the need for so many Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to be interconnected and the stabil­ity of huge databases. A new wave of worries about the environment has reached our industry shores and Green IT has become a preoccupation.

One matter of great importance is the capability to keep applications growing at the same pace as micro-electron­ics. It has been stated that delays between successive radi­cal breakthroughs in computer science decrease exponentially, i.e. each new one comes roughly twice as fast as the previous one. Integrated circuitry seems to con­form to this law. Killer applications, however, appear at a much slower speed.

While we have several accelerating factors that bring ever shorter cycles of innovation, e.g. new hardware tech­nologies, broadband advances, search engine capabilities, e-Content growth and availability, open source software, e- Education impact, we are confronted with decelerating fac­tors such as limitations of present technologies, increasing complexity, information overload, slowing down of hard­ ware by software, and compatibility issues to name just a few. At the same time the future of the industry is threat­ened by vulnerability problems, the increasing volatility of information storage, intellectual property protection issues, the need for perennial standards for media, etc.

All these will bring new challenges for ICT profession­als. Consequently, CEPIS has to adapt itself to this very dynamic environment. CEPIS will be confronted with sev­eral issues, not new, but with a stronger impact than before:

• Professionalism in the new even more dynamic en­vironment.
• Education issues for professionals.
• Education issues for ICT users.

Professionalism has to be enhanced by certification. The ICT industry has developed a full series of vendor certifi­cations. A more general certification based less on com­pany-specific competencies and more on general profes­sional standards could build a university-industry bridge. CEPIS has great potential in terms of creating the vendor neutral schemes needed by industry.

Education of professionals will increasingly be based on higher education institutions. These institutions, as the recent CEPIS report on Universities and Industry shows, aim to produce well-qualified scientists and engineers with a strong scientific background. In practice, most large ICT companies ask for a solid scientific background as they have the resources to further train their staff. Smaller ICT com­panies prefer specialised "ready-to-work" ICT graduates who provide a quick return on investment without incur­ring the expense of additional training. It is impossible to reconcile these two opposing requirements to provide ICT graduates who are both flexible and immediately usable. Each university has to decide which kind of professional it wants to offer to industry and adapt its curricula to best fit that requirement within the type of profession chosen.

The ICT industry is fed by entrepreneurs. CEPIS can work with the European universities to better contribute to the increase of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the ICT sector; firstly by giving their students a scientific and technical background that allows them to be innova­tive and secondly by equipping them with the managerial skills they will need to run a small enterprise.

ICT is particularly appropriate for lifelong learning. Continuous education with short cycles is a necessity. The shortage of ICT skills brings an important number of non­ICT university graduates into the ICT field, mostly in de­veloping countries. CEPIS could play a better role in the ICT education of those people who have already worked in the industry for years or are undergoing professional cross- /re-training. In addition, new advances in e-Learning tech­nologies allow and favour distance learning, enabling uni­versities to play a more important role in the post-graduate training of ICT professionals. E-Business skills are not gen­erally covered by university curricula because they require the deep context knowledge that comes from on-the-job experience. Instead such skills training are frequently of­fered by IT vendors as a consultancy service. This is the category of professionals most sought after by the market and is also the category most likely to seek professional cer­tifications.

CEPIS is well known as a promoter of the dissemina­tion of basic skills in the use of ICT. With the rapid rise in ICT users (already exceeding 1.5 billion people), the ECDL programme becomes even more important in assuring the quality of these skills. ECDL will further increase aware­ness of the need for basic skills. The digital divide is still evident in many respects in Europe and CEPIS will further support efforts for the e-Inclusion of large categories of peo­ple. Through ICDL, the ECDL Foundation contributes to achieving these goals on other continents.

On the other hand, we may notice the signs of what I would call a "Second Generation Digital Divide". People acquire only the simplest tools needed to use ICT and are far from using the new ICT tools and applications, most of which can deliver a notable increase in productivity and quality of work, e.g. via collaboration or cloud computing. It will be a major challenge for the ECDL programme to cover the new basic tools of the Internet and the general use of ICT.

The 20th anniversary is a moment for CEPIS to reflect on its own capability as an organisation. I am sure that the Council and Execom will take into account the experience gained during the first 20 years to further enhance CEPIS.

Some of the CEPIS areas of development we may pur­sue next:

1) Increase in Membership: Our constitution states that a professional association from a country member of the Council of Europe may become a member of CEPIS. At present, the Council of Europe has 47 member states. Our council represents 36 member societies in only 33 countries across Europe, leaving enough room for further CEPIS en­largement.

2) Performance Improvement: CEPIS has acted on behalf of member societies and will continue to do so. How­ever, a more prominent leading role in major projects would be welcome.

3) New Strategy: A new strategy is needed for a chang­ing world. This strategy will be the result of the input of the member societies and will reflect the new European ICT environment.

4) Enhanced Recognition: CEPIS is a recognised voice of ICT professionals, but a more dedicated contribution to European decisions on Information Society could be sought.

5) Digital Literacy: CEPIS will continue to be the main body to propose, through the ECDL Foundation, a certify­ing programme with periodic enhancements to reflect new developments in the ICT industry.

6) Higher Education Institutions: CEPIS can act as a pan-European mediator between universities and industry in a multi-stakeholder partnership. CEPIS can review the current content of curricula for ICT studies to ensure a posi­tive impact on the future of the ICT industry by providing graduates with the proper theoretical background and prac­tical training.

7) e-Learning: CEPIS will support e-learning as a methodology for continuing professional development and considers that universities can be encouraged to offer mas­ter or other post-graduate conversion courses to non-ICT graduates.

8) Better visibility: An improved newsletter, Website, statements, position papers, UPGRADE/UPENET, confer­ences and awards will contribute to the increased visibility of CEPIS among professionals in Europe.

9) Cooperation. There are many European bodies rep­resenting ICT businesses and professionals. CEPIS has to strengthen cooperation with them and become a central point in this network. Special attention will be given to re­gional alliances of member societies.

10) Constitution. 20 years of existence has proved that the current constitution is the right basic document for our Council. Some modification will be needed to adapt to the forthcoming new strategy and to improve governance.

As has already been said above, IT 20 years is a quite long period of time in computing. Generations of hardware, software, and applications have been developed by ICT pro­fessionals. Their professional background has been radi­cally altered and this trend will continue.

CEPIS has done a lot to accomplish its mission goals:

• To be the main network of European IT Profession­als.
• To become established as the leading independent European IT Certification Organisation.
• To raise the profile and promote the views of the European Informatics Societies and Informatics Profession­als to the European Commission and European Institutions.
• To promote the development of the Information So­ciety through digital literacy, skills, education & research and professionalism.

To keep achieving all of these goals, CEPIS has chal­lenging years ahead.

Universities and ICT Industry

The CEPIS Position Paper on Universities and ICT Industry developed by the Task Force on Education led by me is finalised and posted on the CEPIS site:

http://www.cepis.org/files/cepis/docs/20081006110847_Position%20Paper%20on%20Universities.pdf

The Main findings of the Report are:

University-industry cooperation: Universities and industry do not cooperate at a sufficient level. European universities must effectively complete with universities in the US and around the world. This effectiveness can be achieved through increased cooperation with the ICT industry and through working in partnership with the relevant authorities.

Changing world Universities operate in a changing world. There is a growing trend towards part-time studies, in particular for computer-related studies.

Basic and applied research: Several universities have the tendency to favour theoretical research and leave applied research to industry. This seems to be the current state of the differences between what European universities offer and the ICT industry needs in the work force. One solution could be for the universities to grant easier access to more practical expert personnel. The research activity in universities, both theoretical and applied, is the most important pillar sustaining teaching and bringing educators close to current industrial practice. The European R&D framework programmes have largely succeeded in bringing universities and industry together in funding research that is useful to both. Speeding up the application of the research, characteristic to ICT high innovation rate, is seemingly benefiting the industry and forcing the universities to industry-like timeframes.

Mobility: Mobility, in the sense of movement of people between universities and industry, is worth encouraging. Mobility of people between universities and ICT industry is beneficial and could promote greater innovation if encouraged by a supporting framework.

Entrepreneurship in ICT: Universities are one of the the main source of entrepreneurs. European universities could better contribute to the increase of the SME sector in ICT, firstly by giving their students a scientific and technical background to allow them to innovate, and secondly by preparing them with the managerial skills they need to run a small enterprise. Universities are also the catalysts of entrepreneurship through technology parks established in universities. The development of such entrepreneurial centres around universities merits encouragement from governments and the EU, as they frequently become incubators for many new ICT companies.

Scarcity of ICT Skills: Universities are prudent about the qualitative aspects of ICT skills needed, but they are also pushed by the market to adapt and provide solutions for the increasing scarcity of ICT professionals within the market. The different approaches of universities and industry to the skills required in graduates only increases the gap between what universities offer and what industry needs. Reconciling these divergent tendencies for reducing the gap between the demands of industry and the ICT graduate skills that universities offer is difficult or impossible to achieve. It is probably better that universities offer a market-driven wide variety of types of graduates and that industry takes these graduates and adds appropriate training and development to suit their needs. Universities aim to produce well-qualified scientists and engineers with a strong scientific background. Normally this is what industry would need. However, large ICT companies ask for a solid scientific background as they have resources to further train their staff. Smaller ICT companies prefer specialised ready-to-work’ ICT graduates who provide return without further incurring additional training expenses. It is impossible to reconcile these two opposing requirements to provide ICT graduates who are both flexible and immediately usable. Every university has to decide what kind of professional they want to offer to industry and adapt their curricula to best fit to that requirement within the type of profession chosen. Internships or industrial placements are considered essential, as they can either be integrated into degree courses or completed in addition to the course.

Certifications: The ICT industry has developed a full series of vendor certifications. Universities have a natural tendency, for a variety of reasons, to keep away from vendor oriented industry certifications. A more general certification based less on company-specific competences and more on general professional competence could build a university-industry bridge.

Curricula: Curricula are what differentiate universities and define the level of professionalism of the future graduate. Today’s curricula are seen by many in industry as not being adaptive enough to the new trends in ICT industry. The Bologna process, currently being implemented across Europe may solve this problem. In general, universities claim to have adapted their curricula to the requirements of the Bologna recommendations. In some EU countries, the new Bologna type scheme (3+2+3) does not yet produce the best results in ICT specialisations. The European tendency to move toward three-year bachelor degree programmes, may be appropriate for the humanities, but is problematic for engineering, including computing. The Bologna process could incorporate updated curricula for ICT graduates that take into account the best interests of both European universities and industry. Curricula can then be systematically revisited to ensure the best harmonisation of graduate skills with market demands in Europe.

Continuous education: The ICT industry is particularly appropriate for lifelong learning. Continuous education with short cycles is a necessity in ICT. On the one hand, people who graduated 10-15 years ago received an education based on technologies that are now obsolete. Universities should be encouraged to offer master courses to students or graduates of other disciplines as a conversion course. On the other hand, the lack of skills brings an important number of non-ICT university graduates into the ICT field, mostly in emerging countries. Universities could play a major role in the ICT education of people who have already worked in the industry for years or are undergoing professional re-conversion. In addition, new advances in e-learning technologies allow and favour distance learning, enabling universities to play a more important role in the post-graduate training of ICT professionals.

Basic ICT Skills: Providing training in basic skills for ICT and e-business is not the task of universities, but that of secondary education. The majority of people lacking in digital literacy skills are at an age where going back to secondary school is impossible. Universities can bring a notable contribution to the dissemination of basic ICT skills, if all non-ICT graduates in Europe could gain these basic skills. Secondary schools should refocus their education programmes around these enabling technologies and redesign new partnerships with industry and public services for the dynamic preparation of the right skills in a permanently changing environment. Universities can do much to assist in curricular design, pedagogy and also defining and explaining the core body of knowledge for other branches of education.

e-Business Skills: E-business skills are not generally covered by university curricula because they require a deep context knowledge comes from on-the-job experience and is frequently offered by IT vendors as a consultancy service. This is a category of professionals most appreciated by the market and it is also the most inclined to the certification approach.

Role of Governments: Governments and the European Union can dramatically change university-industry relations by providing focused incentives, mainly derived from their funding schemes. A focus on ICT skills is a high-priority action for national governments and the European Union. New European Member States represent an important reservoir of ICT skills with proven competences and competitiveness. European Union could pay special attention to the ICT development needs of these countries, by implementing special programmes for ICT infrastructural development and ICT basic skills dissemination.