eSkills –

a Challenge for the Modern Society

Prof.Vasile Baltac
President
Council of European Professional Informatics Societies

IADIS Conference Applied Computing

Timisoara, 15 October 2010
Overview
 Why eSkills are important?
 Growing Demand and Challenges
 eSkills Gap
 IT Professionalism
 A Vision of Professionalism
 Possible Standards for Professionalism
 eSkills and eInclusion
 Universities and eSkills

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 2
 eSkills
 Information/Knowledge
Society needs new
skills
 Skills
◦ ICT Practitioner skills
◦ ICT User skills
◦ E-business User skills
 eSkills: 2010 vs. 1950
◦ World Population
2.6 times
◦ ICT Practitioners
4,000 times
◦ ICT Users
400,000 times

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 3
Law
Lawss Revisited
 New Laws ?
◦ Demand for User Skills doubles every 2 ½ years
◦ Demand for ICT Practitioners Skills doubles every 2 years
◦ Corollaries to Moore’s Law
 Schmidhuber’s Law: Intervals between successive
radical breakthroughs in computer science
decrease exponentially
◦ A new one come twice as fast as the previous one
◦ Moore’s Law (Integrated circuitry) and the above laws
seem to confirm Schmidhuber’s Law
 Acceleration?

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 4
Accelerating Factors
 New Technologies:TFT, Increasing VLSI
Density. Etc.
 Internet Growth: Broadband Advances,
Search Engines, eContent Growth
 Open Source Software
 eEducation impact
◦ Impact of on-line
◦ Free Content Availability
 Developed for Rich,Available for Poor

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 5
How far? Decelerating Factors
 Limits of Technology?  Evolution of Standards:
 Complexity Issue Floppy, CD-ROM, DVD,
 Information Avalanche etc. read in 2030?
 Acute Lack of  Education and Training
Utilization of Gap
Resources  Limits of eBooks
 Software Development  Digital Divide
◦ Software Slowdowns,  Multilingualism
Compatibility Issues, ◦ 35% Internet Users are
Fatal bugs? English Native Speakers
 Vulnerability Problems ◦ 68% Sites in English
 Intellectual Property ◦ A Modern Tower of
Protection Babel?

6
15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society
 How far? The Complexity Issue
 End of Internet buried by its own weight?
 Need for so many IPs interconnected?
 Huge data bases are justified?
 Is the application side growing at the
same pace as circuitry?
 New skills are created at the necessary
pace?
 The acceleration brings us or not to the
disputed Omega Point?

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 7
 Omega Point?
 Ray Kurzweil:“Singularity” is a period of extremely
rapid technological progress that generalizes Moore's
Law to technologies predating the integrated circuit
and that will continue to other technologies not yet
invented
 Singularity in 20-140 years? 2012?
 Omega Point
◦ Piere de Teilhard Chardin 1903 The universe is constantly
developing towards higher levels of material complexity and
consciousness
◦ Frank Tipler 1986 The universe comes to an end at a
singularity in a particular form of the Big Crunch, the
computational capacity of the universe is capable of increasing
at a sufficient rate that is accelerating exponentially faster than
the time running out

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 8
Applications: Key Challenge
 Killer applications
appear at a much
reduced
accelerated speed
 Implementation
delayed by creation
of skills
 eInclusion
◦ Digital Divide
◦ Digital Competences

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 9
eSkills Gap
 ICT User Skills Gap - related to eInclusion
 ICT Professional Skils - Supply and demand
◦ Europe faces Shortages
 up to 70,000 ICT practitioners (E-Skills in Europe: Matching
Supply to Demand – a CEPIS Report 2008)
 Discrepancies - expected to deepen even
more dramatically
 More ICT skills are demanded
◦ European Commission "e-Skills for the 21st
Century: Fostering Competitiveness, Growth and
Jobs".

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 10
ICT Professional eSkills Gap
 The shortage of ICT skills in Europe caused by
◦ EU-internal insufficient supply
◦ Brain-drain to the USA
 In times of boom, people will be enthusiastic
about computer qualifications
◦ The dot-com boom
◦ Preparation for the ‘Y2K bug’
 In less certain times, people are more reluctant to
embark and even move away
◦ the dot-com bubble burst in 2000
 Booms and crisis - market oversupplied or short
of qualified people

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 11
Professional ICT SSkills:Agenda
kills:Agenda
 ICT careers to be made more attractive to young
people both males and females
 A key issue for Europe
◦ ~ 0.5% of the European workforce works in ICT
◦ ~ 2% of the European Gross Domestic Product.
 An ICT job is worth 4 times its value in comparison
with other businesses.
 Lack of ICT professionals means lack of growth
 Action:
◦ Policy Communication on e-skills for the 21st Century: a
long term e-skills agenda and key action lines for the
European Union.
 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/ict-skills.htm
◦ European eSkills Week aimed at ICT Professionals

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 12
European eSkills Week
 e-Skills Week 2010: 1-5 March 2010
◦ first campaign seeking to inform about the
opportunities that ICT-related jobs present
◦ highlight the growing demand for skilled ICT
users and professionals
◦ 35 countries
◦ 1,163 events reached 445,225 people, 65
million people touched by the campaign.
◦ e-Skills Week web portal http://eskills-
week.ec.europa.eu and blog
15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 13
 eSkills Issues
 Graduates of various ICT faculties or specializations and their
satisfaction to employers
 Reconversion to ICT skills of graduates from non-ICT faculties
 Correct ratio among:
◦ software programmers, system analysts, system architects,
administrators of data bases, application, services, applications
security experts, etc.
 Specialties claimed by industry as missing or insufficient covered
in universities
◦ telecom network topologies, data base administration, UNIX,
software testing and integration, C++, IT , storage manager, IT asset
manager, information services manager, mobile devices programming,
project management.
 There are even opinions that the present list of job types in ICT
is completely outdated
 Practitioners or professionals?

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 14
 Professionalism
 IT Profession vs. IT Professionalism
 What is Professionalism?
◦ Professional traditionally means a person who has qualified and
works in some “professional” field

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 15
Professionalism in IT
 IT Professional
◦ A person who has obtained a degree or other recognition
in Information Technology for the study, design,
development, implementation, support or management of
digital information systems solving stakeholders’ problems
through the management, manipulation, storage and
processing of data and information by technological and
methodological means
 Clear distinction
◦ IT Professional - all of the common characteristics
◦ IT Practitioner - derive his or her living from the
sector and may or may not possess other attributes

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 16
Professionalism in IT
 IT professionals bring value to employers
◦ The eSkills shortage acts against professionalism
◦ Practitioners are accepted through reconversion at a debatable
quality of reconversion from non-IT jobs
 Professionalism is enhanced by validation/certification
◦ Europe: 5 million IT practitioners: how many certified/validated?
◦ The industry has developed vendor certifications practitioner
oriented
◦ Universities keep away from vendor oriented industry
certifications
◦ Ideal if a graduate would have a certification(SMEs)
◦ A validation based more on general professional competence is
needed through internationally recognized frameworks
 Benefits of being an IT Professional are yet to be recognized
 Countries of Europe have different approaches

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 17
 Validation/Certification
 Metaframe eCF - eCompetence Framework/ developed
under the umbrella of EU www.ecompetences.eu
◦ Based not on job profiles, but rather on competences
◦ 32 competences classified according to 5 main ICT business
areas linked directly to the European Qualifications
Framework(EQF).
 Tools are essential for implementation quality
◦ EUCIP- CEPIS, SFIA - BCS
 EUCIP
◦ EUCIP Core- introductory level three part ICT professional
certification
◦ EUCIP Professional -21 different job profiles
◦ EUCIP IT Administrator, stand-alone certification

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 18
 IT Professionalism Matter
Matterss?
Findings of a CEPIS Professionalism Task Force

 Quality of Service:
◦ Quality is a central defining characteristic of the IT Professional
 Mobility of Labour and Services:
◦ Professionals may move to seek employment and to offer services
◦ Mobility of labour will reduce potential shortages of IT Professionals
 Recognition of Value:
◦ Professionals will differentiate themselves from practitioners
 Promotion of Innovation:
◦ Professionals are in position to drive innovation
 A Competitive Advantage for Europe
◦ Professionalism can give Europe an advantage in IT services

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 19
eSkills and eInclusion
 Knowledge Society needs eInclusion
 eInclusion vs. eExclusion (Digital Divide-DD)
 DD- Gap between people with effective
access to digital and information
technology and those with very limited or
no access at all
◦ Appropriate ICT Infrastructure
◦ Accessible and Affordable Internet Access
◦ Generalized Ability to Use ICT (eSkills!)
◦ Availability of Useful Content
15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 20
 2nd Digital Divide
 In 2010 we still face the
1st and developing 2nd
Digital Divide
 Broadband Divide (Chart)
 End-user skills are
imperative for eInclusion
◦ Best practice: ECDL, EC
funded project undertaken
by CEPIS
◦ Global authority in leading
computer skills
certification(ECDL/ ICDL)
 ICT infrastructure
investments need skills

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 21
 Universities and ICT Skills
 University– Business Cooperation
◦ CEPIS Report (www.cepis.org )
 Recognized role of Higher Education Institutions
 Better position in world rankings for European HEI –to
compete globally
 Foster entrepreneurship-SMEs
 Adapting curricula to market needs
◦ Universities are asked to update annually their ICT curricula.
◦ Is this feasible and/or beneficial?
◦ What is the impact of the Bologna process in ICT?
 Lifelong learning
 Mobility industry– HEI
 Generalized IT user skills at pre-university level

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 22
 CEPIS
 CEPIS – Council of European Professional Informatics
Societies
◦ Represents informatics professionals from 33 countries
throughout greater Europe
◦ Over350,000 IT professionals enrolled in 36 Member
Associations

 Committed to:
◦ Promote the views and needs of IT professionals
◦ Promote the development of the Information Society through:
◦ Digital literacy
◦ Skills
◦ Professionalism
◦ Education and research

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 23
CEPIS
 CEPIS UPGRADE
◦ Journal for Informatics Professionals, electronic
bimonthly in English
http://www.cepis.org/upgrade
 Promotion of end user skills and
certification through ECDL Foundation
 Collaboration with Commission on
eInclusion year
 Support of i2010 strategy
 Leader in the implementation of the Digital
Agenda for Europe

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 24
 CEPIS Vision
 Promote pan-European understanding of IT
and professionalism
◦ Industry
◦ Policymakers
◦ Education
◦ IT societies & Professionals
 Disseminate the benefits in various contexts–
SMEs, non-IT sectors
 Survey status of European professionalism
 Engage with existing structures(eCF)

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 25
 International Reach of the ECDL Foundation
Programme

10 Million Candidates

148 Countries

41 Languages

36 Million Tests 24,000 Test Centres

 Conclusion

eSkills are a Challenge of the Beginning of the

21st Century
They are needed for Building a Competitive and eInclusive
Europe

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 27
 Thank you!
Mulțumesc!

15 October 2010 Prof.Vasile Baltac: eSkills - a Challenge for the Modern Society 28