ITPCS event

I've been out of the office a lot recently, so this is the first chance I've had to write about an event I attended last Friday.

Iain Shand invited me to Cardonald College to attend the annual IT Providers Consortium Scotland (ITPCS) meeting. The ITPCS provides support to centres that offer vendor qualifications, including a centralised system for ordering teaching materials and providing exams. A number of Scottish colleges are members.

There were several presentations from organisations that support the delivery of vendor awards in colleges, such as publishers. Many of these resources are free to members. Iain spoke about the new NPA in Professional Computer Fundamentals that is linked to Microsoft's Technology Associate qualification, which has recently been validated.

The inclusion of vendor awards inside SQA's vocational qualifications is a real enhancement, which make the qualifications more relevant and more valued by employers. The inclusion of this Microsoft award inside this new NPA is an excellent introduction to vendor qualifications for non-advanced students.

Contact Iain if you want to know more about the ITPCS. Contact Hilary if you want to know more about the NPA in Professional Computer Fundamentals.