New
ICDL Launched in Zambia
4
September saw the official launch
of New ICDL in Zambia. Over 40
delegates gathered in Lusaka,
including ICDL representatives
from Zambia, Zimbabwe and South
Africa.
Guest of honour at the launch was
the Deputy Permanent Secretary of
Education, Mrs Christine Mayondi
who was very enthusiastic upon
hearing of the advantages that New
ICDL will bring to the people of
Zambia. Read more.
European
e-Competence Framework for ICT
Users Published
This
CEN ICT Skills workshop project,
funded by the European Commission
and led by ECDL Foundation, has
been running since December 2011.
The first version of this
reference framework for ICT user
competences has now been approved
for publication by the European
Commission and CEN, completing an
action of the ‘Digital Agenda
for Europe’ in the process.
Read more.
New
ECDL launched in Switzerland
New
ECDL was launched by ECDL
Switzerland at their Test Centre
Day on the 24 September. 200
participants gathered in Zurich
for the launch, which was also
attended by ECDL Foundation Chief
Executive, Damien O’Sullivan. Read more.
ICDL,
a Requirement for University
Students in Yemen and Sudan
The
University of Science and
Technology (UST) in Yemen has
adopted ICDL for all of its
students. Existing
foundation-level computer courses
have been cancelled from study
plans, and now all students must
obtain ICDL as part of the
requirements for passing from
second to third year.
Future University (FU) in
Khartoum, Sudan, has also taken a
decision to make ICDL a
requirement for all of its
students. FU is a private
university, with the majority of
its students being the children of
Sudanese working abroad. Read more.
Tecmedia
and IT Security, Costa Rica
Tecmedia
IT Academy from Costa Rica, an
Accreditation Partner of ICDL
Latinoamérica, recently launched
an IT Security course, based on
the flexibility of ICDL Profile,
for high profile government staff
members.
The 5 week course is intended to
train and certify them with
digital skills, highlighting in
particular the important role that
IT Security plays in the
functioning of any organisation
that relies on technology. Read more.
New
Developments for ICDL in South
Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho,
Namibia & Botswana
ECDL
Foundation and ICDL South Africa
have signed a new agreement
appointing ICDL South Africa to
manage the ICDL programme in the
territories of South Africa,
Swaziland and Lesotho, as well as
to conduct development work (on
behalf of ICDL Africa) in Namibia
and Botswana.
The agreement runs until 2018 and
aims to bring digital skills to
100,000 individuals during that
time, with ICDL South Africa
opening a new office in
Johannesburg in response to
increased activity in the Gauteng
area. Read more.
ICDL
and Pennsylvania’s Intermediary
Units
Pennsylvania’s
29 intermediate units were
established in 1971 by the
Pennsylvania General Assembly. The
intermediate units are
entrepreneurial, highly skilled,
technology-rich providers of
cost-effective, instructional, and
operational services to school
districts, charter schools, and
over 2,400 non-public and private
schools.
Intermediate units that have
recently implemented ICDL are the
Tuscarora Intermediate Unit,
Central Susquehanna Intermediate
Unit, and the Capitol Area
Intermediate Unit. These IUs offer
education programmes in juvenile
correctional institutions. Read more.
ICDL
expands into Tajikistan in
partnership with University of
Central Asia
ICDL
Asia Accreditation Partner, the
University of Central Asia (UCA)
has initiated a major drive to
expand the availability of the
ICDL programme in Tajikistan
through partnerships with several
Government agencies. ICDL Asia
General Manager Daniel Palmer, and
UCA SPCE Deputy Director Gulnara
Djunushalieva met with senior
officials in Dushanbe. Agreements
to formalise the adoption of the
ICDL programme by these agencies
are expected in the near future. Read more.
AQAS
Receives Official Delegation from
Sudan
Advanced
Quality Assurance Systems (AQAS),
the ICDL National Operator in
Sudan, has received in its
headquarters in Jordan, a
high-level delegation from the
Ministry of Science and
Communications in Sudan. AQAS has
recently conducted a new ICDL
awareness campaign in Sudan. In
this campaign, anyone could sit
for the ICDL diagnostic tests for
free. Arrangements were made with
the test provider (Specto Ltd.) to
donate the diagnostics and the
accredited centres to open their
labs to citizens without any
charge from either party. The
campaign was highly publicised and
was a great success. Read more.
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Defining
21st Century Literacies
8
September was International
Literacy Day.
In fact, it was the 48th one
since the UN started it in
1965. UNESCO deems literacy “a
fundamental human right and
the foundation for lifelong
learning”, considering it
vital to the success of
individuals, communities and
societies.
Each year, the day has a
different theme, putting
emphasis on what role literacy
can play to address world
issues. This year the theme
was Literacies for the 21st
Century. UNESCO describes this
as “the need to realize basic
literacy skills for all as
well as equip everyone with
more advanced literacy skills
as part of lifelong learning."
We applaud UNESCO’s call to
recognise the Literacies for
the 21st Century, and continue
to work toward a day when such
as call is no longer required.
Until then, hope you had a
nice International Literacy
Day! Read more.
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Education
and Skills are Top Priorities for
Europe’s Tech Entrepreneurs
Teachers
should be made digitally confident
and competent, universities should
be encouraged to add digital
components to their curriculum,
and EU countries should offer a
digital certificate course to
provide basic digital skills to
graduates. These are some of the
22 key measures from the Startup
Europe Manifesto put forward by a
group of leading European tech
entrepreneurs. The objective of
this action plan is to overcome
roadblocks that are threatening
Internet-driven economic growth
and to foster entrepreneurship and
innovation in Europe. So far, 3000
people have signed the Startup
Europe Manifesto. More on the
Manifesto.
Become
a Supporter of the Safer Internet
Day 2014
The
Safer Internet Day will be
celebrated worldwide on 11
February 2014 around the theme
‘Let’s create a better Internet
together’. All kinds of activities
will be organised to raise
awareness of online safety in over
100 countries across all
continents. On the same topic, the
London School of Economics
released a new report on
children’s online safety
which recommends the development
of education packages for parents
that would be aimed at specific
age groups. This report looks at
emerging policy priorities for
online safety regarding children
from birth to eight years old. Read more.
EC
Announces Plans for a Single
Telecoms Market
The
European Commission recently
announced the Connected Continent
legislative package in order to
turn Europe into a global digital
leader. Europe currently risks
missing out on the opportunities
that ICT can deliver for growth
and employment because of the
absence of a genuine single market
for electronic communications. Read more.
Digital
Divide and a £2 Billion Skills Gap
A
Social Digital Research Symposium
led by the LSE, Ofcom and Tinder
Foundation and comprising academic
institutions and charities is
attempting to address digital
exclusion in the UK. Go ON UK says
that around 16 million people in
the UK aged 15 and over do not
have basic online skills but 90
per cent of all jobs are set to
require ICT literacy by 2015. It
is estimated that Britain will
need 750,000 skilled digital
workers by 2017 and that if the UK
can’t support that growth the
skills gap in the digital
marketing industry could end up
costing the UK up to £2bn a year.
Read more.
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