The British Computer Society (BCS) this week unveiled a new website and brand identity coupled with a range of new initiatives designed to raise IT competency levels and standards both in the UK and rest of the world.
The BCS' historic title will now be complemented by the moniker The Chartered Institute for IT' its chief executive David Clarke confirmed yesterday in an interview with IT PRO.
"This is a major step change for us, with new branding to reinforce that this is different. This is a new BCS," he said.
"For us to deliver on our charter, what our members need and maximise our potential in the market we needed to do a number of things, most of which we've launched today," he added.
The BCS hopes to make it easier for employers to assess the chartered status of IT recruits through more granular competency validation and a new version of its CITP certification. In addition, it plans to create an Academy of Computing to boost the teaching of technology related subjects and encourage more children to take up a career in the IT industry.
"It needs to start at primary school and be integrated and be taught in a completely different way. At the moment we are discouraging young kids when they're making career decisions from an IT career," Clarke added.
"If you ask 12/13 year-olds what a career in IT is, they'll say it's working in an office because all they're being taught is Word and Excel."
The BCS doesn't plan to stop there. It plans to provide support to companies looking to be more environmentally friendly. In addition, it hopes to partner with organisations around the world to extend the reach of its standards.
"We think we can make the British standard the global standard," said Clarke. "We just need to enable it and the momentum will build."
