The Train2Cert project
Wireless systems, Internet, multimedia and www technologies are creating the essential challenges for modern information and communication technologies (ICT). The ICT industry and the global market still require more and more professionals with certified qualifications in these areas. Certification is always related with training for those who wish to get the best possible preparation to certificate examinations The proposed project aims, therefore, at establishing an international training partnership offering blended training for certificates in relevant areas of ICT.
As such, the Train2Cert project would be complimentary to another proposal submitted in the same call – International Certificates of Excellence in Selected Areas of ICT (InCert), taking advantage of the certification areas and requirements defined for the purpose of that proposal. It should be emphasised, however, that the present training project can be realised independently. The projects address different areas of certification theme: an offer of certificate procedures and an offer of certificate-oriented training.
The project partners will develop a set of comprehensive courses providing:
- understanding of wireless systems, networks, multimedia and www technologies principles, an insight into the advantages and disadvantages of using these techniques, understanding of the relationship between the performance, complexity and cost effectiveness of technology,
- overview of existing and newly coming applications, solutions and standards.
Each course will have a hybrid structure. The hybrid solution delivers an e-learning content (Part I of each course) directly over the Web. This e-course will require 30-40 hours of student work. Part I will cover introduction, theoretical issues, system principles and architecture, review of the current standards, insight into future trends in the field, examples of implementation, problems to solve, self test, etc. The general purpose of Part I is to prepare a student (give him/her necessary background) to pass the laboratory part of a course (Part II).
A description of laboratory experiments and a guide to the laboratory will be prepared in the form of a handbook accessible in the Internet as well as in the form of printed booklet. We expect that two kinds of laboratory experiments will be prepared: those requiring professional equipment (hardware and/or software) manufactured by ICT companies, and those requiring only software (e.g. Java applets) prepared by the project partners. The laboratory part of the courses will be offered to the students by the project partners.
There are the following groups at whom the courses are targeted:
- ICT professionals (engineers and technicians especially from SMEs) and ICT students interested in the certificates offered by the InCert project. The certificates will increase their opportunities for better job or faster career.
- engineers and technicians from outside the ICT area who anticipate future involvement in the ICT field or who want to enter the ICT sector.
- the unemployed who need to re-skill in order to find jobs in the ICT sector.
- ICT-related students.
- staff executives and managers (especially from SMEs) with direct responsibility for providing support and technical services (Internet, www technologies, networks, wireless access, e-mail, etc.) , who desire to gain better understanding of their enterprises’ sales functions and competitiveness.
The partnership established for Train2Cert is a consortium of 7 European academic centres as well as training organisations and enterprises closely linked to the ICT sector. Universities from Poland, France, Finland, Italy and Slovakia have the capability of both developing and managing the certification training offer of the project, based on the experience of previous co-operation in EU training programmes.