EXIN South Pacific to invest in ICDL with a view to taking the international standard to the next level and to realise its true value to education, government and industry.

MELBOURNE : July 10, 2008 – EXIN South Pacific has signed an agreement with the European Computer Driving Licence (ECDL) Foundation to become the exclusive licensee for ICDL in Australia .

Mr. Peter Cross, Managing Director for EXIN South Pacific said that ICDL is an internationally-recognised, vendor-neutral, end-user computer skills certification program that has to date been managed under licence in Australia by the ACS (Australian Computer Society).

Under terms of the agreement with the ECDL Foundation, EXIN, the Examination Institute for Information Science, will take over certification processes, marketing and business development of ICDL in Australia and Papua New Guinea as from July 1, 2008 .

“ICDL is a highly successful non-proprietary certification program with nearly eight million candidates worldwide,” Mr Cross said. “It is an internationally recognised standard in over 150 countries and has proven to be a huge success in certifying people to use a computer to pre-defined minimum standards.

“ ACS has been extremely effective in getting ICDL established in Australia. EXIN will be investing significantly in expanding the number of Accredited Test Centres that are supporting ICDL which will take the ICDL program to the next level. This in turn will greatly expand the number of employees and employers who are leveraging the standard in the employment marketplace.

“To further enhance the value of ICDL in Australia , we also intend to introduce a range of new products and to ramp up lobbying activity to education, government and industry organisations so they will embrace ICDL. It is an ideal standard by which we can all work together to improve digital literacy standards in Australia.”

Joep van Nieuwstadt, CEO EXIN International said: “EXIN and the ECDL Foundation have enjoyed a productive and close partnership for several years with regards to the ECDL examinations within The Netherlands. As a global, independent examination provider for both IT professionals as well as IT users, we highly value our expanded partnership with the ECDL Foundation, thus ensuring the further dissemination of the ICDL exams and certificates in the South Pacific region.”

Ms. Kim Denham , CEO of the ACS said the IT professional industry association is delighted that EXIN has committed to applying its certification and examination expertise to ICDL.

“The ACS considers that ICT literacy is a life skill and Australia needs a nationally consistent standard for ICT literacy in schools, which is applied and tested in the same way as the national standards for numeracy and literacy. Strong ICT literacy amongst the population is essential for Australia’s sustained prosperity.

“ICDL standard has continued to spread over the years and so have the benefits, as more employers use it to drive productivity and to measure the PC skills of staff and job candidates. We have no doubt that there are tremendous benefits for both employees and employers in embracing ICDL training and testing. ICDL has matured significantly and is now ready for further development

“Having EXIN South Pacific take over the ICDL licence in Australia will allow for the whole program to be ramped up through existing training and testing centres as well as accelerating the development of new channels. We shall continue to help promote the program and will contribute to course material development and examination content. We are confident that ICDL under EXIN South Pacific leadership will continue to prosper”, explained Ms Denham.

As well as the core ICDL standard which has been established in Australia since 1999 and has seen over 45,000 candidates trained and tested locally, EXIN intends to begin immediately introducing new products and new training partnerships.

“We will be immediately certifying exam centres and training providers to deliver the ICDL Advanced and e-Citizen certifications that have been developed by the European Computer Driving Licence Foundation which owns the ICDL standards,” Mr. Cross said. “ICDL Advanced is a higher-level program designed for those who have successfully reached ICDL skills levels and wish to further enhance their computer proficiency.

“Meanwhile e-Citizen allows candidates to learn about the Internet without requiring prior computer knowledge which is increasingly an important literacy skill as more and more organisations and government departments are using the Internet to provide essential information and services.

“The other key objective that EXIN South Pacific has slated for ICDL is to broaden the appeal and acceptance of the standard in Australia . We intend to dramatically expand the number of institutions that teach and acknowledge ICDL.

“I think that every school and TAFE college student in Australia should graduate with this minimum level of computer literacy and that every employer should recognise that holders of the ICDL are of value to them because they have passed this benchmark level of digital competency.”

Damien O’Sullivan, CEO, ECDL Foundation said: “Governments throughout the world, who subscribe to our vision that an improved level of digital literacy amongst their citizens is a pre-requisite for national development in this information age, have chosen to strongly endorse the ICDL standard and have reaped the benefits of this investment in their people.

“We are delighted to be partnering with EXIN South Pacific to further build on the work already done by ACS in establishing the ICDL standard in Australia and look forward to working with them to expand the reach of the programme across all sectors of Australian society.

“As not-for-profit organisations, both EXIN South Pacific and ECDL Foundation are committed to the mission of improving digital literacy skills development through certification, utilising local Australian resources and expertise, thus making a significant contribution to the Australian economy and to the lives of individual Australians.”

For more information, please visit www.icdl.com.au

Contacts:

Tania Evans – Schmooze Communications – 0412 411 600

Peter Cross – EXIN South Pacific – 0418 502 201

About EXIN
EXIN (Examination Institute for Information Science) is an independent, worldwide IT examination provider with more than 40 years of experience. EXIN is a not for profit organisation , specialised in establishing qualification programs, educational requirements and in developing examinations for all major areas in IT. It is EXIN’s mission to improve the quality of the IT sector, the IT professionals and the IT users, by means of independent testing and certification. EXIN achieves this goal by supporting the worldwide dissemination of certification standards and best practices in IT. EXIN is well known worldwide for its certificates in IT Service Management. Currently, the EXIN exams in IT Service Management Foundation are available in 15 languages. With computerised and web-based examinations for standards and best practices such as ISO/IEC 20000, ITIL®, MOF, ASL, BiSL and TMap®, EXIN is an acknowledged global service-provider in the field of IT competencies, testing and certification. For more information: www.exin-exams.org

About the ACS:
The ACS (Australian Computer Society) is the recognised professional association for those working in Information and Communications Technology, seeking to raise the standing of ICT professionals and represent their views to government, industry and the community. A member of the Australian Council of Professions, the ACS is the guardian of professional ethics and standards in the ICT sector, committed to ensuring the beneficial use of ICT for all Australians. It provides both members and non-members with opportunities for professional education, networking and certification, as well as enabling them to contribute to the development of their profession. Visit www.acs.org.au for more.

About ECDL Foundation
ECDL Foundation is the global governing body of the world's leading end-user computer skills certification programme. It is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated raising the level of computer skills in society and providing access for all to the Information Society. Known as ICDL outside of Europe with nearly 8 million Candidates participating in a range of programmes, ECDL Foundation has set the global benchmark in end-user skills certification.