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Anglo-American Alliance to Attack Skills Shortage
This week sees a powerful alliance being formed to combat the United Kingdom's IT skills gap.
Leading UK awarding body OCR and software leader Microsoft, have joined forces to offer Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) units - widely recognized as the industry standard in user IT qualifications - within OCR's IT qualification the Computer Literacy and Information Technology (CLAIT) certificate.
A combination of the most popular IT qualification (CLAIT) with the most popular software applications (MOUS) now provides the most relevant and flexible IT qualification available.
The MOUS units have been accredited into the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) as part of the OCR Level 2 Certificate for IT Users (CLAIT Plus) and OCR Level 3 Certificate for IT Users (CLAIT Advanced).
At the launch of the new qualifications held at Microsoft's UK headquarters in Reading on Thursday, 20th June and attended by over 200 head teachers and heads of departments, OCR chief executive, Dr Ron McLone said: "I am delighted that we have been able to form this partnership with Microsoft as a positive response to the ICT needs of the UK population.
"These qualifications will be particularly attractive to students wishing to improve their general IT competence and at the same time wanting to learn and discover the potential of Microsoft Office.
"Employers benefit because they will know their existing and future employees have the necessary skills their business needs."
Microsoft UK managing director, Neil Holloway added: "This partnership between OCR and Microsoft is hugely important - it enables access to 'fit for purpose' qualifications that meet the needs of both industry and education. It extends choice to students as they embark on a journey of IT qualifications in schools and colleges through to professional qualifications and addresses the IT skills crisis in the UK."
The qualifications will be available from September 2002 and further information can be obtained from the New CLAIT Suite homepage or the OCR Information Bureau on 024 76 470033.
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