Standard to increase acceptance of software certifications.
Press Release Summary:
ANSI Standard ISO/IEC 24773:2008, "Software engineering - Certification of software engineering professionals" looks to establish an international framework for the comparison of certification schemes for credentials. It specifies the items that a scheme is required to contain and indicates what should be defined for each item. Certification bodies for such professionals seeking accreditation must adhere to both ISO/IEC 24773:2008 and ISO/IEC 17024:2003.
Original Press Release:
New ISO/IEC International Standard to Certify Software Engineering Professionals
In response to the increasing globalization of the computer software industry, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) recently released a standard that seeks to increase the cross-border acceptance of certifications for software engineering professionals.
ISO/IEC 24773:2008, Software engineering - Certification of software engineering professionals - Comparison framework will aid software engineers by facilitating the portability of their professional certifications between different countries or organizations. Currently, divergent approaches to software engineer certification are practiced; ISO/IEC 24773: 2008 aims to provide a framework for expressing these approaches in a common scheme that can lead to understanding and international acceptance of credentials.
ISO/IEC 24773:2008 establishes a framework for the comparison of certification schemes for software engineering professional credentials. The new International Standard specifies the items that a scheme is required to contain and indicates what should be defined for each item. The standard refines and supplements the processes for certification of individuals included in ISO/IEC 17024: 2003, Conformity assessment - General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons. Certification bodies for software engineering professionals seeking accreditation must adhere to both ISO/IEC 24773:2008 and to ISO/IEC 17024:2003.
The implementation of this recently published standard will benefit industry and professional organizations, educators, examining bodies, and government entities in helping to shape education and training, evaluation and maintenance, and policy development.
The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), an accredited standards developer and organizational member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), serves as the U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) administrator for Joint Technical Committee 1, Subcommittee 7 (JTC 1/SC 7), Information Technology, Software and System Engineering, which developed ISO/IEC 24773:2008.
ANSI's Personnel Certification Accreditation Program provides accreditation to programs that represent 57 different credentials across the country. Based on the requirements of ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024, ANSI's program uses an internationally recognized process to accredit qualified certifiers based on applications and on-site assessments. More than 300,000 professionals currently hold certifications from organizations accredited under ANSI's Accreditation Program for Personnel Certification Bodies.
