Switzerland is one of leading nations when it comes to computer usage. However in the last years an increasing shortage of IT-professionals has built up. The problem remains severe as the Swiss educational system continues to fail producing enough qualified students for the Swiss IT-industry. Professionals from all over the world are hired to fill the gap. However, the handling of foreign job-applications, particularly those from outside Europe, is a difficult, time consuming, error prone and tedious task for the involved IT-Managers as well as the HR-professionals. The shortage of Swiss educated IT-professionals is caused by many factors. Besides demographic developments, an exponential growth of IT-usage worldwide, the chaotic IT-education landscape in Switzerland and in most other countries does not help to attract prospective students.
The 60+ IFIP Member Societies adopted in 2006 the global initiative International Professional Practice Partnership (IP3). IP3 envisions to fully exploit the enormous potential of IT and to deliver the maximum benefit to the greatest number of people. IP3 consists of leading IT-associations across the globe sharing a common vision to establish IT as a profession that is recognized and valued globally. We strongly recommend an early and active participation of Switzerland in the IFIP/IP3 standardization activities; this will allow aligning the upcoming standards to the needs of the Swiss industry and business.
We propose a Swiss certification authority for IT-professionals (referenced throughout this proposal as “IP3.ch") IP3.ch is run by a private organization and remains compatible with IFIP activities, but operates a certification scheme, customized to the specific needs of Swiss industry and business. The responsibilities of the IP3.ch certification authority would include providing guidelines for IT-education in Switzerland, finding ways to incorporate professional experience in its certification scheme, simplifying the hiring process of foreign as well as national ITprofessionals, etc.
The next pages present a more detailed plan of the IP3.ch Project, more detailed information about Swiss IT-professionalism and a closer look at the expected benefits of such a certification authority.