[Linux-aus] Interview with Mark Lloyd from ACS on compulsory accreditation

[Bret Busby]

On Sat, 30 Sep 2006, Brenda Aynsley wrote:

>
> pps I would imagine that your partner would be eligible for membership at the 
> associate level at least and with the passage of time working in the industry 
> full professional membership.  If you want to send me the CV I will forward 
> it to the Manager Professional Standards for his view on eligibility.
>
>

The web page at 
http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=skillapplication 
states that a fee is applicable for assessment of non-accredited 
courses. The fee is stated as being $400.

As previously mentioned, the ACS web site indicates that the annual 
membership fee is $320, and a joining fee of $110 is also applicable.

On the web page at 
http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=skillguidelines , is 
stated:
"Applicants who apply for RPL and do not hold a recognised academic 
tertiary qualification will have deducted from their total work 
experience a period of relevant IT professional experience deemed 
necessary to have reached the level of qualification allocated. For 
example, if an applicant is allocated a qualification level equivalent 
to a 2-year diploma, they will have two years deducted from the total 
of their recognized work experience, and therefore eight years in total 
will be needed. (April 2003)"

So, because the ACS does not recognise the equivalent of an honours 
degree, as being as at least the same level as a pass degree, it 
automatically imposes a penalty of time of work experience, regardless 
of the fact that the PostGrad Dip was earned while working full-time, in 
the subject area.

Anne has been working as a computing professional, for about 14 years, 
and in that time, while working, has completed a PostGraduate Diploma in 
Computer Science at Curtin University, is a certified computer trainer 
(MCT), and has written and operated training courses, and has completed 
most of a Masters degree in computing (MSD), which involves units in 
areas such as ethics, etc.

She is virtually qualified at the same level as an ACS Senior Member 
(SMACS).

Yet, because the ACS does not regard an Australian honours degree 
equivalent, as being at at least the same level as a pass degree at the 
same recognised institution, she would have to pay the ACS an extra 
$400, just to join as an ordinary member, to get her honours degree 
equivalent, assessed as being as of at least the same level as a pass 
degree at the same institution.

Thus, she would have to pay to the ACS, $510 to join as a Member, and, 
$320 per year membership fees, so, the first year would cost her $830, 
and it would cost $320 per year, after that, to continue her 
membership.

All of this, makes the IEEE Computer Society, which I have also 
mentioned in a previous posting on this thread, a much more practical 
and realistic institution for membership of an applicable professional 
organisation in Australia, as it does not penalise qualified people for 
its own inability to properly assess qualifications, and, it does not 
seek to profit from its own shortcomings, in what amounts to 
profiteering by the ACS, in charging a $400 fee to determine that an 
honours degree equivalent is at at least the same level as a pass degree 
in the same subject area, at the same institution.

Given all of the fees that the ACS charges, instead of penalising 
valuable people, for the shortcomings of the ACS, if the ACS wants to be 
taken seriously as a professional body, it should be proactively making 
it easier for qualified people to join, by going out there, 
investigating what professional qualifications are on offer, or, have 
been recently made available, and, assessing their standing, instead of 
the profiteering because it can't be bothered.

Thus am I dubious of the qualification of the ACS to act as a 
professional body in assessing the standing of professional 
qualifications, when it does not know the standing of professional 
qualifications in Australia, awarded by Australian universities.

--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............

"So once you do know what the question actually is,
  you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
   Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
   "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
   A Trilogy In Four Parts",
   written by Douglas Adams,
   published by Pan Books, 1992

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