O Certiport, Where Art Thou?

Three years ago, I approached Pearson In Practice to discuss the opening of a centre closer to home, in Worcester. At the time the company was at its peak serving over 2000 apprentices per programme semester (every 20-24 weeks). Students in their first year would be able to look forward to the opportunity of taking their first exam, a 'cherry on the cake' as it were - their first Microsoft Technology Associate exam. This marked their career in the IT industry and proved that they had an expert knowledge and also up-to-date practical experience with the latest software, techniques and skills.

The offering was a significant breakthrough which sorted out the experts from the hangers-on. It was the crowning achievement of the apprenticeship training programme met only by the CompTIA A+ and MOC Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in Windows 7 (MCTS) exam.

Certiport is the foundation-level series of IT exams aimed at the IT Professional and the End-User. The series of exams are suitable and relevant to Post-16 students in a school or college, Computing Degree graduates in wanting experiential and highly technical training and also those in their first year within the IT profession wishing to prove to their manager, also to themselves that they are 'relevant, recent and productive'.

Certiport in the UK however is not publicly available other than from a very few vendor training companies. The intention was always to fund Certiport offerings in conjunction with other government-funded programmes of study such as an Apprenticeship or NVQ. It would be up to the school or college to determine Certiport as 'added value' and to buy in to the scheme.

Sadly, this has in 2014 led to a situation where there are very few B2C providers.

It is my intention with MBIT Training Ltd to open a training centre to offer official Certiport training courses and also to proctor Certiport exams to benefit the IT skills of the public.

The Certiport offering is also available as a mobile training and testing solution where the registered centre can also engage directly with B2B clients at their own sites. MBIT Training Ltd is also pleased to be able to offer this service.

However, it is new, underused and a little-known offering. It is vital therefore that the Certiport brand becomes established as the 'first port of call' for IT training.