New Century, new qualifications? A framework to guide the development of tertiary qualifications

Traditional training and education offerings for technical professionals have not kept pace with the increasing demand for workers with strong business and management aptitude in addition to their technical skills. Today, this skills deficit in technology-based enterprises has a measurable impact upon the world economy. Moreover, developing nations with a critical need for technological capacity suffer the most. Representatives of the qualifications authority and the sector training authority have undertaken a project that is aimed at developing a framework within which qualifications can be measured, evaluated and constructed. This would provide the foundation for assessing and upgrading qualifications in order to meet international standards and facilitate the process of life-long learning. In this paper, the author describes the development of this framework and illustrates how it is applied to structured qualifications that are appropriate for current developmental priorities.