Survey on the Proposed Establishment of BCPM

http://kict.iium.edu.my/survey/

There is currently an initiative to establish a Board of Computing Professionals Malaysia (BCPM), which will function to accredit ICT academic programmes, as well as to promote, facilitate and regulate the profession (very much like the Board of Engineers for engineering, and the Bar Council for the legal profession, etc.). This initiative is under the purview of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (MOSTI) and led by the National ICT Human Resource Task Force under the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) and within the ICT Human Capital Development Framework.

We would like to invite all ICT practitioners and those related to the profession to participate in an on-line survey that will be open for responses from Monday 28 June 2012 (00:00) to Monday 11 June 2012 (24:00). The survey aims to solicit feedback from the ICT community to determine the overall suitability and general acceptance to the proposal for the establishment of the BCPM. The survey site is at

http://kict.iium.edu.my/survey/

The introduction to the survey and the instructions for filling the questionnaire will be provided at the stated site, as well as a link to another site that provides the general context to the proposal. Although we do not foresee any problem that may occur at the said site, should there be difficulties, an alternative site will be made available at http://cserver.cs.usm.my/bcpm/.

For those who are able to attend, there will be an awareness and Q&A session followed by a paper survey to be held at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC), Putrajaya Precinct 5, on Monday 28 June 2012. A formal session will be held at 9.00-12.30 am, and informal sessions will be during 2.30-5.00 pm.

We look forward to your participation in the survey and thank you in advance.

Sumber

http://www.mosti.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2354%3Asesi-kaji-selidik-bagi-mengumpul-maklum-balas-mengenai-cadangan-penubuhan-board-of-computing-professionals-malaysia-bcpm&catid=44%3Aupcoming-events&Itemid=123&lang=en

Objective

This questionnaire is to solicit feedback from the ICT community to determine the overall suitability and general acceptance to the proposal for the establishment of the Board of Computing Professionals Malaysia (BCPM).

Context

The proposal for the establishment of the BCPM is the third of three strategic thrusts recommended by the National ICT Human Resource Task Force under the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) within the ICT Human Capital Development Framework. The framework provides a set of national initiatives towards producing more resilient ICT graduates and transforming the country into a producer nation in ICT software and applications. This is to be attained via the developent of a sufficiently large and readily available pool of highly competent computing professionals, being those who innovate, design, implement and maintain computers, computing systems, and computing applications. [More details are available at http://goo.gl/nXBwb]

A draft Bill (RUU – Rang Undang-Undang) for this purpose had been prepared in December 2011, which was circulated for a preliminary discussion on an Open Day held at MOSTI on Tuesday 13 December 2011, with the period for feedback left open until Friday 30 January 2012. The feedback obtained was analysed and discussed, which subsequently led to the contents of the questionnaire in this survey.

This survey will be open for responses, either through face-to-face at the end of a series of awareness programme sessions, or through a portal, for a period of 15 days from Monday 28 May to Monday 11 June. The results of this survey will be analysed and the appropriate recommendations will be forwarded to the Ministry of Science and Innovations (MOSTI) for the appropriate action. Ultimately, based on the results, the draft Bill/RUU will be:

• Amended accordingly and tabled at Parliament for adoption; or 
• Adopted via other means (e.g. via Industry); or 
• Abandoned altogether.

Underlying Intentions

First and foremost, it is crucial to note that the Bill/RUU is only a vehicle, where the exact underlying intentions are to have the following:

• To establish a class of Professionals that can be distinguished from ordinary IT providers and will also guarantee a certain level of expertise/standards and be accountable for their services. 

•  To attain international recognition and/or equivalence, especially via the Seoul Accord (see below), and in particular for our Computing/ICT degrees.

 The questionnaire will address the six points that support the underlying intentions for the establishment of the BCPM, the associated Bill, and the overall implementation, namely the following:  


1. The need for Certification of Professionals and to sign the Seoul Accord:

There has always been a strong desire to make our Computing/ICT graduates have a professional status (akin to engineers, medical doctors, accountants, etc.) as well as be internationally recognised as such. Three points are very relevant here:

• The best way to achieve both is to sign the Seoul Accord (equivalent to the Washington Accord for engineering), which will not only enforce the maintenance of the required level to be considered professionals, but it also provides a status that is recognised worldwide.
• However, all signatories of the Seoul Accord need to have a Board (or Society or any entity) that is equivalent to the proposed BCPM, which will have to be accorded the necessary authority and be responsible to audit and accredit Computing/ICT programmes, to register professional members, and to regulate them.
• It is important to note that with the professional status comes a considerably high degree of responsibility, especially in terms of a guarantee of quality and accountability.

2. The need for a Bill/RUU:

Unlike in many countries, it is by tradition and practice that all Boards of Professionals in Malaysia had been set up via an Act of Parliament, and this is strongly perceived to be so (else, few will feel the compulsion to adhere to the Board’s regulations). In any case, the Bill can be seen to be the surest and fastest way of getting the underlying intentions implemented.  


3. Registration with BCPM will be voluntary:

Once the BCPM is set up, four points are of major relevance:

• Graduates from the BCPM (hence Seoul Accord) accredited degrees will automatically qualify to be Registered Computing Practitioners, and later become Registered Computing Professionals after acquiring some experience and satisfying certain criteria.
• Both registrations will also be open to other graduates and even non-graduates based on certain required and proven experience to be established by the Board.
• The above are essentially criteria to qualify for registration, but no individual is compelled to be registered with the BCPM, and once registered may also opt to de-register himself.
• There have also been proposals to have the category of Registered Service Providers for companies, but should this proposal be accepted, registration will also be voluntary. 

4. Regulatory matters apply only to BCPM registered members:

In the implementation of the Act and the BCPM, three points are to be noted:

• The provisions of the Act and the ensuing regulations (from the Act and from the Board) apply only to its registered members, and hence only to individuals (and not the companies or institutions they represent). [The exception would be for the Registered Service Providers should the category be adopted.]
• The above would mean that there will be no official regulations that would compel projects (government or otherwise) to be proposed and carried out only by BCPM registered members.
• Nonetheless, it is also important to note that project owners (government or otherwise) may voluntarily choose for their projects to be proposed and carried out by BCPM registered members only – as is the case for a few countries with their BCPM equivalent (and often with the addition of ISO conditions). 

5. The Board needs to be neutral:

To ensure acceptance by the ICT community, industry and the public in general, the Board needs to be neutral at all levels and it has to be seen to be so:

• This has to be in terms of its composition (the President and executive members), the decisions it makes, its actions, etc.
• Neutrality, impartiality and independence of the Board are also strict pre-conditions to qualify for signing the Seoul Accord. 

6. The Board needs to be sustainable:

Like all other Boards of Professionals, BCPM has to be financially sustainable (after a possible initial grant from the Government). This would typically be from fees from accreditation exercises, subscriptions from registered members, and from several professional activities.

The Seoul Accord

As mentioned, one of the main reasons for establishing BCPM is to be able to sign the Seoul Accord. Established in December 2008, the Seoul Accord is a multi-lateral mutual recognition agreement among agencies responsible for the accreditation or recognition of undergraduate computing and IT related programmes.

The Seoul Accord's vision is to become recognised internationally as a leader in defining and promulgating standards and guidelines for the academic preparation of computing professionals. The Seoul Accord is non-governmental and is not affiliated with any country.

The Seoul Accord has since become the international authority on quality assurance and the promotion and development of best practices for the improvement of education in the computing and IT-related professions. The Accord establishes the equivalence in terms of outcomes relative to the preparation for professional practice. [More details (in particular, for governance and graduate attributes) are available at http://goo.gl/nXBwb ]

One of the many benefits of signing the Seoul Accord is that the agreement and the resulting standard that it creates allows the Malaysian public and private sector to recruit with confidence computing or Information Technology workers from around the world with accredited degrees.

It also helps graduates from Malaysian institutions of higher learning who want to work or study abroad be recognised world-wide if Malaysia is a signatory.

The accredited degrees here refer to those that comply with the standards of the curricula and targeted graduate attributes as stipulated by the Seoul Accord, which establishes an internationally recognised ‘desired’ level of quality of programmes and graduates.

Currently there are eight signatories, the British Computer Society, Australian Computer Society, Canadian Information Processing Society, ABET Inc (USA), JABEE (Japan), ABEEK (Republic of Korea), HKIE (Hong Kong) and IEET (Taiwan).

 The signatories to the Accord need to be authorities, agencies, or institutions that are representative of the computing and IT-related community and that have statutory powers or recognised professional authority for accrediting/recognising programmes designed to satisfy the academic requirements for professional computing and IT-related practice within a defined jurisdiction (e.g. country, economy, geographic region).

In Malaysia, by tradition and practice, a Bill is required to empower/accord a body as such. 

1) General Questions

 2) Part 1: The need for Certification of Professionals and to sign the Seoul Accord

There has always been a strong desire to make our Computing/ICT graduates have a professional status (akin to engineers, medical doctors, accountants, etc.) as well as be internationally recognised as such. Three points are very relevant here:

• The best way to achieve both is to sign the Seoul Accord (equivalent to the Washington Accord for engineering), which will not only enforce the maintenance of the required level to be considered professionals, but it also provides a status that is recognised worldwide.
• However, all signatories of the Seoul Accord need to have a Board (or Society or any entity) that is equivalent to the proposed BCPM, which will have to be accorded the necessary authority and be responsible to audit and accredit Computing/ICT programmes, to register professional members, and to regulate them.
• It is important to note that with the professional status comes a considerably high degree of responsibility, especially in terms of a guarantee of quality and accountability.