royong
26-04-2008, 15:33
Did you know that we have a National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF)?
I was briefly introduced to the framework about a month back by the guys at Red Hat Global Learning Services when there was a need for them to re-submit their application for FY2008's Citrep grant. On Thursday, 2008-04-24, I had the opportunity to understand NICF better when I met up with one of the NICF administrators, Ms Florence Poh, to learn more about the framework and the submission criterias. I was at the meeting as part of the team representing Red Hat Global Learning Services (SG). Here are some highlights :
- NICF's website is located at http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/occupation.do
- What is NICF? Here's the official reply from their FAQ
"The National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF) is a manpower planning tool that defines the competencies needed and the levels in which they are performed for various key infocomm occupations, thus facilitating skill development and career progression. The main aim of NICF is to widen and expand the capabilities of infocomm professionals and guide their career development, based on standards agreed upon by the industry and companies. With NICF, infocomm professionals have greater access to training so that they can attain recognised certifications. NICF encourages workers to continually upgrade themselves and develop their vocational competence with specific occupational skills and generic employability skills."
- NICF is a framework that has been researched for the last 2 years, where several key industry experts and knowledge domain experts were surveyed and interviewed
- The NICF framework basically breaks down the infocomm industry into 12 occupational groups and within each occupational group, there are occupational levels such as ENTRANT, SPECIALIST, EXPERT, SENIOR MGT http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/pdf/nicfmap.pdf
- Within each occupational group and level, there are occupational titles within which courses are pegged to. i.e. the following link brings you to the occupational title of Network Engineer under the Occupational Group of Enterprise Networks Design & Management and at the Specialist (Technical) level http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/viewJobGeneral.do?OccupationID=NICF-OCC-00091
- Complimentary mapping of courses to NICF up to 31 Mar 2009
- It takes 2 to 3 months for the board of experts to approve each submission
- Submissions is per course basis, not per certification i.e. not all courses need to lead to a certification
- Citrep requires all courses to be mapped to NICF before 31 Sep 2008
- Citrep requires all courses to be listed at Specialist level at NICF
It is nice to know that such a framework exists locally and IDA is taking a conscience effort in promoting the infocomm industry and providing individuals with a clear roadmap/career path. Its a wonderful resource that will probably see more media coverage in the coming months.
I was briefly introduced to the framework about a month back by the guys at Red Hat Global Learning Services when there was a need for them to re-submit their application for FY2008's Citrep grant. On Thursday, 2008-04-24, I had the opportunity to understand NICF better when I met up with one of the NICF administrators, Ms Florence Poh, to learn more about the framework and the submission criterias. I was at the meeting as part of the team representing Red Hat Global Learning Services (SG). Here are some highlights :
- NICF's website is located at http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/occupation.do
- What is NICF? Here's the official reply from their FAQ
"The National Infocomm Competency Framework (NICF) is a manpower planning tool that defines the competencies needed and the levels in which they are performed for various key infocomm occupations, thus facilitating skill development and career progression. The main aim of NICF is to widen and expand the capabilities of infocomm professionals and guide their career development, based on standards agreed upon by the industry and companies. With NICF, infocomm professionals have greater access to training so that they can attain recognised certifications. NICF encourages workers to continually upgrade themselves and develop their vocational competence with specific occupational skills and generic employability skills."
- NICF is a framework that has been researched for the last 2 years, where several key industry experts and knowledge domain experts were surveyed and interviewed
- The NICF framework basically breaks down the infocomm industry into 12 occupational groups and within each occupational group, there are occupational levels such as ENTRANT, SPECIALIST, EXPERT, SENIOR MGT http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/pdf/nicfmap.pdf
- Within each occupational group and level, there are occupational titles within which courses are pegged to. i.e. the following link brings you to the occupational title of Network Engineer under the Occupational Group of Enterprise Networks Design & Management and at the Specialist (Technical) level http://itrain.ida.gov.sg/itrain/nicf/viewJobGeneral.do?OccupationID=NICF-OCC-00091
- Complimentary mapping of courses to NICF up to 31 Mar 2009
- It takes 2 to 3 months for the board of experts to approve each submission
- Submissions is per course basis, not per certification i.e. not all courses need to lead to a certification
- Citrep requires all courses to be mapped to NICF before 31 Sep 2008
- Citrep requires all courses to be listed at Specialist level at NICF
It is nice to know that such a framework exists locally and IDA is taking a conscience effort in promoting the infocomm industry and providing individuals with a clear roadmap/career path. Its a wonderful resource that will probably see more media coverage in the coming months.