Maintaining Industrial Competence

Poor quality software and projects that fail to deliver are a toofrequent occurrence. There is thus a clear need for greater professionalism throughout the sector and this must be supported by appropriate Continuous Professional Development (CPD). Details are presented of foundation work, undertaken since 2000, relevant to the on-going professional development of IT practitioners. Information is then given on a current project that is concerned with identifying successful industrial practices and the teaching of such in academic programmes including programmes that support CPD. The major challenges that this work has exposed are detailed, current conclusions are outlined and suggestions are given with regard to possible solutions for the problems that clearly exist.