New BCS

Serving North & West Yorkshire

The "New BCS"-Leading professionalism in IT

Tuesday 25th May 2004
Speaker:David Clarke, BCS Chief Executive.

It was a privilege to have David Clarke, Chief Executive of the BCS, to give a talk at our AGM in May. Naturally we made full advantage of David's time and the proceedings begun with David presenting prizes to the winning team of the LocalBiz Project West Yorkshire BCS competition.

LocalBiz Winners

(The LocalBiz Project was run as a pilot in selected West Yorkshire schools during the 2003/04 academic year. It encourages 14 to 19 year old students to develop their awareness of business and the world of work. The BCS West Yorkshire branch sponsored a competition between the participating schools, which was won by Brighouse High School. The students and teacher are shown above (centre) recieving their prize from David Clarke, Chief Executive of the BCS (second from the left). Also pictured are the two schools whose entries were "highly commended" by the panel of judges. On the left are the students from Challenge College (Bradford) with LocalBiz Director Alan Drew and students from Prince Henry's Grammar School (Otley), with Director Ian Linnegan).

David's presentation bore the hallmarks of a true professional. From introduction to departure (he had to catch a train) his presentation engaged the room and was truly inspirational. The need for a professional organization has never been recognised more than it is today. From Government to corporate companies, organisations now recognise that they need the assurance that those working on their systems are competent and accredited. The time is ripe for the BCS to become THE professional body for IT workers.

David outlined the way the BCS will move forward, how it will interact with external bodies, the success of the various exams (such as the ISEB ones and ECDL) and also mentioned some of the new services which are available to members.

I would like to thank David for coming to Leeds and for the inspiration he left us with. (He used to work for Richard Branson - how cool is that! - Scar said David).

Nick Seddon