Hamish Bentley, deputy head of the School of Information Systems at the Queensland University of Technology, said while the group has not settled on a title for the course, it has a good understanding on what will be useful to promote professionalism among CIOs.

"The course is really a blend of different skills and we are considering at the moment whether it will be taught by the various IT faculties," Bentley said adding that financial skills are also a part of the course.

"The support of practicing CIOs, who tell us some of the war stories, will help us form the right direction.

"The course will really reflect what a CIO does every day. We talk to CIOs and ask how such a course can take away their pain.

"We know what we want to achieve and the CIO Executive committee will be able to provide good, practical real-world grounding for the course."