The Postgraduate Certificate in Professional Development (Electronics and ICT) is aimed at graduates with at least two years' experience in ICT who want to enhance their knowledge, skills and productivity.

The certificate syllabus pays particular attention to standards of professional practice rather than focusing only on knowledge and skill transfer. In this way particularly, it will be useful to the NZ Computer Society, which is keen to institute a professional qualification as an adjunct to membership.

Work for the certificate seeks to improve standards in the industry; one of its briefs is to "encourage critiquing of current professional practice through reflection on workplace practice."

The certificate may be taken extramurally and with the assistance of distance-learning, block courses interleaved with paid work and the use of network technologies such as video conferencing.

Students will be able to integrate both technical and management topics in their work-based projects which they will work on either on their own or in groups, says TEC.