On 27 March 2007, Ambassador Dimitris Kourkoulas presented European Computer Driving Licenses (ECDL), following the completion of the EU-funded project “ECDL National License for BiH”, which provided some 100,000 euro to support the Association of Informatics in BiH.
Mr. Slobodan Dragicevic, Vice-President of the Association of Informatics stated that this first presentation of certificates is part of the 50th
anniversary celebrations and stressed the importance of IT education in BiH, noting that the ECDL standards are recognized worldwide.
Mrs. Mensura Musurovic, President of the BiH EDCL Association gave an overview of the ECDL, which today covers 146 countries, out of which 34 are European. Testing is presented in 38 languages and has already trained 6,5 million people. The beginnings in BiH date back to 1998, when the Swedish Association awarded a sub-licence for BiH; today BiH has its own certificate in local language.
Ambassador Kourkoulas expressed his pleasure in presenting certificates to some of the 100 candidates who went through rigorous training so as to obtain their ECDL certificate. They join f 2,400 employees of the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of BiH, 700 from the Indirect Taxation Authority and 700 from other Governmental institutions who have also received ECDL training funded through other EU projects.
Mr Hazis Kazic, of the BiH Civil Service Agency stated that education of BiH citizens, and especially civil servants, is a must and an investment for the future. He believes that the concept of literacy should be redefined, as without knowledge of at least one foreign language and good knowledge of Information Technology, there is no chance of progress.
Mr. Julian Seymour, Executive Director of ECDL, stressed the importance of norms and strict standards that are, nowadays, recognized all over the world.
Mr. Perry Lingman of the Swedish ECDL Association and coordinator of the ECDL sub-licence for BiH bade farewell to BiH as it has now obtained its own licence.
