CIT launches an alternative CPC
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• An alternative to the Certificate of Professional Competence is one of three initiatives being launched by the Chartered Institute of Transport, in a bid to double its UK membership.
Unlike the CPC, vrIftsh has been branded a "multi piechoice Mickey Mouse membry test", the Certificate of Transport will have two exam papers. It has already been recognised by the Department of Transpore.
One of the papers will be similar to the CPC with multiple-chdice questions, but it will also require some short written answers. The second paper is based on the road freight course of the main CIT exam and will involve essay writing.
Alan Jones, managing director of TNT Express (UK) and the new CIT UK chairman, believes the new exam is superior to the CPC: "Up to now these examinations have been based on a memory test, and those blessed with a photographic memory go sailing through. But does it make them any the wiser in practical terms? How much do you really know about a subject when all you're faced with is putting a tick in one of four little boxes?"
The first combined national and international haulage exam will be held early next summer. A PSV exam will follow, but riot until this time next year.
The CIT will set, oversee and mark the exams. Students can take short courses or study through correspondence courses. Those who pass the exams will become automatically associate members of the CIT.
The CIT which has about 11,000 UK members and 9,000 overseas is also introducing an apprenticeship scheme designed to attract school leavers in to the industry.
The scheme runs for three or five years depending on the students' qualifications, and is designed for companies which employ at least 50 transport staff. It will be overseen by the CIT.
Jones expects at least 20 major transport organisations to join the scheme in the next few months. TNT alone will take on a minimum of 25 apprentices in the next 12 months.
The third initiative is a competition, which is aimed at getting 14 to 18-year-olds interested in the transport industry. The CIT hopes these initiatives will increase its membership by 10% a year over the next five years.