Where is this 'research' ? Was it related specifically to the IT industry ? What qualifications ensured these 37% pay differentials ? How do they know it was the qualification and not different experience levels, how did they make the comparison ?

Again another article with bold statements and no facts.

I've seen some pretty dubious gartner reports in my time too.

The only ISEB qualification I've seen recognised in the market is their testing cert. I've never heard of anyone fail it, and its normally awarded after a one week course. Hardly makes a candidate better qualified than a computer science degree.

Personally I think its just this sort of woolly thinking, mis-marketing and poor writing that dooms most IT projects...

This is just a load of horse hockey. Plain and simple, holding a certificate in anything is not going to guarantee a candidate to earn that kind of money over a candidate with a degree throughout their lifetime. Two months of intense self study for a cert over 4 years of slaving away at a degree... come on you do the math.

How'd you get to that £120k figure ken ?

I think they mean £60k more earned over a degree qualified candidate in a lifetime, thats like £2k a year on a 30 year career. Which is still dubious because I'd expect the degree candidate to have the advantage. What proportion of these people also have degrees ?

Of course to get the true ROI you'd have to take into account the cost of training, which is now considerable for a degree, say £10k, plus loss of earnings, say £70k, plus inflation. Why would people give up £80k+ and three years if they can just sit a one week course at £1,600 for a ISEB cert instead ?

The 37% seems to relate to anyone with further education, which is pretty reasonable because they are probably comparing some skilled to some unskilled labour.

Wha ? You mean you're not ? !