AFCEA Professional Development Europe
Armed Forces Communications & Electronics Association
An International Association for Communications, Electronics and Information Systems Professionals
AFCEA pde Background
In the USA, the AFCEA Professional Development Center ("pdc") presents single day and three to five day courses in the C4ISR disciplines to military, government and industry professionals who are mid-level in their careers. These courses are taught mainly at AFCEA headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia twice each year and are also sometimes sent to off-site locations in the USA. The full list of pdc courses and dates available at any time may be viewed on the AFCEA website at www.afcea.org. A synopsis of each course listed is also available via the website.
In recent years, some of the most sustained expansion of AFCEA membership has been in Europe, where there are now (at time of writing, mid 2004) 23 Chapters in 19 countries. European members of AFCEA find it difficult, if not impossible, to access pdc courses in the USA, and pdc has not found it economically viable to export their courses to Europe. Also, many of the pdc courses have a distinctly US "flavor" and some are not exportable at all. The AFCEA Educational Foundation Board of Directors has therefore determined to seek the development of a separate professional development programme for Europe as a significant improvement to its member services in the region.
After careful consideration and discussions, the Board accepted proposals developed by Consultancy Solutions Limited (CSL) Training Division conjunction with Adfingo Limited (www.adfingo.net) for the design, development and delivery of a professional development programme for Europe, now known as Professional Development Europe ("pde"). AFCEA offers Courses Throughout Europe’, Association News, SIGNAL, September 2004’
To mark the inauguration of this new service, CSL provided a stand at the AFCEA SHAPE Symposium on 27th May 2004 and sought views from attendees.