Certification

Certification refers to the confirmation of certain characteristics of an object, person, or organization. This confirmation is often, but not always, provided by some form of external review, education, or assessment. One of the most common types of certification in modern society is professional certification, where a person is certified as being able to competently complete a job or task, usually by the passing of an examination.

Certifications are earned from a Professional society and, in general, must be renewed periodically, or may be valid for a specific period of time. As a part of a complete renewal of an individual's certification, it is common for the individual to show evidence of continued learning — often termed continuing education.

Certification does not refer to the state of legally being able to practice or work in a profession. That is licensure. Usually, licensure is administered by a governmental entity for public protection purposes and certification by a professional association. However, they are similar in that they both require the demonstration of a certain level of knowledge or ability.

There are three general types of certification. Listed in order of development level and portability, they are: corporate (internal), product-specific, and profession-wide.

Corporate, or internal certifications, are made by a corporation or low-stakes organization for internal purposes. For example, a corporation might require a one-day training course for all sales personnel, after which they receive a certificate. While this certificate has limited portability - to other corporations, for example - it also is the simplest to develop.

Product-specific certifications are more involved, and are intended to be referenced to a product across all applications. This approach is very prevalent in the information technology (IT) industry, where personnel are certified on a version of software or hardware. This type of certification is portable across locations (for example, different corporations that use that software), but not across other products.

The most general type of certification is profession-wide. In order to apply professional standards, increase the level of practice, and possibly protect the public (though this is also the domain of licensure), a professional organization might establish a certification. This is intended to be portable to all places a certificate might work. Of course, this generalizability increases the cost of such a program; the process to establish a legally defensible assessment of an entire profession is very extensive. An example of this is a certified public accountant, which would not be certified for just one corporation or one piece of accountancy software but for general work in the profession.

Organizational certification, such as the Green Globe environmental and sustainability certification, is usually referred to as accreditation. The differentiation in terms is especially relevant with regards to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), which is a body that accredits certifying organizations.

Certifications are very common in aviation, construction, technology and other industrial sectors, as well as health care and finance. In USA, the Federal Aviation Administration regulates aviator certifications.

The National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA) is a US-based organization that helps certification bodies, primarily in healthcare and related fields, by providing them with information on the latest trends and issues of concern to practitioners and organizations focused on certification, obtaining licenses, and human resource development.