Some of these information technology certifications are way too high for a lots of folks from the developing countries and in fact higher than the per-capita income of many. Certificate bodies have to clearly look into this discrepancy and fix it if they want a global reach for their programs

1. Why are the certification costs so high?
As a consultant, I have been taking some certifications in the areas of my expertise as I find many
clients insisting on certifications. Going through the various certifications, I started doing research
on more of them which may not be related to what I do and find the cost of the certifications to be
exorbitant, the pre-requisites of some to be logistically impossible and the validity to be a little less.
Governing bodies like Project Management Institute(PMI), the professional associations for Six
Sigma(‘the gate keepers’) like IASSC and ASQ and global best practices companies like Axelos for ITIL
and Prince2 charge an arm and leg for their certification. On one hand, they would like to have their
certification more accessible by having many more to take this up globally (they always talks about
growth rate) but on the other hand, their unreasonable pricing does act as a deterrent even for
interested folks to take this up. Are they trying to position themselves as the elitist group by making
the fees unreachable for a common man?
Let me talk about a few pricing here to paint the reality better: PMI membership is $129 and PMP
certification test fee is $405 or $555 depending on whether you want to be a member or not, and
PMI-ACP test fee is $495 for non-members. AXELOS charges $195 and #345 for their Prince2
Foundation and Practitioner test respectively, and IASSC and ASQ charge $395 and $538 for non-
members respectively for their Black belt exams. This is just the test fees and the training is extra.
Where the per capita income of many countries are either less than or equal or little over these
costs, it is frightening to see what thought process these governing bodies have. Let us say in the
case of India where the Gross domestic product per capita (nominal) is $1582 to $1617 (as given by
UN, World Bank or IMF) and for China is $7617 to $7990, and the countries like Vietnam and
Philippines somewhere in between, this is a serious concern as half of the knowledge industry seems
to be from these countries. As you can infer, the certification costs is a significant part of the per
capital income in these countries, if not more – what are these bodies thinking?
And the pre-requirements are more stringent as well for a few of these (like ASQ and PMI) which
is reasonable but they also have to understand that it is difficult to get projects done vetted by their
manager as people in Asian countries tend to move a lot between companies and it is rare to get
hold of the earlier managers they had worked for, unless they have stayed in touch personally.
Added to this the validity of some these certificates are only for a few years after which there is a
mandatory renewal process to maintain your certification. There must be a better way out here.
On the good side, I also see a handful of these associations(like BCS) having different pricing
depending on which country you belong to, although it may sound unfair to the higher paying
countries, I believe this is a much needed step in the right direction.
So, I guess if the certification bodies are really serious about welcoming a qualified global
workforce to take on these tests as part of their personal continual learning initiative, it time they
look at the fee structure, the pre-requirements and validity of most of these test, without diluting
the intent or the value of these certifications.