Information-Technology Engineers Examination

The Information-Technology Engineers Examination (Japanese: 情報処理技術者試験, Hepburn: jōhō shori gijutsusha shiken; or ITEE) is a group of information technology examinations administered by the Innovation Platform Agency, Japan (IPA). The ITEE was introduced in 1969 by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), and it has since changed hands twice, first to the Japan Information Processing Development Corporation (JIPDEC) in 1984, and then to the IPA in 2004. At first there were two examination categories, one for lower-level programmers and one for upper-level programmers, and over the years the number of categories increased to twelve as of 2016. The examinations are carried out during the course of one day; candidates sit a morning test and an afternoon test. The morning test assesses the breadth of the candidate's subject-matter knowledge, and the afternoon test assesses the candidate's ability to apply that knowledge. The examinations have a low pass rate: between 1969 and 2010 15.4 million people took them, but only 1.7 million were successful (an average success rate of 11 percent). The questions are developed by a committee of experts, and are continually updated to reflect changes in the computer industry. The examination categories are also subject to change based upon industry trends. The ITEE examinations are recognized as qualifications in several Asian countries, including India, Singapore, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, and Bangladesh.