The German Testing Board (GTB) has signed research contracts with the University of Heidelberg and the Cologne University of Applied Sciences. The objective is a cooperation for the improvement of Certified Tester (Advanced Level) exams in accordance with the standards laid down by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB®). After release of the new ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level syllabus in October 2007, many exam questions have to be revised or newly created. The aim of the exam is to test in particular the competence of the candidates to analyse and act. It has already been proven in medical training, that it it possible to text complex scientific contents in multiple-choice tests. In these exams, the candidates have to analyse and evaluate concrete problems and apply the acquired knowledge.

At the request of many participants and training providers, exercises should be made available. It is therefore a priority of the cooperating partners, to generate these exercises and questions.

In this way, the GTB and the universities involved wish to significantly improve the quality of the exams and enhance the effectiveness and efficiency in the creation of exam questions. The training course participants will benefit through better preparation for the exams due to the exercises and questions available for revision, as well as through an increased acceptance of the Tester Certificate qualification.

Through the research contract concluded with the universities, the GTB will increase the validity and reliability of the Certified Tester exams, whilst the two universities will have a chance to participate and contribute to the standardisation of the training programme. By doing this, they are in a position to open up new fields of application for didactic and theoretical contents and concepts in the area of testing.

The GTB chose the University of Heidelberg and the Cologne University of Applied Science as research partners since they both have long-standing experience, not only in designing of exams, but also in the subject of software testing. The chair “Software Engineering” at the University of Heidelberg has since 2003 focused on the testing of software in the context of several research projects. The leader of the cooperation programme with the GTB, Timea Illes-Seifert, is as scientific assistant at the chair also a member of the GI work group „Testing of object-oriented programmes“ as well as member of the specialist group „Test, analysis and verification of software“ (TAV) of the Gesellschaft für Informatik. TAV spokesman, Mario Winter, is professor at the Cologne University of Applied Science, where he is responsible for the cooperation with the GTB.