Qld Education CIO seeks deputies

The chief information officer of the Queensland Department of Education and Training has advertised for several deputy executives as the department looks to bulk up its strategic IT management talent.

There are three senior roles on offer reporting to the department’s assistant director-general, information and technologies (CIO), David O’Hagan who will remain in his position.

The three executive director roles have responsibility for operations, web and digital delivery, and service and support, and all appear to report directly to O’Hagan, who has overarching control of one of the biggest technology budgets in Australia – and growing. O’Hagan has listed his office’s direct line as the contact for the three roles, with applications to close on 28 September.

Queensland’s education department is reported to administer more than 200,000 ‘screens’ – referring to PCs, laptops or thin clients. The agency is one of Australia’s largest when it comes to buying technology goods and services on an ongoing basis.

Several Queensland government agencies have come under fire over the past six months due to botched IT shared services projects – especially associated with Queensland Health’s disastrous new payroll system implementation.

Education and Training, however, has largely avoided the stigma associated with the problems. Instead, O’Hagan made headlines in February when he said his department could be one of the first to purchase Apple’s iPad tablet for students with Federal Government funding. As with other state education departments, QLD DET has been heavily involved in rolling out laptops to students under the Commonwealth’s’s Digital Education Revolution program, which will now continue under the Gillard Labor Government.

The department has also pushed ahead with trials of IP telephony and desktop and server hardware refreshes, among other projects.