"The nation's first computer skills test for liberal arts majors has been created so that students who are well versed in the poetry of Lord Byron or the etchings of Albrecht Durer, can show an employer that they also know how to design a Web page." Jay Mathews, "Exam to Help Make Liberal Arts Students Employable," The Washington Post, 15 Sept. 1999: B4.

This voluntary five-hour exam, called Tek.Xam, will be marketed to students next Spring. Students who pass the test will receive a certification.

Developed by the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the voluntary exam covers seven areas: Internet research, general computing concepts, web design, presentation software, spreadsheets, word processing, and legal and ethical issues of the information age.

The test was created in order to uncover technological talents that many undergraduates already have - and to allow them to major in the liberal arts curricula that distinguishes small private colleges, without worrying that they might be unemployed after graduation.

Michael Wilk, national director of recruiting for the professional services firm Ernst & Young, said the test could prove very useful to corporate recruiters, and "No matter what roles people play in our firm, we use these technological skills in all parts of our business," he said.

Mark Warner, a Virginia telecommunications executive and chairman of the Virginia College Foundation, said he anticipates the group will charge a $100 test fee and could attract as many as 10 percent of the 4.5 million liberal arts majors in the country. Warner stated that at least 26 states have already agreed to offer the test to their students, "and we hope to sign up all 50 states by next spring."