University of Pretoria Joins the SAP University Alliances ESEFA Project
The University of Pretoria (UP) has joined the Enterprise Systems Education for Africa ( ESEFA) project as the first Partner University for delivery of ESEFA curriculum, initially in the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & IT. This milestone was celebrated with a launch event on 5 February 2014. The proceedings were co-hosted by Prof. Alta van der Merwe (Department of Informatics) and Dr. Olufemi Adetunji (Department of Industrial Engineering).
Prof. Yadavalli opening the proceedings, and later with the extended ESEFA Project team
After enjoying some scrumptious refreshments, Acting Dean and Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Prof. Sarma Yadavalli, opened the proceedings. This was followed by presentations by Prof. Alta van der Merwe and Mr. De Wet Naude (SAP University Alliances – Sub-Saharan Africa).
The presenters – De Wet Naude and Alta van der Merwe
The event was well-attended not only by the Academic community but also by Industry, with delegates from SAP Education, the University of Cape Town, KPMG, Epi-Use, DeLoitte Consulting, SISPA, Future Enterprise, SITA, Discovery Health and SABMiller.
It is clear that in Africa the private sector has a need to move closer to academic institutions to have deeper insight into academic programmes at Universities and the knowledge, skills and capabilities of graduates produced by these institutions.
About ESEFA: Co-financed by DEG (Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH) with public funds from the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, together with SAP (AG), the ESEFA (Enterprise Systems Education for Africa) project has begun establishing locally relevant curricula and has made inroads in establishing an African university community to deliver enterprise systems (ES) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) education courses that are accessible both on and offline to African students interested in broadening their ICT skillsets.