NAIROBI, Kenya, July 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE:
IBM) today announced an investment of $60
million over three years to develop the next generation of
technical talent in Africa. As
part of the initiative, IBM is expanding the Africa Technical
Academy and the company's Africa University Programme to over 20
African countries. IT professionals across the continent are set to
benefit with advanced skills in analytics, cloud and big data
technologies which are crucial to the next phase of Africa's economic and social development.
In Kenya – home to IBM's Africa
Research lab and a state-of-the-art Innovation Center – IBM is
partnering with the Kenya Education Network (KENET) to deliver
advanced hands-on certification courses to faculty and students of
50 Kenyan universities over KENET's broadband network. The
certification courses will develop and enhance job market readiness
among university students by providing the technical expertise that
both employers and entrepreneurs require in order to succeed in a
fast paced growth market like Kenya.
"With a research laboratory, innovation centers, offices and
other advanced facilities in more than 24 African countries, IBM
has the highest concentration of technical talent on the African
continent," said Dr. Naguib Attia,
IBM Chief Technology Officer & VP Technical Leadership MEA. "As
the leader in science and technology in Africa, we see it as IBM's responsibility to
make a strategic investment in skills development helping to lay
the foundations of the Africa of
tomorrow."
The courses are available at no cost and are facilitated by both
IBM online trainers and certified faculty in the participating
universities. KENET is the first sub-Saharan National Research and
Education Network to enter into such an agreement with IBM that
allows all connected member universities to benefit from the
certification program.
"This IBM certification program will provide university
graduates with critical entry-level job skills that are in high
demand by employers in Kenya and
Africa," said Prof Meoli Kashorda,
Executive Director, Kenya Education Network. "Both the African
universities and leading private sector companies that are
investing on the continent stand to benefit from this program," he
added.
University Outreach
IBM Technical Academy runs in parallel with IBM Africa
University Programme, in which 80 Universities across the continent
currently participate to enhance their curriculum. These
universities provide their final year students with the range of
business analytics, cybersecurity, data management, cloud and
mobile technology training via the technical role based model
applied in the IBM Technical Academy.
Academic staff and students are supported by IBM's team of
experts, cloud-based resources and an IBM training and information
portal. Course ware currently delivered in English is being
expanded to French, and will later include other African
languages.
"The early success of the programme is evident in the graduation
numbers from the programme. When the training is offered in more
than 80 Universities across Africa, we will be able to reach and offer
certification to over one thousand faculty members and more than
35,000 students by 2017," added IBM's Dr. Attia.
Advancing Technical Skills
Initiated in 2014, the IBM Africa Technical Academy has quickly
evolved from delivering product education to a deep- tech skills
development programme for technical professionals. Already rolled
out 16 sessions in nine countries, the content is focused on
technologies like business analytics, cyber security, data
management, cloud and mobile technologies. IBM's intensive training
courses condense vast amounts of knowledge into a five-day,
instructor-led courses, beginning with foundation training on
terminology and technology, all the way through to tools and
management in each field. The programme has already trained 1600
technical professionals so far, each in a specialist role with two
primary technologies. Candidates use the training to enhance their
existing technical knowledge or opt to complete an IBM
Certification following the training.
To expand the impact of the programme, additional specialist
roles will be added to the curriculum and the training
opportunities will be stepped up to be offered quarterly, as well
as extended to 12 countries by the end of 2015.
This first-of-a-kind programme takes a holistic approach, giving
participants an understanding of how mobile touches on big data,
social and other technologies. Participants gain a comprehensive
view of the technology solutions rather than training on a single
product. Business and governments have access to candidates with
deeper technology skills adept at integrating old and new
technologies as well as applying innovative technology solutions to
real world and business problems.
The positive response to the programme from technical
professional, business and academia, reflects the very real demand
for technology skills of this nature. The initiative emphasizes the
vital need for the urgent need to develop technology skills that
align to the growing need of business and government that underpin
the development of the African economy and the Africa IT
workforce.
To learn more about KENET, visit:
https://www.kenet.or.ke/
For more information about IBM, visit:
http://www.ibm.com/us/en/
Contacts:
Vera Rosauer
IBM External Relations
Telephone: +254-710-537-030
Email: veraros@ke.ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM