Software giant Microsoft has partnered with Regenesys Business School to offer 1 000 business qualification scholarships, which will be facilitated through e-learning.
The initiative expands on Microsoft's 4Afrika programme, which aims to drive economic growth in Africa by investing in training initiatives, and seeks to assist youth who cannot afford tertiary education.
Regenesys invites applicants - between the ages of 18 and 34 - from across Africa and says preference will be given to people from SA, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Botswana, the Ivory Coast and Rwanda.
Scholarship winners will be able to study towards either higher certificates in business management, Bachelor of Business Administration or postgraduate business management diplomas through Regenesys and all courses will be facilitated online.
Siegie Brownlee, CEO of Regenesys Business School, says the programme "will require students to have access to the Internet from time to time" in order to access e-textbooks, orientation, online tutors and other reading material.
Brownlee says it is possible to take part in the e-learning programmes, even without regular Internet access. "Every single qualification module has a full study guide that we put together and upload. Students can download it, work offline, and upload it when they are done so they don't have to be on the Internet all the time," she says.
ICT skills shortage
Microsoft partnered with the University of the People - an online university - in August last year to offer computer science scholarships to boost ICT skills in Africa.
Brownlee sees the Regenesys partnership as a commitment to "address the skills shortage on the continent" and adds that outstanding students could be recruited by Microsoft in the long term.
Graeme Bloch, visiting adjunct professor at the University of Witwatersrand Public and Development Management School, says students must be adequately equipped in order to succeed. "Not everyone has a computer, and download costs can be quite high with some service providers," he says.
Bloch notes it will take time before more tertiary institutions can offer similar e-learning initiatives in order to increase SA's ICT skills pool, but says the Microsoft programme is "a good way to go".
People seeking to apply for the scholarships can visit bursary.regenesys.org or regenesysfoundation.org for details.
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