Johannesburg, 08 Jan 2018
EOH launched the EOH Youth Job Creation Initiative in 2012, a programme aimed at creating work experience opportunities for skilled and unskilled young job seekers. This was done to decrease the number of unemployed youth, which have unfortunately increased dramatically in the last decade.
In line with the EOH Youth Job Creation Initiative, the Western Cape division of EOH has significantly increased its academy programme intake and has expanded the focus of its courses to meet the changing demands of information technology services. Through partnerships with various universities as well as Microsoft, the academy programme aims to help address; both the skills and experience shortfall as well as impact the unemployment rate.
Beavin de Kock, Head of Operations notes: "Our local universities are producing IT graduates but opportunities for them are limited due to market demand for experienced skills. At EOH, we aim to provide these graduates and learners with much needed experience in order for them to apply for the roles they aim for within the industry."
EOH in the Western Cape has a current intake of 60 students to complement a class of 20 from earlier in 2017. The classes are split across the Microsoft .NET, Data and Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) curriculum. Following in-depth classroom training, the recruits will benefit from a year of practical skills development and mentorship and will then be employed by EOH and its partners.
Brian Harding, Managing Executive of ICT in the Western Cape, says the focus on skills development emerged from EOH's own experience in sourcing high-level IT + entrants to the market, retrain and upskill our own staff, and collaboration with tertiary education institutions to ensure that IT curricula meet the real needs of a fast-evolving industry."
EOH in the Western Cape has ambitions to expand its Academy and its skills development impact with support from enterprises across the country, in support of the EOH Youth Job Creation Initiative.
The current programme is co-funded by EOH, government's skills development programmes and support from Microsoft. However, EOH hopes to secure additional support from enterprises in the region and expand its reach with the launch of a Java academy next year.
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