LUSO Computer Institute hosted a gala event at its new offices in Craighall, Randburg, to mark the opening of the new campus and the onset of its expansion programme. The move is a physical manifestation of a revival of the business; the company will use this opportunity to make two significant announcements regarding its curriculum.
"The choice of moving from our previous offices in Braamfontein to the new facility in Randburg was crucial, as the learning environment is critical to success," says Izane Cloete, marketing director at LUSO Computer Institute. "With the right facilities inside the building, as well as being situated on the main transport routes in a central location, students will find the environment conducive to rapid, easy learning."
The company`s new facility boasts classrooms dedicated to subjects in the curriculum and open areas where practical work is undertaken and discussed, which is key to LUSO`s learning methodology.
At the event, Dr Nthato Motlana, Chairman of the Nelson Mandela Children`s Foundation, delivered a keynote address about how and why SA can become a pre-eminent worldwide provider of outsourced programming contracts and technology incubator projects.
Also discussed at the event was LUSO`s Advanced Systems Developer course, based on the C spectrum of languages, to be introduced in 2004. The course provides a solid introduction to object-oriented (OO) concepts, the C++ programming language and its application development environment, and the Microsoft C#. Net language and its .Net platform.
OO programming popularity has increased with the change in overall business pace of the last few years because one of its primary features is the relative flexibility and adaptability to changing business needs. C++ is the granddaddy of the current crop of popular object-oriented languages, which have borrowed heavily from it. Microsoft`s .Net is a comprehensive family of products that provides the tools for developing software, managing the applications and using them.
LUSO is also revamping its computer-based training (CBT) programme that will cater to its international and part-time local markets.
Before Marinus van Sandwyk acquired it, LUSO offered CBT. This is being revamped to include Web-based training, online chat rooms, CDs that hold text, graphical and video information and lectures, as well as electronic feedback capabilities. LUSO receives international interest in its programmes but students from abroad are currently required to come to SA and attend fulltime classroom lectures. CBT will alleviate this requirement and make the LUSO curriculum available to a far broader international market.
"We primarily want to offer CBT to students in foreign countries so they have a useful qualification available to them that far surpasses the typical `Learn C++ in 21 days` books that many youngsters currently turn to," says Cloete.
The company also outlined its student placement programme at the event, in which it has committed to guaranteeing jobs for students that achieve 80% or better in their exams as of 2004.
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