Johannesburg, 04 Jul 2008
SAP University Alliances (UA) in Europe, Middle East and Africa, (EMEA) sponsored the first-ever and successful TERP10 Training and Certification Workshop for lecturers, academics and coordinators in Africa. The ten-day intensive course was hosted by the much revered University of Western Cape, in South Africa recently. The course was attended by delegates from the host University (University of Western Cape), the sister University of Cape Town, The America University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola, The State University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), the Namibia Polytechnic, and the Walter Sisulu University of Technology. The African delegates were also joined by two delegates from Stuttgart Media University (HdM) and from the Technische Universit"at M"unchen (TUM).
The TERP 10 certification is a direct response to the global forecast of SAP skills in the market estimated between 30 000 and 40 000. The UA programme is one of the key drivers entrusted with the responsibility to close the skills gap by training and certifying SAP skilled graduates. The new certification standard is in line with trends, opportunities and challenges that developing African economies have to contend with as a result of rapid economic growth and technological advancement. African countries, like many other countries across the globe have embraced the need to build requisite skills for growing economies to meet the demands of the 21st Century.
The aim of the UA programme is to support the development of undergraduates and graduate curriculum that promote the teaching and understanding of integrated business processes. The TERP 10 offers graduates and undergraduates the opportunity to learn basic ERP skills, insight and hands-on experience into how technology empowers a business to optimize key processes such as procurement, production, planning, project management, sales, customer service, asset management, financial accounting, human resources, and analytics.
In addition to the TERP 10 training programme, members of SAP University Alliances are given exclusive access to SAP's business solutions for use in the classroom, enabling students to put theory into practice through demonstrations, problem-solving, case studies, and research programmes. Upon graduation, students have a sound understanding of how technology can facilitate integrated business processes and strategic thinking and their chances for post-graduate employment are greatly enhanced.
Following the training, the delegates are all looking forward to introducing SAP ERP in the classroom and want to make an enormous contribution by increasing the SAP ecosystem and creating employment opportunities.
Delegates attending the TERP 10 course were unanimous on the growing need and demand for SAP skills, and expressed enthusiasm to work with SAP as a trusted advisor and partner to ameliorate the skills shortage. These sentiments and positive messages were also echoed by the rector and principal of the University of the Western Cape, Professor Brian O'Connell and the special advisor to the Minister of Education Mr Martin Mulchay, who further conveyed the Minister of Education, Ms Naledi Pandor's (the UA Patron in Africa) support for the work of the UA programme in South Africa and institutions in the continent at large.
SAP Education in South Africa has added to this momentum by inviting the UA certified delegates to also train and provide their services as consultants in the commercial environment at terms to be negotiated by the parties involved. "The journey of a thousand miles" has started in Africa and all delegates are enthused and extolled by the fact that the UA User Group Meeting, to be held from 11-12 September 2008 in SAP's Global Headquarters in Walldorf / St Leon-Rot, Germany, has been declared - AFRICA FOCUS YEAR!
Mr Maphum Nxumalo, chief operations officer at SAP South Africa said, "The timing of this new certification standard was just right as it coincides with public and private sector initiatives to train highly qualified and globally competitive graduates that embrace thought leadership and best business practices. The success in developing the African continent hinges on the unleashing of its potential through skills development. In order for Africa to compete favourable in the global market, its needs to embrace and enhance best practises and the SAP UA provides exactly that. The advent of technology as well as the creation of global villages through collaborative networks necessitates such initiatives. There is no doubt in my mind that this partnership between private sector, government and academia will deliver long lasting effects in state-of-the-arts skills development".
Roderick Lim Banda, of the Department of Information Systems at the University of Western Cape (UWC): "We have seen the potential for growing ICT skills through commerce students from previously disadvantaged backgrounds that show a keen interest in information systems. The partnership with SAP is strategic for us as it provides us with the means to introduce students into the enterprise and industry business processes. It also provides a way of demonstrating the application of concepts such as service-oriented architecture (SOA)."
"Corporate IT environments have become increasingly complex and hybrid and there is a need to leverage existing legacy systems. IT professionals and graduates need to be equipped with the knowledge of how to integrate systems across different platforms. The challenge lies in moving from the system architecture of silo applications to create enterprise wide services that support integrated business processes. The evolution of the internet is blurring the boundaries of social and enterprise systems. The way society interacts with information systems is an important consideration when we architect the enterprise. The pace of change in both business and technology is likely to increase expectations on IT professionals as strategic enablers and solution providers. Hence, training programs such as the TERP10 have never been more relevant." added Roderick Lim Banda.
"It has been a privilege for us at the University of the Western Cape to host this training. It has been a wonderful opportunity to build the network across universities in Africa. There is a common understanding of the value that the program brings and the potential for growth in the number of graduates with certification," concluded Roderick Lim Banda.
"The significance of the TERP 10 certification is huge as it enriches and provided the much needed context in university curricula in Africa and elsewhere. In addition it facilitates the applied preparation of our students with much needed technical skills. There is no doubt, having our freshly graduating students certified with SAP, the most demanded software in the world, will be an added value to the student, universities and industries. TERP 10 certification provides for us in academia an additional mechanism to develop and/or produce the real talents the industry has long expected from us and will help us forge greater partnerships and collaborations not only with SAP but industry in general. We at the American University of Nigeria, Yola, embrace and support the SAP University Alliances programme and TERP 10 certification with great enthusiasm. The UA programme will facilitate TERP 10 certification in Africa and provide for us a network of great colleagues supported by SAP resources to enhance the development of much needed ICT human capacity to reduce the widening IT skill gap," said Prof Muhammadou Kah, dean and professor of Information Technology and Communications, School of Communications & Technology, American University of Nigeria, Yola, Nigeria.
According to Dr Chris Bolu, the University of Nigeria is committed in making the UAP programme a great success in Nigeria. "Being one of the oldest and largest universities in Nigeria, she owes it a responsibility to see that the upcoming university graduates are employable and current in technology. The TERP 10 certification will assist in creating the qualified workforce for the growing SAP installations in Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sub-region. It will be linked with our MBA programmes in the Faculty of Business Administration."
Ms Anicia Peters of the the Namibia Polytechnic was excited that she could have been part of the first ever TERP10 certification in Africa saying that "I think that the TERP10 package is excellent in preparing young graduates for the job market and let them experience industry related processes in the classroom. It is also quite wonderful to think that through teaching, I will contribute towards achieving the targeted 30 000 SAP certified consultants."
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