Local black economic empowerment (BEE) software company Motswedi Technology Holdings and the Association for Black Empowerment in Higher Education (ABEHE) signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday, in Kempton Park, to collaborate on research.
Expected to cost several million rand, the initiative will facilitate the development of a black empowerment model in the country`s higher education system.
ABEHE, founded in 2003 as a replacement for the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Historically Disadvantaged Institutions, aims to eliminate inequalities in the higher education sector.
"There is a great need to empower blacks in higher education," said founding member Professor Muxe Nkondo, adding that much research has to be conducted in order to decide on strategies and assist the education department in implementing policies.
Knowledge management
Tebogo Matsoso, director of the 160-employee strong Motswedi, explained the company`s involvement will be in knowledge and information management. Most projects will involve installable file systems or Tibco software products running on Oracle or MySQL servers, he said.
"We have not costed it yet - but it [our commitment to the partnership] will run into millions of rands over a period of time," he predicts, noting that all support services will be free of charge.
"In developing expertise in information systems, we were led to the question of how people acquire, process and use information - this developed our interest in the areas of thinking, learning, skills development and human behaviour," added Matsoso.
Large project
ABEHE plans to establish partnerships with SA`s top research institutions, and has recently formed an agreement with the Human Sciences Research Council. It has representatives from all of the country`s major tertiary learning institutions.
One of the primary projects expected to emerge from the partnership is the development of a black empowerment model in higher education in SA, said Nkondo.
"The use of technology for a comprehensive project of this nature is quite crucial in bringing out results as quickly as possible," he added.
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