The e-Skills Academy has shut its doors, less than a year after it launched campuses in the Cape and Johannesburg.
Oracle was one of the major backers of the initiative and the academy was headed up by former Oracle executive Dan Ellappa.
Neither Ellappa, nor any of Oracle's executives were available today to confirm the closure, but ITWeb received a tip-off this morning stating Oracle pulled the plug on the initiative, as various black empowerment partners chose to pull out.
The e-Skills Academy opened its doors in January - four months after being announced at a Presidential International Advisory Council on the Information Society and Development, in August last year.
The academy was touted as a key initiative to address SA's critical skills shortage and was said to have received backing from IBM, HP and NIIT.
While it is not yet known why the academy shut its doors, Ellappa, speaking at the opening of the academy's Sandton Campus, in March, said less than 10% of companies contacted to get involved in skills training responded positively.
“In three months, only two partners signed up out of more than 20 who were approached,” he said at the time.
Ellappa was particularly critical of companies that were primarily concerned about whether the training would contribute to their scorecard requirements.
Former president Thabo Mbeki and communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri attended the launch of the Sandton campus. Mbeki described the e-Skills Academy as a concrete result of partnerships, saying that, with such an approach, “it should be possible for us to catch up with global leaders in the fields of science and technology”.
Oracle had donated over R10 million to create the e-Skills Academy, and ongoing discussions have been taking place about what future donations the company would make.
Earlier this year, Ellappa revealed he would need at least R2 million a year to pay for students' courses. This does not include staff salaries or any overheads, and is based on the principle that companies would pay the additional R2 million for students they enrol.
According to the tip-off received by ITWeb, the closure resulted in staff being verbally dismissed and has left many students, who booked training for December, in the lurch.
The e-Skills Academy's Web site, www.e-skills.co.za/training, displays the message: “The e-skills Web site is no longer active.”
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