Luso Computer Institute has closed its doors, but training company Van Zyl & Pritchard will honour all training commitments and continue training individual learners to ensure they are not left high and dry.
Marinus van Sandwyk, chairman of Luso, says Silverlake Family Trust, which belongs to his family, has been supporting Luso financially for much of 2003 and 2004 to keep it afloat, but there came a point where this could no longer continue.
"It is well known that training alone is not a lucrative industry, and has to be supported by other initiatives. Luso was actively looking to diversify its offerings around its world-class curriculum, but time has caught up with it. It closed its doors after completion of the exams of the last COBOL intake. We have entered into an agreement with Van Zyl & Pritchard to ensure as smooth as possible a transition."
Van Zyl & Pritchard (VZAP) is one of SA`s leading training and development organisations, with nearly 30 years` IT experience. Van Sandwyk says the company is the only one in the country that he is confident will provide training at the standard to which Luso subscribed.
Jonathan Fuller, VZAP MD, says: "VZAP`s success in the selection, development, deployment and ongoing training of IT professionals is internationally recognised and respected, as indicated by the patronage of companies like IBM, SAP, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, Daimler Chrysler, Lucent Technologies and Chase Manhattan Bank."
Van Sandwyk says: "The company`s quality of training has always been top notch. VZAP believes, as Luso does, in the art of programming. Its acquisition of Luso`s students will make VZAP the de facto COBOL training institute in SA, as it will be the only organisation to offer it in this country."
Fuller adds: "Between Luso and VZAP we have put more than 20 000 people into the IT industry. Many of those we have trained are at the top of their profession here and overseas."
He agrees with Van Sandwyk that training alone cannot sustain a business; so in 1997 VZAP began offering commercial services to corporate clients. "We employ the best people we train, and deploy them in software development projects elsewhere. This approach pushed our turnover from R1.5 million in 1996 to R30 million 18 months later.
"It has been proven that the people who have the appropriate aptitude and structured training in the problem solving, design and analysis side of systems development are dramatically more productive and effective than those who lack one or both of these attributes."
In 1997 VZAP became SAP Technical Training Partners of SAP South Africa and SAP Belgium. VZAP has delivered this training on behalf of SAP ever since, and has also presented this curriculum on behalf of SAP India, SAP Australia, SAP Holland, SAP UK and SAP Hong Kong. "We are now more of a consulting house, but training brings us the right kind of people, so we have kept that side of the business going," says Fuller.
For more information, go to http://www.vzap.co.za/index.htm. or http://www.luso.co.za.
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