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TCI-Thoreb CEO, Mthembeni Mkhize
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As part of the culmination of a four year partnership with the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and Ipelegeng Community Centre in Soweto, TCI-Thoreb, a resident at The Innovation Hub is planning the official launch of the Ipelegeng Cisco Networking Academy.
The Cisco® Networking Academy® Programme teaches valuable networking and IT skills to students and workers worldwide who are interested in expanding their IT knowledge or starting a career in the technology industry. Graduates leave the programme with a CCNA certification, which emphasizes the use of decision-making and problem-solving techniques to resolve networking issues and is the first step in a Cisco career-certification path.
The launch event will coincide with the graduation of the Academy's first successful group of CCNA candidates, consisting of young previously disadvantaged students from across the country.
According to TCI's CEO, Mthembeni Mkhize, the project was initiated by the company with this exact outcome in mind. "The question we asked ourselves was: 'How do we use this Academy to change the perception of the environment in which cutting-edge education takes place'. Instead of locating the Academy in an area such as Sandton or Waterkloof, we pulled the local community in to help us put across the message that this community has as good a chance at creating professionals who are in the ICT industry as any other. We wanted to show that imparting knowledge from those that have it to those that do not should not only be associated with certain areas", said Mkhize.
He added that this would not have been possible without partners that shared a similar vision, and for that reason it was decided to adopt a three-pronged approach that included the community, academia and industry. The Ipelegeng Community Centre in White City, Soweto was therefore a first choice as a community partner. With its roots firmly held in the liberation struggle and youth uprisings of 1976, this was one of the places where the slogan "liberation through education" was coined.
Since its inception in 2003, the Ipelegeng Cisco Networking Academy has seen a number of milestones - notably the signing of the agreement with TUT in 2004. TUT played an instrumental role in the selection of the lecturers that would be sent to the UK for CCNA training. "It was a point of pride for them to be studying towards one day educating their own people", says Mkhize. He adds that the entire group of 19 candidate lecturers that joined the UK training programme successfully obtained their CCNA certification.
To date, the Academy has attracted number of corporates, including Vodacom and MTN, that are interested in participating in the graduation ceremony and identifying graduates for possible employment in their own organisations.
According to Mkhize, the response from industry to this initiative has been encouraging with a number of organisations showing an interest in getting involved in the next uptake of students. It is envisaged that the Academy will evolve into a fully fledged national centre located at The Innovation Hub, with satellite centres all across the country.
For more information on the Ipelegeng Cisco Networking Academy, email Mthembeni Mkhize at mmkhize@tciholdings.co.za.
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