launch of the Systems Application and Products (SAP) 'University Alliance
Programme,' Johannesburg
9 October 2007
Maphum Nxumalo, Programme Director
Klaas Kuehnemann, SAP South Africa Managing Director
Amelia Maurizio, Director, Global University Alliance Programme
Heino Schrader, Director of the University Alliance Programme in Europe, Middle
East and Africa Regions
Professor Theuns Eloff, Chairperson of Higher Education South Africa
Lecturers, educators, and learners
Business leaders, ladies and gentlemen
Good afternoon and thanks to Max Fuzani for inviting me here this afternoon
to speak to you. I am pleased to take this opportunity, on the occasion of the
launch of Systems Application and Product (SAP) 'University Alliance Programme'
to say a few words about government's plans for expanding information and
communication technologies skills. Government is committed to expanding the use
of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in our schools and
universities.
We are aware, through our Joint Initiative on the Priority Acquisition
Programme that we are short of e-skills and ICT specialists. This skills
shortage is not unique to South Africa. Many countries in the developing world
are grappling with this 21st century challenge. We need to make urgent
interventions, if we are to take advantage of the current favourable growth
opportunities in the global economy. A national ICT Human Resource Development
(HRD) and training plan is in the process of preparation. It will address the
broad question of ICT skills and technology appropriation at national level
rather than focusing narrowly on the ICT industry alone.
It is within this context that SAPs contribution is most welcome. You join a
growing number of international companies committed to developing our ICT
capacity in general and the computer industry in particular. I look forward to
the roll out of your programme in our country, and across the length and
breadth of our continent. I believe that leaders and education administrators
in the higher education and further education sector will take advantage of the
opportunities the Programme offers and collaborate and network with other
institutions here, at home, and abroad. Many of our universities have built up
a reputation for quality not only in Africa but abroad as well, based on a high
standard of teaching, learning and research.
That reputation has been built up largely by training engineers, architects
and doctors but also by working with a whole range of employers in the private
sector. Universities in this country have always worked with the private sector
to produce the skills for our economy and society. What has changed over the
past ten years or so is the scale of the transformation. We have not only set
about overcoming the legacy of apartheid but we have also had to grapple with
the rapid changes that information and communication technologies have made in
universities and the world of work, what Thomas Friedman has called the
'flattening of the world.'
The SAP initiative links with government programmes in that it is an
important introduction to practical work experience. Our institutions of higher
learning have been grappling with the new demands for relevance that have
emerged as part of the skills gap debates. SAP offers universities and colleges
access to practical training opportunities that resonate with the core purpose
of knowledge production. Friedman also says that politicians have not yet fully
grasped the significance of the connections and opportunities that exist in
ICTs. However, we have grasped the importance of the right skills, the right
infrastructure, and the right education. We have grasped their importance for a
country that wishes to compete in a global world that has new economic
superpowers like China and India.
We have a long-term vision for a skilled and educated workforce in a just
and equal society. SAPs link with institutions of higher learning support our
vision in a concrete and very pragmatic sense. Over the last decade we have
expanded the number of students in higher education significantly, but we have
only just begun to make further education attractive to students and to
employers. Universities and colleges need to adapt to the changing needs of
employers and the rapid growth in the skills needed to take advantage of
information and communication technologies. Universities and colleges have to
work together with employers to deliver work-relevant and work-based learning.
To share responsibility, to share funding, and to share the opportunity for
success.
Our students know that there are lucrative rewards in Information Technology
(IT) and the computer industry. India has led the way in human development
through ICTs. About two percent of India's population, 20 million people, live
abroad, many as skilled ICT practitioners, where they earn the equivalent of
two-thirds of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Unleashing India's
Innovation, World Bank (October 2007).
Our challenge will be how to retain students who become conversant with SAPs
business programmes in South Africa. Part of the solution lies in offering them
real opportunities as business leaders, e-entrepreneurs and innovators. We have
a ten-year innovation strategy. We are committed to raising our investment in
innovation to one percent of GDP. Our scientific strengths lie traditionally in
geology, mining engineering, animal and human sciences and medicine. The SAP
Alliance creates an opportunity for new education partnerships in the ICT
field, as partners we can and must expand skills, knowledge, innovation and
creativity.
This partnership begins at an important point in our history. I am certain
that university departments and colleges will draw on your experience and
skills. We used to rely on new ideas coming from the universities and major
companies in the United States (US) and Europe. Ideas flowed from this
innovative core to the idea and technology dependent periphery.
This is no longer the case. The core and periphery are being changed
constantly. Places that were on the margins of innovation ten years ago
Bangalore and Pune in India, Daejon in Korea, Shanghai and Shenzhen in China
are now essential stops in the continuous flow of people, ideas and
technologies around the world. South Africa has joined this process of change
and programmes like the 'university alliance' will assist us in pushing more
and more young people into the exciting field of Information Technology
(IT).
Government's role is to facilitate this process, to assist young people to
develop the basic skills that are necessary to understand how ICT works. ICT is
the future and indeed the key to 21st century teaching and learning. This is
why we focus on basic literacy and numeracy at school, this is why we focus on
new vocational learning, and this is why we focus on skills for the knowledge
economy at university.
In closing, let me thank SAP and all its colleagues and employees here today
who have made a special effort to change the lives of our students by making an
exciting programme available.
Issued by: Department of Education
9 October 2007
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za)
