MICT SETA has partnered with Empire Partner Foundation, a non-profit organisation focused on technology, to provide work-integrated learning programmes for university students to help close the skills gap and reduce the unemployment rate.
About thirty students from Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa have already benefited from this work-integrated learning programme.
Currently, more than half of young people do not have the necessary skills to succeed in industry IT.
The programme offers students the opportunity to find employment in the technology sector as it further educates them with the knowledge gained at Tshwane University of Technology.
MICT SETA focuses on skills development to support meaningful economic participation for young people, while EPF supports young people in Africa through technology-based initiatives.
In April 2022, 30 students from the Tshwane
University of Technology participated in the EPF Innovation Campus as part of a Work Integrated Learning Programme in partnership with MICT SETA.
They were mentored and trained in various software languages and disciplines, including AWS, Bootstrap, CSS, Django, HTML, Django, Javascript, JQuery, MySQL, Php and Python.
All participating students have found jobs after the one-year training programme.
The students have succeeded in developing software solutions that are on the market and useful for customers.
In a statement, both organisations say the partnership between MICT SETA and EPF advancesthe goals of both organisations and accelerates efforts to provide skills and knowledge to South African youth on a broad scale.
“Thank you to this partnership, we are confident that we are moving towards the development of a talent pool.”
Student reaction
Rotondwe Muthelo
“It’s been an amazing journey, if you look at where we started, until now there’s been tremendous growth, if you look at the apps we have developed. The growth, the technology, the environment, the culture is nice, vibrant, good. So, it’s been amazing,” Rotondwe Muthelo said.
Andre Els said: “Since I have been here, I have learnt a lot of things. One of them is dealing with people, because you do not learn that at university, and working in a company is the best thing you can learn”
Annette Tasu, “Through the MICETA-funded internship at EPF, I have learnt so much about working in a company like IT and a software development team.
“I have learnt about new technologies. It was very exciting because at university you do not learn much in terms of practise.
“So based on the theoretical work at university, I learned how to put it into practise. It was very interesting and I learned a lot on this occasion.”
Fhulufhelo Makgopa
Fhulufhelo Makgopa said: ” This programme has transformed me from a mere student to a business analyst because I am now able to do everything from project management to designing and testing systems.
Andre Els said: “Since I have been here, I have learnt a lot of things. One of them is dealing with people, because you do not learn that at university, and working in a company is the best thing you can learn”
