Johannesburg, 09 Nov 2015
* Worldwide E-Learning Campus and Ericsson launches partnership in Rwanda to develop professional ICT competencies
* To increase employability in the ICT industry and ensure long-term capacity development in alignment with the SMART Rwanda digital education mandate
* Collaboration guarantees a dual award of academic and industry validated qualifications, with access to specific online training via the Ericsson Academy
Worldwide E-Learning Campus (WEC) in Rwanda has today launched a partnership with Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) to develop professional ICT competencies within the country. This program is available starting 1 November 2015.
This partnership targets more than 10 000 students from different academic institutions across Rwanda. It adopts a blended learning approach and aims to improve the skillsets of ICT professionals, increasing employability in the ICT industry and ensuring long term capacity development in alignment with the SMART Rwanda digital education mandate.
WEC is a progressive higher learning institution endorsed by the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), the Rwandan Ministry of Education's agency responsible for providing a strategic response to the skills development challenges facing the country across all sectors of the economy. It is the only institution in Rwanda to have an accredited Cloud Computing qualification program and is an internationally accredited industry certification testing centre in Kigali.
Ericsson will provide access to specific online training via the Ericsson Academy, its corporate learning division, which delivers Ericsson Technical Cloud Certification programs, among others. Ericsson will also provide where possible, internships, experiential training and future employment.
Students will be able to follow the Ericsson technical certification program tracks with access to Ericsson courses such as IP Technology and Networking, Software Defined Networks and Cloud. Courses can be completed at various stages, whilst students are completing options from a Certificate in Computer Maintenance & Web development to a BSC in Forensic Computing degree with WEC. In addition, students not interested in the formal certification or academic program track, can access a suite of free ICT online courses on the Ericsson Web site and secure a basic Ericsson ICT Professional Foundation Certificate on completion of all courses and assessments.
Roti Balogun, Head of Learning & Development, Ericsson Academy in sub-Saharan Africa: "This collaboration will leverage Ericsson's technology leadership in enabling a SMART Rwanda, building long-term skills and local competencies in its IP and Cloud portfolio areas. This will help realise the Networked Society in Africa, and we are excited to support Rwandan students on this exciting journey."
Dr Innocent Rusagara, Principal of Worldwide E-Learning Campus, says: "This collaboration is outstanding for Rwanda as it guarantees a dual award of academic and industry validated qualifications. It prepares potential students for future employment in the ICT industry and attempts to address the gap identified in the Rwanda Development Board's ICT Survey 2012 report. This serves as a great achievement for the WDA-skills development fund project which the students can benefit from through the WEC."
Interested students from various institutions can access the ICT professional foundation courses free of charge at www.ericsson.com/media/ericsson-ict-professional-foundation-rssa/multiple_course_start.html http://www.ericsson.com/media/ericsson-ict-professional-foundation-rssa/multiple_course_start.html or apply for WDA-SDF scholarships at http://weclearn.net/ or email info@weclearn.net for more information on the formal certification programs.
The program will be a long-term collaboration between Ericsson and WEC. It is funded through the government of Rwanda's Skills Development Fund, which has sponsored more than 8 000 Rwandan students across the country since its inception.
Ericsson's commitment to education in Rwanda also includes the global initiative Connect To Learn, launched in the Millennium Village in 2013, in an effort to use mobility, broadband and cloud solutions to enable over 1 000 students and teachers in Mayange to benefit from global learning resources. Today's announcement further strengthens this commitment to Rwanda's development.
For media kits, backgrounders and high-resolution photos, please visit www.ericsson.com/press
Share