Schneider Electric and the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research sign multi-party agreements to open more French South African Schneider Electric Education Centres

Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, signed partnership agreements with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, College of Cape Town for TVET, University of Johannesburg and Sedibeng TVET College for the establishment of four additional training centres, in conjunction with the Schneider Electric Foundation and The French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research.

This comes on the back of the success of the earlier collaboration between Schneider Electric and The French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research almost four years ago, which was piloted through the Vaal University of Technology by the French expert, Alexandre Sebastiani, from the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research.

At the signature ceremony, held at the Schneider Electric Midrand Campus in Gauteng, Eric Leger, country president of Schneider Electric Southern Africa, said that these agreements formed part of the company's vision to accelerate vocational training in the field of energy across the country for previously disadvantaged students.

"We identified the need to have more students trained in the field of energy in line with our sustainable development strategy, and we are pleased to sign these new agreements," explained Leger.

The new partnerships will see the establishment of training centres, called French South African Schneider Electric Education Centre (F'SASEC), with a primary focus of the training of future artisans, electricians and technicians in the field of energy. It is anticipated that the doors to the new training centres will open during the second quarter of 2016, hosted at the respective institutions. This deployment takes part of a worldwide programme lead by the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research and Schneider Electric Foundation to create a network of many Schneider Electric training centres in Southern Africa and all over the world, as in South America, India and Asia. The additional five centres in South Africa bring the total to 30 Schneider Electric training centres around the world.

Each centre will feature state-of-the-art Schneider Electric equipment to enable the skills facilitation and exposure essential to the energy industry. Through intensive vocational training, junior and senior technicians in the relevant disciplines will be taught innovative technologies and internationally recognised competitive learning programmes.

"All parties have entered into the agreements on the basis of their common interest - to promote education and to create development opportunities that offer training to deserving individuals from previously disadvantaged backgrounds," said Leger. "These partnerships could not have succeeded without the support of The French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, the French Embassy in South Africa and Schneider Electric Foundation

The South African Deputy Minister from the Department of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana, the French Ambassador to South Africa, Her Excellency Elizabeth Barbier, and Marianne de Brunhoff, Executive Director for European and International Relations and Cooperation Department from the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, were among the signatories who participated in the signing ceremony.

Front from left to right Mrs. Zanelle Dalglish, Head of Sustainable Development, Schneider Electric South Africa, Dr. Abel Ephraim Mashele, The Principal/CEO, Sedibeng TVET College, Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Research and Innovation, University of Johannesburg, Mrs. Marianne de Brunhoff , The French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research, H.E. Mrs. Elizabeth Barbier, Ambassador to South Africa, French Embassy, Ms. Jackey Mosesi, Deputy Principal Academic, Sedibeng TVET College, Prof. Alexandre Sebastiani, Director of F'SASEC, Vaal University of Technology, Mr. Ben Groenewald, Head of Department: Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology Back from left to right: Prof. Johan Meyer, Head of School, Electrical Engineering, University of Johannesburg, Mr. Frikkie O'Connell, Academic Manager: Electrical, College of Cape Town for TVET, Mrs. Canninah Mapena, Director Energy, Schneider Electric South Africa, Mr. Mduduzi Manana, Deputy

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