DEG supports IT training in Africa

IT training in the field of so-called Enterprise Resource Planning systems is to be improved significantly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are used by companies worldwide to pool management information from different business areas, including accounting, human resources, marketing and sales, logistics, and production, in order to make business processes more efficient.

In Africa, ERP systems have so far hardly been common, mainly due to insufficient IT-training resources. This is where a joint initiative launched by the software group SAP, the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, comes in. DEG co-finances the project with funds from the develoPPP.de Programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Within a period of three years, an own ERP learning and teaching platform is to be set up in Sub-Saharan Africa that will take account of the specific circumstances of the African continent. On line contents make a "round-the-clock" and "on-the-move" access to learning services possible. Off-line learning material will additionally be offered for the obligatory classroom courses. The platform will embrace course as well as learning management functionalities.

In cooperation with African universities, the ERP courses will be offered to teaching staff and students. These partner institutions participate in local case studies in order to assess and continuously improve the course design and learning material. This contributes to guaranteeing a constant standard of the courses and to ensuring a sustainable ERP training programme in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project considerably increases the opportunities of African students to compete for high-skill jobs. The spreading of such systems can additionally help to boost Africa's competitiveness, thereby furthering its integration into the global economy.