University of Pretoria gives its first ESEFA short course!

The University of Pretoria (UP) recently launched the ES Fundamentals short course in the Department of Informatics and the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering.

Ms Tania Prinsloo, lecturer in Informatics, and Dr Olufemi Adetunji, senior lecturer in Industrial and Systems Engineering, held their courses concurrently from the 30th June to 4th July 2014. Two ESEFA project team members from the University of Cape Town (UCT) Mr Gwamaka Mwalemba, lecturer in the Department of Information Systems at UCT and ESEFA project team member, and Mr Graeme Ampeire, technical assistant on the ESEFA project at UCT, flew to Pretoria for the week to provide technical support and to assist in the case of any hiccups with the training.

“I was fortunate enough to present my first ESEFA training course to a group of 30 third year- and honours students. The training equipped the students with introductory Enterprise Systems (ES) and SAP skills. The week was tough, but well worth the effort, as some of our students have already received employment offers from leading companies as a result of their newly acquired skills,” says Ms Prinsloo, “and Gwamaka and Graeme were worth their weight in gold, helping out with the exercises and workshops in the SAP ERP application.”

Ms Tania Prinsloo with UP Informatics students.

“Looking back”, added Ms Prinsloo enthusiastically, “I have also learnt a lot and grown in my own capacity as a lecturer. The ES skills will come in handy in my future teaching and this course gave me the confidence to broaden my horizons and to take on new challenges. The ESEFA project really addresses the ERP skills shortage by filling a gap in terms of student preparedness for the job market, and by developing the ES curriculum I believe the project will benefit all students. I am privileged to be part of the ESEFA team!”

Dr Olufemi Adetunji found the use of the SAP ERP system very helpful in the practical demonstration of the concepts he teaches in the Production Management module. Feedback from his students was very positive and many others are asking to be enrolled in the next ES Fundamentals short course.

“It was a fascinating experience for me as well because while I have read up about SAP ERP systems and functionality, this year was my first hands-on experience and it was really encouraging,” added Dr Adetunji. He hopes that other lecturers at UP will follow suite in integrating the ESEFA curricula and using the SAP ERP system as a vehicle to illustrate ES concepts they teach in their courses.

Dr Olufemi Adetunji with UP Industrial and Systems Engineering students.