ESEFA lecturer training in Ethiopia - 20th to 24th April 2015
In late April the Department of Information Systems at the University of Cape Town (UCT) met two important project objectives when Mr Gwamaka Mwalemba travelled to Ethiopia to facilitate a Train the Trainer ES Fundamentals with SAP lecturer training course at the University of Addis Ababa (AAU).
AAU lecturers with Mr Gwamaka Mwalemba from UCT Back row (left to right): Mr Sintayehu Demissie Bekele, Dr. Tibebe Beshah Tesema, Dr. Mulugeta Libsie Gubena, Dr. Solomon Atnafu Besufekad, Dr. Solomon Teferra Abate, Dr. Dejene Ejigu Dedefa, Mr Gwamaka Mwalemba, Dr. Salehu Anteneh Temare, Mr. Ayele Kebede Tekle Front row (left to right): Dr. Dereje Teferi Lemma, Dr Asmare Emerie Kassahun, Dr. Fekade Getahun Taddesse, Dr. Yitbarek Takele Bayiley, Mr. Minilik Tesfaye Endalew, Mr. Mesfin Fikre Woldmariam The course was attended by mostly senior academics from various disciplines such as Computer Science, Information Science, Economics, Management as well as Accounting and Finance. While most of the participants had little previous experience working with or teaching Enterprise Systems (ES), the interest - as well as level of engagement and discussion before and during the course - was “phenomenal” according to Gwamaka. “This was perhaps a result of the fact that participants were aware of the increasing interest by local businesses as well as multinational corporations in Ethiopia to implement Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Lecturers could hence appreciate the value of the course for themselves as academics and experts in their respective fields, as well as for their students and the country as a whole”, he added.
The culmination of this lecturer training achieved two important milestones for the ESEFA project, the first being that AAU is the 10th ESEFA partner university in the 10th Sub-Saharan country to join the ESEFA programme and the second is that the ESEFA Centre at UCT has now succeeded in qualifying 80 lecturers to teach ES Fundamentals with SAP to students across the African continent.