Students from remote rural communities across South Africa are helping to alleviate technology skills shortages by earning much sought-after qualifications at Khulisa Academy, the High-Performance Computing (HPC) training academy launched by Dell Technologies South Africa in 2015.
Khulisa’s intense, full-time two-year programme is designed to challenge and stretch its students’ capabilities. With a solid track record of a 100% pass rate, Khulisa’s students are headhunted by Dell Technologies’ customers and partners, as well as the broader industry, for employment. There are also opportunities for those with entrepreneurial talents to have their innovative business ideas funded by entering the academy’s New Venture Creation facility.
Each year, 10 matriculants and five university graduates are onboarded, giving a total of 30 students at the Academy at any one time. Khulisa has made huge inroads towards increasing the number of female IT professionals in South Africa, with women making up 80% of its student intake on average.
Natasha Reuben, Head of Transformation at Dell Technologies South Africa, says: “Dell Technologies is committed to social upliftment in South Africa and believes that education and tangible employment opportunities will continue to fuel the development South Africa needs to grow its economy and its people.”
The students are drawn from impoverished rural communities across the country, with this year’s intake representing the Limpopo, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga, North West, Gauteng, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. The curriculum includes in-demand industry qualifications for critical roles such as systems administration and systems engineering administration, among others. The skillsets developed by the students work particularly well in the server environment.
The students receive market-related salaries for the duration of the programme, so that they can take care of themselves and their families back home. They are also provided with smart apartment accommodation while they are on the programme.
The programme takes place in Johannesburg, with a hybrid combination of virtual and class training using live and simulated environments.
“On completion of the programme, the students are ready to enter the workplace with skills and knowledge on a par with any around the world,” Reuben says.
