Windhoek — Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN) this week signed an agreement with the SAP University Alliance aimed at enhancing academic training at the Polytechnic.

Through the SAP University Alliance programme, PoN will integrate enterprise resources planning (ERP) technologies into its curricula hence providing hands-on skills to students on the SAP system.

The ERP systems are complex pieces of software which can manage almost every aspect of an organisation's operations.

Max Fuzani, South African regional manager: SAP University Alliance said." We have a long standing relationship with the Polytechnic of Namibia, which was one of the first institutions in Africa to offer SAP training.

"Professors now have the opportunity to participant in the Global University Alliance Community portal with a full library that contains curriculum content and information on upcoming events and workshops."

Dr Gert Günzel, vice-rector of administration and finance at PoN said, PoN signed an agreement with SAP Africa for enhancing academic training at the Polytechnicü in 2002 and since then more than 290 IT students and 65 staff members have attended SAP overview training.

He also added that about 540 human resource students have been trained in human resource workshops, and 40 accounting students have been trained in financial institution workshops.

Günzel also revealed that in 2008 the PoN in conjunction with the SAP University Alliance Programme started offering the SAP Training in Enterprise Resource Planning (TERP 10) course - a 10 day comprehensive certification course on the integration of business processes. Six polytechnic instructors have since successfully completed the SAP TERP 10 course.

SAP is the world's largest business applications software company. By providing advanced technologies such as those supporting next-generation IT architectures around key business processes, the SAP University Alliance programme helps universities and technical institutions develop highly qualified graduates who contribute to the core competencies of their future employers.