Thousands of youths who have been locked out of IT institutions due to a lack of fees can now gain the skills they want free of charge thanks to an online academy run by Ericsson and Harvard University.

The academy, which was previously only available to the Swedish telco's employees, features content developed by the firm and online lectures from renowned professors of Harvard Business School.

Through Ericsson Academy, users can access online courses, lectures and tutorials via interactive webinars created by Ericsson experts and learn more about ICT at no cost.

Expected to suffer from the initiative are local institutions that have been offering some of these courses at a fee.

With the current stable telecommunication network in the country, experts say many students with basic IT skills will most likely opt for Ericsson's offer.

Course module

On average, most institutions charge between Sh10,000 and Sh20,000 for a course module which lasts a month.

Corporate organisations pay up to Sh50,000 for a two day training.

The initiative will avail the courses, most of which local institutions have been offering on a modular basis and are currently in high demand due to the competitiveness created by the fast growing ICT sector.

"This new approach to learning, leveraging on the use of technology to bring development initiatives closer to users across Africa, is received with much enthusiasm and will greatly aid Ericsson's drive towards improving competence on the continent" says Tade Oyinlola, Head of Ericsson Academy for Sub-Saharan Africa.

By availing its expertise and learning opportunities, Ericsson aims to inspire people and organizations throughout the industry to collaborate, exchange ideas and stimulate innovative thinking.

The online project comprises more than 1000 courses covering different technology systems and service areas.

For easy navigation, they are grouped into predefined training packages within a certain area and participants receive a printable course certificate upon successful completion.

Among the courses on offer are Long Term Evolution Radio Access Network, Messaging over IP (MoIP) 6.1, Microwave Networks, Mobile Packet Backbone Network and Mobile Service Delivery Platform.

With the extensive collection of online and instructor-led training packages made available through the academy and education centres around the world, Ericsson hopes to provide strong and flexible education.

In a world of rapidly evolving technology the Ericsson Academy allows the world to tap into one of the richest sources of technology and business expertise.

It is a new entry point for Ericssons' expertise and knowledge on managing talent during rapid technology shifts.

This is being achieved by providing competence-related support and learning opportunities.

Other than Ericsson, other IT firms have also opted to partner with local learning institutions to help build the much required capacity. Among them are Oracle and IBM.

IBM East Africa for example has partnered with various Universities including the University of Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture to offer software development.

Mr Tony Mwai, the IBM country general manager says the collaboration is aimed at creating linkages between the institutions and the industry.

"We are working with the institutions to create a specialized curriculum on Software development so as to infuse industry knowledge" said Mr Mwai.

"With more than 3000 research scientists the local institutions would be able to gain knowledge transfer"

The search for talents among the ICT firms have led to poaching among companies as demand for expertise grows.

Local institutions

Mr Harry Hare, an executive director at Africa e-Development, says local institutions especially those offering basic IT courses will have to up their game to compete with Ericsson and attract potential candidates.

"Depending on the materials offered, the initiative will definitely have a big impact on the local institutions which will be forced to improve by offering more to remain relevant." said Mr Hare.