Midrand-based Coral-i, an Inala company, is today one of the leading suppliers of services and products to the southern African electronics, telecommunications, broadcast, medical and networking industries. The company’s extensive SANAS-accredited service, calibration and metrology laboratories form the ideal practical training ground for students of electronic engineering.
The company is in the process of being accredited by ISETT SETA, and has representation on the Telecommunications Standards Generating Body to ensure that courses are in line with the NQF.
"The IBEET initiative (Inala Black Equity Empowerment and Training) was started to provide black electronic engineering students opportunities they had previously lacked," says Donald Peddie, Coral-i training manager. "Every year, we take in a group of 10 students that have successfully completed their D4 Electronic Diploma theory training at various Technikons and train them on the practical aspects of test equipment service and calibration that meet the experiential training requirements for levels P1 and P2. ISETT SETA has already provided us with grants for two groups of students each to the approximate value of R490 000. This valued support is helping us achieve the level of excellence this industry needs to maintain."
ISETT SETA is the Information Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority. Its objective is to develop South Africa into an ICT (Information and Communications Technology) knowledge-based society by encouraging more people to develop skills in the sector as a means of contributing to economic growth. The ISETT Sector of Electronics is one of the fastest growing areas of the economy, cutting across a wide range of sector domains and is the successor to the industrialisation era. Inherent in this growth is the realisation that strategic skills in the information sector are one of the main drivers of economic and social development. The ISETT SETA generates, facilitates and accelerates the processes of skills development for workers at all levels in the ISETT sector by linking future technology trends with new skills development programmes.
"Coral-i's approach to training goes beyond the set curricula by exposing students to the business realities of their chosen industry," says Teboho Mokoena, ISETT SETA project manager. "Technical people at all levels of the organisation should be empowered to run their jobs and make decisions within the context of the company's business objectives. That is why the course also addresses such issues as business generation, the development and integration of business level strategies, goal alignment and performance management, among others."
Training within this 'real-world' environment teaches students a new sense of responsibility. Equipment has to be repaired in accordance with strict quality criteria because it will be used the next day by real customers in real situations. Each student in a group gets the opportunity to manage the group and to return a profit on the work done. Students must also operate within the larger context of the Inala group and interact with a wide variety of personnel ranging from highly technical to administrative, marketing as well as all levels of management.
"We have already completed live projects for other Inala companies such as Channels Measurement Services and Erlang Communications," says Peddie. "We believe that it is essential to gradually remove the 'buffers' of the academic environment in order to best prepare students for what they will encounter when they graduate.
"Another important aspect of this initiative," continues Peddie, "is the placement of students after they complete the course. Through our influence in the marketplace, we endeavour to place the graduate students with one or more reputable companies. We have already found employment for three students from the first course. It is also likely that a number of students, now equipped with practical skills, may wish to become self-employed. Should this be the case, Inala is perfectly placed to start and nurture entrepreneurial businesses to a state of sustainable wealth creation."
For more information contact Donald Peddie, Coral-i, 083 324 8544, [email protected]
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