JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — Schneider Electric signed agreements with the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, College of Cape Town, University of Johannesburg and Sedibeng College for the establishment of four training centers, in partnership with the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research, Schneider Electric France, Schneider Electric South Africa and the Schneider Electric Foundation. The signature ceremony was held on March 4, 2016, at the Schneider Electric Midrand Campus in Gauteng, in presence of Her Excellency Elizabeth Barbier, French Ambassador to South Africa, Marianne de Brunhoff, Director of European and International Affairs of the French Ministry of National Education, Higher Education and Research, and Eric Leger, President of Schneider Electric South Africa.
As part of these partnerships, the training centers will be called French South African Schneider Electric Education Centre (FSASEC), with the primary focus to train disadvantaged young South Africans in the field of energy. These agreements are building on the success of Schneider Electric’s first French South African Schneider Electric Education Centre (FSASEC), hosted by Vaal University of Technology since four years and piloted by Alexandre Sebastiani, the French expert from the French Ministry of of National Education, Higher Education and Research. This deployment is part of a worldwide program led by the French Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Research and the Schneider Electric Foundation to create a network of Schneider Electric training centers in Southern Africa and all over the world, as in South America, India and Asia. The additional South African centers bring the total to 30 Schneider Electric training centers around the world.
“Schneider Electric is pleased to sign these new partnership agreements with such esteemed South African higher learning institutions. We need to have more students trained in the field of energy in South Africa. These four agreements are key to accelerate vocational training in the field of energy across the country for previously disadvantaged students”, said Leger.
The four partnerships are structured to ensure training programs that are appropriate to the needs of the South Africa economy. Through intensive vocational training, junior and senior technicians in the field of electricity, energy and automated system controls will be taught innovative technologies and internationally recognized competitive learning programs. State-of-the-art Schneider Electric equipment at the centers will be designed to equip individuals with the necessary skills essential to the energy industry. The new centers will also be used to promote French know-how in pedagogical engineering in the field of technical and vocational education, especially at the specialist, technician and technologist levels.
The new training centers should open during the second quarter of 2016, hosted at the respective institutions.
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