ethio telecom, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Addis
Ababa University as a focal office representing 10 public universities,
has successfully concluded the first round of University-Industry
Linkage program which it had been undertaking for the last four months.
As per ethio telecom's schedule to make the practice term for the first
round from April to July 2012 (for four months), and in support of the
government's direction to promote innovation and develop marketable
skills, ethio telecom trained 66 students in the Communications
Engineering field of study for the past academic year. In this first
practical training program, communications engineering university
students were given practical knowledge of the telecom sector so that
they will be able to cope up with modern and state of the arts
technologies when they graduate from their respective universities.
This program to give practical training to university students was
initiated by the Ministry of Education in collaboration with industries.
Hence, as one of the leading technology related inistitutions in the
country, ethio telecom owned this program from the very beginning and
admitted these students to its different departments.
As far as this first round of training is concerned, for the past four
months, ethio telecom undertook identification of appropriate work units
for the practicing students, assigning of supervisors, arranging of
kick off meetings, conducting of orientation programs, facilitatation of
visits to major ethio telecom premises [Sululta, NNOC, Sarbet shop,
Data center and Call Center] and rigorous practical trainings. In
addition, ethio telecom paid monthly amount of pocket money (birr 1000)
to cover expenses of the practicing students during the program.
On the occasion of closing ceremony which was held on August 2, 2012,
Ato Hailemariam Amare, Acting Chief Human Resources Officer of ethio
telecom, expressed the company¡¯s commitment to the successful
accomplishment of the program in the years ahead too. He also expressed
his belief that concerted efforts by all the sakeholders will play vital
role to meet the growing skilled manpower needs of the industry and to
ensure that university graduates will be easily employed after their
graduation.
Putting into consideration the importance of this program and its
significant contribution to the country development, ethio telecom
responded promptly to the Ministry of Education's request by availing
facilities for 150 communication engineering practicing students in each
term. However, because of the limited number of communication
engineering students found in the universities, only 66 students
received their practical in this first round training program.
For the future, however, ethio telecom will be receiving 50% of the
country's communication engineering students every year which will add
up to 300 students. These 300 students will be able to follow up their
practice with full support from the company and they will carry out
their practical trainings in two separate schedules for two four month
periods that will run from October to January and from March to June
respectively.
It is to be remembered that Ethiopia's education system has recently
undergone a major change. According to the government policy, the
yearly student acceptance proportion for science and technology is 70%.
Out of this 70%, 40% will be covered by students from different
technology faculties. This shows that the focus for higher educational
institutions is related to science and technology fields. As such,
unlike the past, industries are required to play their parts in training
these prospective graduates.
In accordance with this policy, university students will be able to be
enrolled for practice in organizations pertinent to their fields of
study before graduation so that they will have all the necessary know
how and skills that will enable them to be competitive skilled manpower
after their graduation. This will be essential to ensure that they have
the practical knowledge about their respective industries require as
well as it will enable industries to identify the best talent available
on the market.
This University-Industry Linkage program will fulfill the need to design
effective networking among the universities, the industry and the
government, and speed up the competencies and skills that are needed by
the industry as well as assist the industry to raise productivity
through research and development by working in unison with universities.
Finally, in unison with the government and the universities, ethio
telecom will continue to play its vital role of enhancing the industry's
productivity through technology related research and development works
the practicing students undertake.
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