SAACI Academy Launch Event

While many are happy to criticise the state of education and the skills shortages in Southern Africa, we at the Southern African Association for the Conference Industry are proud to be able to say that we are actively doing something about it.

SAACI has identified that there is a tremendous skills gap especially in the conferencing and hospitality industry, and the new SAACI Academy aims to address it directly. The SAACI Academy launches fully on 2 November 2015, while a select group of members and friends previewed the online platform at an event on 23 October.

Presented by SAACI CEO Adriaan Liebetrau, Academy Managing Director Cobus Kirkpatrick and Academy General Manager Jenny la Grange, and supported by Gustav Holzhausen, the preview made clear the importance of adding value to the conferencing industry through quality education. As Mr Liebetrau draws attention to, the launch of the Academy is in line with SAACI’s theme for 2015: “With Knowledge, It’s Possible”. The Academy will open new avenues of possibility in the conferencing industry, improving the level of education of individuals throughout the field.

Mr Kirkpatrick assures that the Academy will directly address the skills shortage in the hospitality, conferencing and events domains. The curriculum will be constantly expanded to cover more areas that SAACI members believe should be included in the set of skills on offer.

In order to ensure that the courses on offer are of a consistently high standard, SAACI has partnered with some of the world’s most prestigious institutions to offer qualifications that are accredited and recognised internationally. A number of accredited certificates and diplomas in a range of fields are already available, making the SAACI Academy an online resource that offers true academic excellence.

Ms la Grange provided a demonstration of how the Academy will work: the various courses are available in a range of packages, depending on the size of the company. Individual and customised courses will be developed in partnership with larger organisations in the hospitality and conferencing industry – the move is aimed at providing practical, real-world experience and knowledge to individuals, which is applicable to the environments in which they work.

The Academy’s principles are centred on developing quality content from reputable colleges, positioning SAACI as a thought and education leader. The courses will directly improve competency in the workplace, further cementing SAACI as the definitive organisation representing professionalism in the conferencing field.

SAACI is proud to have successfully brought the Academy to life, as part of being truly dedicated to offering its members meaningful and high-quality benefits. The Academy not only addresses the skills gap in the conferencing industry; it will contribute to the education shortages in Southern Africa as a whole, creating opportunities and increasing skills that will make a real difference.