Best electronic communication practices in FET to be explored

Apart from sharing best practices, the ECC - held by Unitech in association with Stellenbosch University - will look at the latest technology trends and explore new ideas and innovative solutions.

Not only web site managers will benefit by attending, but also staff working in the marketing, communication and development (MCD) environment of higher education.

Says Mohamed Shaikh, manager: communication, "Tertiary institutions globally are confronted with the challenge of effectively communicating with the full academic community - students, lecturers, staff and external interest groups. For the university, it thus is an exciting prospect to co-present the Electronic Communications Convention with Unitech, as cutting-edge electronic communication technology and techniques will come under the spotlight."

Caleb Maqubela, the CEO of Unitech, asserts, "The ECC is strategic to bridge the digital divide by extending the ICT imperative to public colleges and universities. We aim to draw the attention of CSI of CSI and donor communities to play an active role in developing ICT infrastructure at our member universities and colleges." Unitech promotes the interests of practitioners in the integrated marketing, communication and development fields at the various further and higher education institutions in southern Africa.

Prof Liesbeth Botha, executive director: innovation and commercialisation at Stellenbosch University (designated the Technologically Most Innovative University in 2005), will deliver the opening address at the convention.

Among the sessions that will be presented at the ECC are:

• Podcasting as a tool in the teaching-and-learning and social interaction toolboxes in higher education (Prof Derek Keats, University of the Western Cape)
• Online marketing (Leon Lategan, Purple Cow Communications)
• Audience-focused electronic communication for students, staff and alumni (Lize Esterhuizen and Lise-Marie Greeff-Villet)
• How electronic communication has changed the academic and social life of students (Kobus Ehlers and Uno de Waal, members of the Stellenbosch University SRC)
• Blogging and wikis (Dr Tony Carr, University of Cape Town)
• Online communities (Deon Meyer, author and specialist on online communities)
• Search engine optimisation (Leon Lategan, Purple Cow Communications)
• Breakaway discussion groups will look, among others, at corporate web sites (the necessity for corporate identity guidelines and templates, etc.) and at electronic communication with alumni (themed "Is a brochure site enough?")

Corporate support for the ECC has been received from Dell SA.

FET Indaba

The FET Indaba, in association with Boland College, sets out to align the sector expectations of marketing, communication and development (MCD) with tried and tested strategies and will try to raise the profile of FET colleges. Marketing, communication and fundraising best practises will be shared with universities and FET colleges.

The Indaba will also explore the importance of a college sector bargaining system by means of a bulk buying system and will create a learning platform dedicated to capacity building for FET colleges.

The CEOs and senior management of FET colleges, skills development staff and managers, MCD and alumni practitioners and managers, student support staff and managers, as well as those working in the SETA (Sector Education and Training Authority) environment, should all benefit from attending.

"This is an opportunity to augment the reputation of our public FET colleges, hence the Indaba, which will act as a think tank for colleges to position themselves and market the new National Certificate Vocation (NCV) which is open for student admission in 2007," explains Maqubela.

Some of the topics to be discussed at the FET Indaba are:

• Access of FET graduates to higher education (Aruna Singh, director, FET Colleges: policy and planning)
• The inclusion of FET colleges in national MCD research (Dr Riaan Els, CEO Fuchs Foundation)
• Towards an integrated MCD for all colleges on a national level (Laurika du Bois, director: CCandM Boland College)
• The current FET landscape - challenges to positioning FET colleges in South Africa (Penny Vinjevold, chief director education: planning, Department of Education)
• Establishing a national MCD advisory board (Trish van der Merwe, director: CCandM Northlink College)
• Establishing an alumni association (Patrick Tariq Mellet, managing director: Inyathelo [The South African Institute for Advancement])
• Online communities (Deon Meyer)
• A panel discussion: Working relationships between FET colleges and universities

For more information, go to www.unitech.org.za or Willie Nice of Unitech at tel +27 (0)11 312 0671 or cell +27 (0)84 406 2141.