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FTI was established in 1989 to offer affordable
practical, professional training of the highest quality to the
IT industry.
It was born out of the joint vision of 5 experienced lecturers
from the Department of Information Systems at the University of
Cape Town, who perceived a gap between the short course training
offered by many private training companies, and the longer 3 and
4 year degree career-oriented programmes offered by
universities. Short courses were primarily skills oriented,
while university courses were primarily academic. This
situation prevails to this day, with universities accused of
producing graduates who are not workplace-ready.
We perceived the need for a programme that
- was vocational
and practical in nature,
- produced
multi-skilled individuals
- was suited to
the mid-career aspirations of experienced (not entry-level)
practitioners
- was feasible
for working people to attend
in 1990, the first 2
FTI Diplomas were created: one in Systems Analysis and one in IS
Project Management. The concept of part-time,
vocational training programmes running in the evening was quite
revolutionary at the time, and it took some time to gain
acceptance in the market. But those early courses have grown to
include Diplomas in Business Analysis, and Systems Testing, and
a host of short courses to augment areas not covered in the
Diplomas.
Our corporate client base number base include more than 150 of
South Africa's top companies, and by 2010, more that 7000 people
have graduated from one Diploma or another. Many of our
delegates have returned to complete their second, third and even
fourth Diplomas course with FTI. Several of our top graduates
have gone on to do MBA and other post-graduate programmes at
university. And lots of past delegates who have risen throug the
ranks are now sending their own staff on current programmes: we
enjoy reminiscing with them at the graduations where we
celebrate the success of their delegates.
There have been many milestones along the way: new courses
launched, new accreditations and endorsements by professional
bodies, expanding offices, recruiting more staff and more
lecturers.
And if the next decade is anything like the last two, things are
going to be exciting indeed! |
