Sponsorship Boost for University Department of Engineering, Building Environment and Information Technology.

alicornio africa (previously sagent southern africa) has granted a r700 000 sponsorship package to the university of pretoria's department of engineering, building environment and information technology.

alicornio africa md susan andre says this is the first south african tertiary education institution to benefit from the company's new educational sponsorship programme, 'integration through education'.

the sponsorship package includes the sagent solution information integration software suite, as well as ongoing consulting and support services from alicornio africa. third year and honours students have been earmarked as having the correct level of intellectual readiness, so the implementation programme will begin with the pre-grads and sa's next generation of business intelligence experts, says andre.

the key aim of the programme, she says, "is to assist lecturers and learners by providing a solid and practical platform on which to base their business intelligence and data warehousing theoretical practices and knowledge base".

developed as a joint venture between local information integration consultants and specialists, alicornio africa and the us-based software development company, group 1, the 'integration through education' programme will also be rolled out to other tertiary education institutions countrywide.