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SAACI focusing on skills development
The Southern African Association for the Conference Industry (SAACI) is now at the forefront of skills development in the conference industry. This is according to SAACI chairman Thomas Overbeck, who says the association is participating in key local and international initiatives aimed at raising the levels of professionalism in the conference industry and extending knowledge and skills levels for the industry to grow.
He says SAACI participated in the ‘global certification for skills' agreement with Australia and Canada in June 2007, actively supporting the Services SETA in this initiative. “This memorandum of understanding, between countries that have similar training systems, will assist us to maintain industry standards and to increase the global portability of events.”
SAACI also met with international skills developers at the recent Event Management Body of Knowledge (EMBOK) conference to ensure that the five industry skills pillars – risk, operations, marketing, design and administration – remain at the core of industry skills development in SA.
Overbeck says SAACI also participated in a Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) study for the events industry recently. Commissioned by the Services SETA, the results of this study were found to fit perfectly with the requirements of SA's first degree in event management, which is presented by the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
“The experts all agree on the content of training in the industry and I believe SAACI has been instrumental in the success of all these initiatives. In fact, the Services SETA has given Peta Thomas, our skills expert, a special award.
“In addition, a group of SAACI representatives are currently doing a post graduate diploma course in event management at the University of Cape Town Business School, where they are helping to scope specific modules.
“It is clear that training for South Africa's events industry is on the right track and SAACI will continue to participate in all initiatives that will contribute to the professionalisation of the industry,” he says.
