First-time successful applicants and returning students starting a new qualification

If you are a first-time successful applicant, you may have applied for admission to two qualifications. If you received confirmation from MITC that you have been successfully admitted to both qualifications, you must now select and register for one qualification.

If you received confirmation from MITC that you have been successfully admitted to one qualification, you may only register for the approved qualification.

Should you wish to change to an alternative qualification, please apply for the alternative qualification during the next application period. You must register during the prescribed registration periods to study through MITC during the 2015 academic year.

Re-registering students

If you are a re-registering MITC student, you must complete and submit your registration form for the 2015 academic year during the prescribed registration periods.

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Your registration will only be finalised once you receive confirmation from MITC that it has been approved

Your registration remains provisional until you have paid the required fees and submitted proof of payment to MITC. The Training Centre reserves the right to verify and amend the correctness of your provisional registration until you have paid the required fees and submitted proof of payment to MITC.

What is the state of our nation 21 years after the advent of democracy in South Africa? Are our ethics as a nation at a desirable level, one envisioned by the founding fathers of our nation and premised on the values of honesty, justice, fairness and moral uprightness?

This formed the basis for MITC’s Open Discourse Series held on 28 April 2015 where the violent xenophobic attacks occurring across the country took centre stage. Geraldgie Candidate Attorney Mohau Romeo Tsusi delivered the keynote address, which was accompanied by strong messages from Proff. Tlangelani Felender Hlongwane.

The conversation takes place at a crucial point in our young democracy, with questions raised by society at large on the state of leadership, rampant corruption, increasing crime levels, increased social inequality, mindless xenophobic attacks and general moray decay, among others.

The word xenophobia is misplaced

However, he continued, “I think the word xenophobia is misplaced. This isn’t about fear of foreigners. This is far more malevolent than that; rather, we are dealing here with the hatred of foreigners… President Mandela would have been ashamed of what we are seeing in the country today.”

He added that having achieved the fundamental aims of the struggle, and with the advent of democracy, the struggle facing South Africa today has become far more nuanced, taking on different shapes in various sectors of society.

The MITC TrainignAcademy Alumni Association Festive Concert, a celebration of student, alumni and community talent and achievement in support of the Alumni Bursary Fund, will take place on Wednesday, 01 July at 18:00 at the Methodist Reformed Church, Johannesburg.

“Last year more than 700 people attended the event and we hope that the 2015 event will be a sold-out MITC Training Academy 4th anniversary celebration,” says Alumni Relations director Lucky Mabata.

More than 100 artists will perform including:

1. The Grey Voices (vocal ensemble) under the direction of Ruth Lyon

2. Winand Grundling and Dario Broccardo (organ and percussion)

3. The SA Horn Ensemble under the direction of Prof Erik Albertyn

4. Sulani Heunis (organ)

5. The Soweto Gospel choir

6. Shawn Lyon (trumpet)

Tickets at R50 a person or R30 for pensioners and students can be bought at MITC Facility, 62 Marshall Street, Suiet: 105, Khotso House, Johannesburg. Tickets will also be on sale at the venue on the evening but are limited due to the capacity of the venue.

For More Information: click here.

TELLING women’s stories and passing on the knowledge normally ignored, is the focus of St Cloud University academic Dr Mumbi Mwangi, who is currently visiting South African Instituations on the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellows programme for three months

The importance of narratives, women’s ways of knowing and humanising women’s experiences from a feminist perspective is the focus of Dr Mwangi’s research and scholarship.

Dr Mwangi is being hosted by the University’s Centre for the Advancement of Non-Racialism and Democracy (CANRAD) where she has been presenting seminars about gender to strengthen and institutionalise the gender forum at MITC Training Academy.

Born and raised in rural Kenya, Dr Mwangi started off as a home economics teacher, obtaining both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Kenyatta University in Nairobi. She later became the Chief Examiner of Home Economics with the Kenya National Examinations Council.

In 1998, she moved to America where she studied for her PhD degree in Education and a Minor in Women’s Studies at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

Her dissertation focused on African women in higher education. She then stayed on to lecture for two years at Iowa State University after which she was appointed at St Cloud University in Minnesota, where she is currently a professor in the department of Ethnic and Women’s Studies.

Dr Mwangi is also the mother of three consecutive sets of twins after the birth of her first daughter.

Part of the reason for opting to work in America is to provide opportunities for her children, five of whom now live there. She does however still keep tie ties with Africa, often visiting Kenya where she will probably retire.

During this visit, her second to South Africa, Dr Mwangi also visited Cape Town together with her son from America and her daughter from Kenya. The two siblings have not seen each other in 14 years so appreciated the much-needed family reunion.

Check Point Software Technologies has revealed that its Malware and Vulnerability Research Group recently discovered a critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerability in eBay’s Magento web eCommerce platform, affecting nearly 200 000 online shops around the world.

According to the report received by the company, if exploited, the vulnerability gives the attacker the ability to fully compromise any online store based on the Magento platform, including credit card information and other customer financial and personal data. The vulnerability allows any attacker to bypass all security mechanisms and gain control of the store and its complete database, allowing credit card theft or any other administrative access into the system.

According to Built With, more than 880 eCommerce websites using the .co.za domain name registration use the Magento platform, placing thousands of South Africans’ information at risk. As this figure does not include .com registrations, the number of at-risk individuals could be a lot higher.

According to the report, online shopping is growing rapidly in South Africa. By the end of 2014, Internet shopping was expected to near the R6 billion mark, up from R688 million when ecommerce started on its upward trajectory in 2006. In its global survey of online shoppers, PwC found that 51% of surveyed South Africans shop online at least monthly and 55% would use digital currency.

Security becomes of critical importance in light of this rise. According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), identity theft cost South Africans over R1 billion every year while losses from credit card fraud amounted to R366.8 million in 2013.

“As online shopping continues to overpower in-store shopping, ecommerce sites are increasingly targeted by hackers as they have become a gold mine for credit card information,” said Doros Hadjizenonos, sales manager for Check Point South Africa. “The vulnerability we uncovered represents a significant threat not to just one store, but to all of the retail brands that use the Magento platform for their online stores – which represents about 30% of the ecommerce market.”

Check Point privately disclosed these vulnerabilities, together with a list of suggested fixes, to eBay prior to public disclosure. A patch to address the flaws was released on February 09, 2015.

Telkom has announced an investment of over R100 million in enterprise and supplier development with the launch of its FutureMakers programme.

According to Telkom, FutureMakers focuses on driving innovation in the ICT sector by growing access to technology and by offering long-term support to its beneficiaries.

“We want to enable, empower and inspire entrepreneurs to stretch their ambitions and make their business visions a reality,” said Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko. “By growing entrepreneurial opportunities within ICT, we can create jobs, improve access to technology and develop a stable and competitive supply chain. FutureMakers serves the national vision for broadband and ICT development, while also supporting our own enterprise and supplier development (ESD) objectives,” Maseko said.

Minister for Small Business Development, Lindiwe Zulu applauded Telkom for this initiative. “We hope other corporates will emulate Telkom’s example of giving practical expression to the national agenda of building strong and sustainable small businesses and co-operatives that will be engines of economic growth and job creation.”

Minister Zulu added: “To address the triple challenges confronting our nation requires a collective effort. The need to support SMMEs and co-operatives is a responsibility of both government and the private sector. Together, we carry a responsibility to stimulate and support the growth and sustainability of the co-operative and small business sector. Together, we can unlock economic opportunities and thus achieve inclusive economic growth and sustainable employment, particularly for women, youth and people with people with disabilities”.

FutureMakers supports small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) with funding, business development and telecommunications services. It works to identify and grow entrepreneurial opportunities across the ICT industry and within Telkom’s supplier value chains. FutureMakers will leverage Telkom’s own national footprint of products and services, resources, and assets, by providing funding, business support, technology and mentoring.

ICT has been identified in the National Development Plan as a critical enabler, providing opportunities for manufacturing, service provision and job creation. South Africa’s National Broadband Policy calls for mechanisms to share infrastructure, enabling low cost and high quality communication, along with the promotion of research, innovation and entrepreneurship. The FutureMakers programme has been designed to deliver practical and tangible responses to these important national strategic objectives.

“We believe that real innovation and transformation within the ICT sector demands a departure from the historically fragmented approaches of the past, towards more inclusive and coordinated ventures. Through the FutureMakers programme we are inviting members of the ICT community to join us as we embark on this exciting journey of transformation,” said Maseko.

Vodacom Business today announced the launch of Fibre To The Business (FTTB) services in South Africa. The initial rollout phase of Vodacom’s new Broadband Connect Fibre service sees broadband connectivity of up to 100Mbit/s coming to selected business parks in Gauteng, Cape Town, and Durban.

This new service means that businesses of all sizes that operate out of business parks will have access to high speed and high capacity data connections.

This opens up a range of services to drive cost savings, improve efficiencies and increase competitiveness.

Broadband Connect Fibre uses the latest Passive Optical Network (PON) technology to give an unparalleled experience. With this new service, businesses will be able to access rich content experiences via the Internet that were previously only available to large corporate customers. These services include video collaboration, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), Hosted PBX, Office365, Cloud Backup and other data applications.

Since 2008, Vodacom has spent more than R2 billion investing in fibre transmission which connects its more than 10,000 cellular base stations and now forms the backbone of this new FTTB service.

“Most people don’t realise it, but underneath every mobile network is a high speed fixed network connecting the base stations. We’€™ve invested billions of rands in building our fibre optic network, meaning that we now have the critical mass to offer customers across South Africa access to the latest technology including FTTB,”€ said Vuyani Jarana, Chief Officer for Vodacom Business.

“€œOur new FTTB service paves the way for true cloud and other next generation services while opening the door to a new level of efficiency, mobility and cost savings,”€ added Jarana.

Vodacom Business’ Broadband Connect Fibre service provides SMEs with bundled uncapped internet access, a router and optional fixed-line VoIP which delivers as much as 30% savings on phone calls. Rapid deployment including the connecting and upgrading of fibre cables is part of the service, and all installation costs are covered by Vodacom. The plans, which are tailored to meet the needs of all sizes of business, offer a range of connection speeds from 5Mbit/s to 100Mbit/s.

Importantly, as part of its roll out plan, Vodacom will in the future be offering customers the option of installing additional equipment in their premises to, in effect, set up a dedicated mini mobile base station. This equipment, which uses the fibre connection to route cellphone traffic back into the network, will give the best possible mobile signal and eliminate any troublesome coverage spots in the office.

“€œA cornerstone of Vodacom’s Ready Business ethos is that our customers should have the fastest, most reliable connection,”€ says Jarana. “With the most extensive network across South Africa and proven reliability, we are positioned to offer world class broadband solutions that give SMEs and office park managers a clear business advantage.”

Discussing the rollout plans from here, Jarana said:

“€œWe’€™re particularly excited about our acquisition of Neotel and what this will mean for the speed at which we can rollout broadband services. If given regulatory approval, we’€™ll be able to add Neotel’€™s 22,000 km of fibre to our existing network and then fast-track the provision of high speed connectivity not only for businesses but also for homes across South Africa. By doing this, we’ll be in the best possible position to support Government’€™s Broadband 2020 objectives.”

AccessKenya has partnered with the Global e-Schools and Communities Initiatives (GESCI) to help improve the quality of teaching of Science, Technology, English and Mathematics subjects in Kenyan schools.

Commonly referred to as STEM, it is feared that the number of students taking these subjects and excelling is on the decline in Secondary Schools. This is said to portend a bleak future on the quality of future scientists and Engineers in the country.

According to the report, through the Strengthening Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (SIPSE) project, AccessKenya and GESCI have been collaborating over the last one year to train STEM teachers on how to better integrate technology into their teaching so that their lessons can be engaging to students.

“Students are struggling to understand important science and mathematics concepts thus accounting for low enrollments in Science, Technology and Mathematics related courses in universities,” said Esther Wachira, the SIPSE project coordinator.

In 2014, two schools, Nakuru Girls High School in Nakuru and Mumbuni Boys Secondary School located in Machakos were chosen as the SIPSE project centers. The pilot programme has so far benefitted 60 teachers drawn from the two regions with the aim of helping them better inspire, motivate and guide students to perform better in STEM subjects.

The SIPSE project is now set for review and a possible up scaling later this year to include even more schools in the race to have technology incorporated as part of the daily teaching and learning tools in public secondary schools.