The Altech Academy student of the year

The Altech Academy student of the year:

The 26th November 2008 marked the first annual ‘Altech Academy Student of the Year Award’ event in which recognition was given to top performing students, studying one of the Altech Academy courses.

The event was held at the elegant Rosebank Hotel, which was recently renovated, where guests and students were welcomed by the velvety sounds of jazz songstress ‘Giselle’. Students were excited, anxious and nervous all at the same time, but they soon settled down for the formal proceedings which began with an opening speech by Craig Venter, Patron of the Altech Academy, who stated, “Even though we are only choosing one winner, in my mind you are all winners”.

The Altech Academy’s Director of Studies, Johan Klein and Prof Roy Marcus of the Da Vinci Institute, proposed the initiative, in order to motivate existing students and to encourage new students to enrol for one of the Altech Academy programmes which include: The Systems Engineering Programme; The Key Account Management Programme; The Project Management Programme and a Certificate; Diploma; Masters and PhD in the Management of Technology and Innovation.

The finalists included 7 students and 2 teams consisting of 3 members each, who had to put together a 15 minute presentation, to present to a panel of judges that included members of the Altech Academy Board. The finalists were selected from the entire pool of the 2008 students who scored the highest percentage in their post module assignments or projects. The nine finalist presentations were:

1. Problem Solving, Creative Thinking and Decision Making by Linda Bruwer
2. Managing the Systems Way by Nico Els
3. Financial Literacy by Rudolph du Plooy
4. Management of Technology by Madeleine Viljoen
5. Management of Innovation by Pieter Welgemoed
6. Management of People by Phillip Grobler
7. Project Management by Mark Strachan
8. Systems Engineering Module 1 by Team ALTECH ISIS
9. Systems Engineering: Module 2 by Team ALTECH UEC

All of the presentations were of such a high standard that the judges had a difficult time in choosing a winner. On the night it was decided, that two awards instead of one, should be handed out. One award was given to Da Vinci students that are studying in the Management, Technology and Innovation field and the other award went to the students studying Systems Engineering.

The award for ‘Altech Academy Student of the Year’ in the Management, Technology and Innovation field went to Nico Els from Altech Card Solutions. The award for ‘Altech Academy Team of the Year’, for the Systems Engineering Programme was awarded to Team Altech UEC, which included Kamal Maken, Wayne Smythe and Kavish Parbhoo. A floating trophy was handed to the winners who also received a cheque for their efforts.

The evening was a great success in giving recognition to the up and coming stars of Altech and the Altech Academy board is already looking forward to seeing the presentations of next year’s competitors..

The Altech Academy Student of the Year 2008 Floating Trophy	The Altech Academy Student of the Year, Nico Els (left), with Johan Klein (middle) and Craig Venter (right)	The Altech Academy Team of the Year went to Team Altech UEC. From left to right: Wayne Smythe, Kamal Maken, Kavish Parbhoo, Johan Klein & Craig Venter