Africa-Press – Mauritius. The second edition of the IT Capstone Showcase Afternoon was held, yesterday, at Polytechnics Mauritius’s Réduit Campus with the aim to showcase the accomplishments of 34 final year IT students of Polytechnics Mauritius following their learning journey and the time spent in industry internship.
Final year Diploma students in Big Data Analytics and Internet of Things presented their cutting-edge, hands-on and practical projects on that occasion.
The Vice-Prime Minister, Minister of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Leela Devi Dookun-Luchoomun; the Chairperson of Polytechnics Mauritius Ltd (PML) Professor Theesan Bahorun; the Chief Executive Officer of PML, Mr Yamal Matabudul; Captains of the IT industry and Entrepreneurs; and other personalities were present at the event.
A prize giving ceremony for several InnovEd competitions winners was also held at the venue. The Capstone projects showcased were: Intelligent Aquaponic System using IoT devices; an Early Flood Warning System; Smart Supermarket with market basket analysis; e-buss pass with RF ID; Garbage Monitoring System; Smart IoT Pet Feeder; and, Windsor Hospital Management System.
At the very outset, the Vice-Prime Minister congratulated all the students for their innovative ideas and Capstone project prototypes as well as all prize winners of the different competitions.
We are witnessing the massive expansion of technology in all spheres, the digital transformation is all around us, and it is only proper that ICT should figure prominently in the education sector, especially at the early stages, she highlighted.
Speaking about the projects, Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun remarked that they are not dissociated from our lived existence and have kept in view issues and concerns that the Mauritian population faces and they demonstrate ways and means to solve them creatively.
She expressed confidence that many of the projects will be crowned with success and the students eligible for full-time employment. The Vice-Prime Minister moreover spoke of Government’s firm belief that no student should be left behind and that means creating multiple pathways to success.
This defines the importance of technical education and of Polytechnics Mauritius and more recently, the Institute of Technical Education and Technology, she indicated.
Today, the mindset of employers is changing and is more tilted towards an assessment of competence rather than the acquisition of a bagful of academic qualifications, she pointed out.
In that lies the competitive advantage of technical education, she emphasised. Mrs Dookun-Luchoomun likewise expressed appreciation that Polytechnics Mauritius is adopting a completely different pedagogical methodology of practice and project-based immersion.
‘I firmly believe that competency-based education is required to bridge skills gaps between academia and industry’, she added.
Speaking about skilling and upskilling of staff, she underscored that this is of primary importance so as to meet the challenges of a fast-evolving and transformative digital environment.
According to her, this explains her Ministry’s emphasis on capacity-building and professional development of academics, educators and administrative staff, with the support of key collaborators such as Microsoft, Oracle, EDCIL India, the World Bank, and the Commonwealth of Learning.
At PML in its quest to manifest thinking-doers we do not only learn, we do’, underlined Mr Matabudul, in his speech. If it is not applied and practical, it is not complete and, the projects bear testimony to this today and this explains the significant portions in industry, he said.
This year we have a range of projects and all of them are grounded, relevant and needed, he further added. Professor Bahorun, for his part, extended his best wishes to the final year students for their achievements.
He expressed appreciation to the pool of talent and brimming creativity of these students who have dedicated six months solving real world problems through a human-centred perspective.
It is recalled that Polytechnics Mauritius has as objective to transform the higher and technical education sector by challenging assumptions and providing long term solutions that create skilled and competent industry-focused managers and leaders.
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