Absa has partnered with international research company, Gartner, to make the company"s research reports available to students at Rhodes and Fort Hare Universities.

The information is available to all registered students at the respective universities, and is not used exclusively by the IT students. The University of Fort Hare has links to the Gartner resources via the Library Web page, to which all students have access.

"The benefit of using Gartner research is that it is current and the content remains fresh. Although this makes it especially relevant to IS students, the information is beneficial to the commerce faculty as a whole," says John McNeill, senior lecturer, Department of Information Systems at Rhodes University.

The significance of this sponsorship is that the university students and lecturers now have access to critical information. "Gartner research is invaluable for people studying in the IT and related fields, and for this reason Gartner offers preferential pricing for universities. With Absa"s sponsorship of Rhodes and Fort Hare, we now have eleven SA universities as Gartner clients," says Gail Hurry of Gartner Africa.

The sponsorship of the research came about when Absa became aware of the need for IT research to be made available to the students and lecturers, through its representation on the Information Systems Advisory Board of both universities. The advisory boards comprise high-level CIOs from blue-chip companies. Their main responsibility is to advise the universities on curriculum content, based on current industry requirements.