A total of 33 academic staff and students from the University of Mauritius (UoM) had followed a training in Deep Learning in December 2019, delivered by Associate Professor Dr. Willie Brink from Stellenbosch University, South Africa. This project was approved under the AI Skills Development Programme set up by the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC). 

The training culminated to mini projects which were worked out collaboratively amongst students and academics.

With a view to showcasing four of these mini-projects, UoM in collaboration with the HRDC organised a webinar on 17 September from 10 00 hrs to 11 30 hrs. The presentations were delivered by four participants comprising academic staff and students who took part in the training:

Around 20 participants from both public and private institutions attended the webinar.

Click here to download the Webinar Presentation

About the training

The objectives of the training in Deep Learning (DL) were to:

• provide students and lecturers with the opportunity to upgrade their skills and knowledge in DL which is an industry focused technology;
• improve the employability of ICT graduates;
• build internal capacity of the University academic staff in deep learning for transfer of knowledge; and
• link the university to advanced foreign resources in DL to raise the level of academic staff and students in DL.

Students with IT/Mathematics/Engineering backgrounds having followed this course can work in all the areas requiring deep analysis and evaluation of data (such as classification, clustering among others). These students can work in the IT industries, banking and finance, and others.

Academic staff competent in DL can in turn integrate some aspects of DL in modules as well as act as resource persons locally.

Background Information

The field of artificial intelligence is essentially when machines can do tasks that typically require human intelligence. It encompasses machine learning, where machines can learn by experience and acquire skills without human involvement. Deep learning is a subset of machine learning where artificial neural networks, algorithms inspired by the human brain, learn from large amounts of data.

To meet the demands that are created by burgeoning industries and digitalisation of existing industries, there is need for a proactive and flexible approach to drive development over the few coming years. These shifting trends demand investment in development of skills and increase in AI talents in Mauritius spanning across university students, existing employees, unemployed youth and the society at large. The ‘Mauritius Artificial Strategy 2018’ has highlighted that the lack of talent and qualified workers in Mauritius is a deterrent to the implementation of AI across business operations.

Hence, in line with the need to build local capacity in AI, UoM solicited the services of Dr. Willie Brink, to train the 30 participants. Students with backgrounds in IT/Mathematics/Engineering, having followed this course, would be able to work in all the areas requiring deep analysis and evaluation of data (such as classification and clustering). These students can work in IT industries, banking and finance, among others. Academic staff competent in Deep Learning can in turn integrate some aspects of Deep Learning in modules as well as act as resource persons locally.

Definition and Applications of Deep Learning (DL)

Artificial intelligence is a data-driven technology that is both powering autonomous machines and augmenting the flow of information and analysis for human workers. As machine learning evolves, workers must learn to adjust in much the same way as adapting to a new tool or software service. DL is a subset of machine learning where artificial neural networks, algorithms inspired by the human brain, learn from data. Also known as deep neural learning or deep neural network, Deep Learning method are based on learning data representations, as opposed to task-specific algorithms.

Deep Learning is required in many fields and to build smart applications. For example Google's search engine, voice recognition system and self-driving cars all rely heavily on deep learning. They have used deep learning networks to build a program that picks out an attractive still from a YouTube video to use as a thumbnail.

Deep learning is a novel and complex area and requires expert training. The very first step is to understand the foundations of DL and gain hands-on experience from experts.

The Human Resource Development Council in collaboration with the Careers Guidance Service is organising three half-day workshops intended for Rectors from both public and private secondary schools in order to sensitise them on the use of the Career Guidance Toolkit, which has been developed by the HRDC with the support of the Careers Guidance Service and a resource person from Curtin University, Mauritius.

The workshops will be held as follows:

The Career Guidance Toolkit is an essential tool to support Senior Educators in the planning of their career guidance programme, and will help better prepare them in providing career education and information to their students.

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Dear Trainees, Trainers, Mentors and Training Providers,

As you are aware, we are going through an unprecedented period as the country is locked-down since the 20th of March 2020 and the confinement period has been extended till 15th April 2020.

The HRDC is organising a three-day training programme on Careers Education, Information, Advice, Management and Guidance for a third batch of 80 Senior Educators from public and private secondary schools. The training will be held as follows:

Initially some 160 Senior Educators were trained in 2 batches of 80 in October 2017 and October 2018.

The field of artificial intelligence is essentially when machines can do tasks that typically require human intelligence. It encompasses machine learning, where machines can learn by experience and acquire skills without human involvement.

To meet the demands that are created by burgeoning industries and digitalisation of existing industries, there is need for a proactive and flexible approach to drive development over the few coming years. These shifting trends demand investment in development of skills and increase in AI talents in Mauritius spanning across university students, existing employees, unemployed youth and the society at large. The ‘Mauritius Artificial Strategy 2018’ has highlighted that the lack of talent and qualified workers in Mauritius is a deterrent to the implementation of AI across business operations.

The HRDC is organising a working session for unemployed graduates to raise awareness on the functioning and benefits of the Graduate Training for Employment Scheme (GTES).

The working session will offer participants the opportunity to interact with an industry expert and gain real-life insights into the world of work which will help them boost their employability.

Participants will also be able to interact with a graduate trainee and learn from his/her training and placement experiences under the GTES

The working session will be held as follows:

The AI Masterclass programme is a training initiative developed by 8 collaborating enterprises from varied sectors of activities. The training was held over four days from 11th – 14th November 2019 at the Ceridian Learning Centre, 8th Floor, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tower, Ebène.
46 employees from these enterprises benefitted from this training. The objective was to help technical IT Professionals jumpstart their 21st century skills with the concepts of:
Azure Cognitive Services;
Chat bots; and
Machine learning.

The Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) is organising a ceremony to launch the training programme “Advanced Training in Fund Administration / Accounting” which will be run under the Graduate Training for Employment Scheme (GTES) and the Sectoral Skills Development Scheme (SSDS).