Google has announced that the Google Student Ambassador Programme will be making its way to South Africa.

This initiative was recently launched in Nigeria as well as Ghana, and forms part of the company’s commitment to empower the African academic community with knowledge, infrastructure and the tools to access information easily and effectively.

It invites students enrolled at SA universities to represent Google for one academic year tenure on their respective campuses. Students will help promote the adoption, usage and localisation of Google’s products and create awareness about Google opportunities for the university community.

A total of 17 students have been selected from five SA universities to be Google ambassadors for 2011-2012 . These institutions include the University of Cape Town, University of the Free State, University of Pretoria, Rhodes University and the Vaal University of Technology. The chosen students come from various disciplines such as computer science, engineering and business and speak several South African languages.

"Serving as an Ambassador for Google will be an enormous privilege,” said Francois van Greunen, undergraduate, computer science and mathematics student at University of the Free State. “The chance to be an integral part of Google’s outreach motivates me extensively, not only because it is a great platform to develop IT infrastructure in South Africa, but also because it will empower the people who wish to use this valuable resource.”

Van Greunen’s fellow Google ambassador, Wanga Mbasa, also an undergraduate, studying mechanical engineering at the University of Pretoria added: “South Africa boasts a number of diverse cultures and languages. Google, as a company devoted to creating and encouraging the spread of locally relevant content on the Internet, is perfectly suited to complement the country's unique environment. I look forward to assisting Google in its efforts to make the web more accessible and evermore valuable for South African users.”

Google will be running an orientation programme for the new ambassadors on 18 July and a half-day workshop focusing on Google applications for education on the following day. In addition,  participants will attend Google Engage on 19 July, which is a seminar focusing on providing support for South African web professionals who offer services to SMBs.

“Google has selected a fantastic group of motivated and energetic South African students who are eager to follow in the footsteps of their fellow African ambassadors,” commented Luke Mckend, country manager of Google South Africa. “These young people understand the possibilities that the Internet presents for the continent and are dedicated to educating others about the web, as well as useful Google tools and services.”

Google also recently announced that Street View users are now able to explore even more local areas from the comfort of their PCs and smartphones.