Programme Director Mr Rudy Oosterwyk
Ms Penny Vinjevold Superintendent-General of the Western Cape Education Department
CEOs of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and professional bodies
CEOs of Western Cape FET Colleges
Members of Cape Chamber of Commerce
Ladies and gentlemen
At the outset, I would like to commend the Western Cape Further Education and Training (FET) College sector, the Western Cape Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) cluster and the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism for organising this summit in response to our call for cross-sectoral collaboration in education and training.
This summit comes a critical time in the process of developing the college sector as the central delivery site for skills development and training. Expanding and improving capacity at FET colleges is a vital part of the mission to create a comprehensive and differentiated post school system in which universities and colleges are the key providers of the education and training needs.
The challenge that we face of getting colleges and companies together again sometimes seems like a mountain too high to climb. We all know, of course, that prior to the democratic era, colleges and companies, especially the parastatals (known now as State Owned Enterprises) used to collaborate intimately. Back then, artisans and other skilled workers successfully underwent dual training with one part at a college and another at work. And then, in the late nineteen eighties, things fell apart: the parastatals were commercialised or completely privatised, and the funding vehicles and tax incentives that welded the partnership together were withdrawn to fund the last ditch efforts of a dying state to save apartheid.
The divided world that resulted from this ‘great fall’ led to legions of youngsters enrolling for courses that led nowhere the notorious ‘private students’ who studiously enrolled for and completed their ‘N’ courses at colleges and then found themselves on the edge of a great employment abyss because without the practical training and work experience that only companies could provide, they were not seen as being ‘employable’ and so too often couldn’t find jobs.
Now we have a new Ministry that of Higher Education and Training and for the first time the jurisdiction for workplace learning and college based training fall under a single umbrella. This opens up new vistas and the opportunities are exciting by any reckoning. And it is to these that I now turn.
You will, I hope, have noticed that I have spoken of the partnership between colleges and companies not between colleges and SETAs. I think the distinction is important. Colleges have a relationship with individual learners and these learners need to augment this learning with work experience at individual companies. Learners do not require time with a SETA. The SETAs work at a different level and are intermediaries.
They are organised networks of companies that, according to Section 9 of the Skills Development Act ‘use similar materials, processes and technologies, make similar products or render similar services’ they hold the promise of coherent occupational structures and career paths, they reflect the organisational structures of trade unions, employers and government departments and frequently also mirror industrial negotiation arrangements between these parties. This is not just a definitional matter it reflects the reality that SETAs cohere because their members are often organised anyway they have a social and economic purpose as well as a legal identity.
Why is this so useful? Well, because they share markets and frequently share similar work processes, they can do what individual firms seldom have time or resources to d they can interrogate trends and identify skill needs beyond simply the short term. This means that they can give colleges, collectively, a sense of where the demand trends lie. This is very helpful for learners as it can help inform their choices of what courses to study if they want to improve their chances of finding good jobs at the end of the day. It is also helpful to steer scarce public resources into areas of greatest employment promise.
However, SETAs do more than this. They also provide a ‘communication channel’ to individual firms. They have the legal duty to disperse 80% of the skills development levy. Firms currently get half of what they paid back when they submit a workplace skills plan. This financial exchange between the firm and the SETA establishes the bond between them. It follows that SETAs have a link to every firm in their sector and have information about their training plans and needs. This is precisely the information for which colleges hanker. The challenge we all face now is how best might this opportunity be forged? It is not simply a college level matter – it reaches into the design of the system as a whole.
Too often, I believe, we have focused on the ‘discretionary’ 20% of the SETA resources when we have explored the partnerships between firms and colleges, special projects which get special funding approved by SETA boards from the resources left over after the workplace skills plan grants have been paid. I have long thought that this was sub-optimal, and questioned why we did not tap into main artery itself the workplace skills plan and hence I welcomed the proposal from my department for the Pivotal Grant (as part of their recommended National Skills Development Strategy III). The proposal is for employers, as part of their mandatory grant, to be required to take on a learner from a college or university for structured workplace learning, and for the college or university from which they are recruited to be rewarded with a grant.
This would provide both parties with an incentive to find the other. I have yet to receive the advice of the National Skills Authority on this matter, and so cannot yet give my final view on the subject. My impression is that many people support this view. If, after I have applied my mind, this view is confirmed, then our challenge will be to establish the systems to support its implementation so that colleges get to know, in time, what firms, where are looking for what graduates in particular – and so they will be able to plan their enrolments on a more informed basis and will be able to place their graduates more easily (especially if they can access the information from SETAs about these matters).
Of course when putting the pieces together again, we have to make sure the parts fit. And this is where the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO), which I established in February this year, will play its part. The QCTO, as it is known, is responsible for developing and quality assuring occupational qualifications. The Skills Development Act defines these as qualifications associated with trades, occupations or professions resulting from work-based learning consisting of knowledge, practical and work experience components.
In other words these qualifications wrap around all three components – and will be designed in such a way as to ensure their alignment: that they ‘fit’ the components together and are also ‘fit for purpose’, meaning they prepare people to perform occupations which are in need in society: be it for production in the private sector or for service delivery in the public sphere.
These occupational qualifications will provide colleges with a new vehicle – which will build on the old ‘N’ course model, but will be updated and aligned to modern needs and social opportunities. They will be able to augment the NCV programmes and to provide colleges with a broadened menu of ‘flagship’ programmes. We will be talking more about all this at the forthcoming College and Skills Summits that are both scheduled for early September. At these events we shall be exploring the system-wide alignments we will have to bring into play to achieve the maximum reach of these benefits.
How will all this help learners in the Western Cape? Well, considerably, I hope you agree. The prospect of learners getting work experience will be dramatically enhanced, and, once the QCTO is up and running, the prospect of the work experience and the college programmes working in harmony together, and laying a solid foundation for successful completion of trade tests and the like will increase dramatically. But even more importantly, the chances of learners getting decent jobs at the end of it all will be better than ever before. This is not simply an abstract wish. My colleagues at National Treasury have recently reported on research which they have undertaken, which has shown that young people with work experience are almost three times more likely to find a job than those without[1]. I think the prospects of successful job searches will be even higher when augmented with the kind of training we envisage.
We are aware of the many difficulties that have been experienced in recent years in the FET college subsystem as a result of a complex and incomplete transition, with multiple and overlapping changes of a profound nature for which many were ill-equipped. These difficulties have affected the colleges as institutions in different degrees, and their staff and students. Staff has experienced uncertainty with respect to their employment status and conditions of service many students have experienced the disillusionment of failure in their endeavours and many colleges have experienced severe financial difficulties.
While there have been many examples of excellent and innovative practice in difficult conditions, it seems clear that morale in many institutions has been deeply affected. This is a situation that the DHET is addressing vigorously in close collaboration with all key stakeholders, with a view to stabilising the situation in the college subsystem for 2011 and providing a platform for a vibrant and productive post-school education and training system (PSETS) in the medium and long term.
I am sure that you are aware that a FET Round Table was convened by the ETDP SETA in partnership with the DHET on 9 April 2010. The Round Table brought together all key roleplayers and stakeholders in the FET college subsystem to engage in a rigorous debate informed by an analysis of the challenges facing the colleges. At the Round Table, stakeholders agreed that a high level Steering Committee will oversee the process of preparing for a broader FET Summit which is to be held from 3 to 4 September 2010 that will contribute to stabilising the FET college subsystem and build a platform for its long term development. This work has considerably boosted the capacity of the DHET to understand and address the challenges that you face, particularly as the Department goes through the complex process of taking on the function of managing the college subsystem as a national competence.
Subsequent to the FET Summit, and in continuous consultation with stakeholders, a range of recommendations will be presented to me, and I am following the process closely. The post summit processes will be critical. The DHET is planning to inform all colleges of the recommendations of the summit, and of my decisions and will work intensively with provinces and prioritised colleges to provide support for their operational planning for 2011 and implementation of the summit outcomes.
I am sure you share our hope that the process we are undertaking will open up quality opportunities for all FET learners and potential learners to participate in work-oriented programmes and to engage in sustainable income generation including the many young people currently not in education, employment or training. The Department of Higher Education and Training is committed to providing support to the colleges to enable them to become institutions of choice for staff and students alike, and a vital resource for social and economic development.
We look forward to you participation and inputs in all these processes, including the FET and Skills summits. I believe that the Collaboration Agreement to be signed today between the FET colleges and the SETA cluster will raise the bar nationally for cross-sectoral partnerships to advance skills development and employability for young people.
Once again, congratulations on this initiative.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Ranjeni Munusamy
Tel: 012 312 5555 or 021 4655513
Cell: 0725712812
E-mail: munusamy.r@dhet.gov.za
[1] National Treasury, July 2010, Confronting youth unemployment: policy options for South Africa, Discussion Paper, footnote, p.5.
