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To all skills-universe members: the following question was one of a number posed to Deputy President Ramaphosa. As the response indicates, we all need to work together and the results will affect all of us in some way or another.
So please give your response:- are you or your company involved in the initiatives detailed here? Please give us feedback on your experiences.
Question 1
With reference to the National Development Plan's emphasis that the need for a strong relationship between the technical and vocational education and training colleges and industry to (a) improve the quality of training, (b) ensure faster absorption of graduates in the job market and (c) assist with determining the skills demands that exist in the labour market, what measures are in place to ensure that these partnerships materialise and are sustained?
Reply by Deputy President Ramaphosa:
Honourable Members,
Government has prioritised the expansion and development of TVET colleges as a cornerstone of the national effort to meet our human resource needs. Providing our people with skills that are relevant and meaningful is a national priority. This we do to enable them to find employment and expand their opportunities.
There is a strong link between the quality of teaching in TVET colleges and the development of skills suitable for the demands of the job market. Many of our universities are developing qualifications for TVET lecturers.
The Department of Higher Education and Training is focusing more on improving performance management and professional development of TVET lecturers. To ensure lecturers are kept abreast with latest trends in industry, a project has been launched through the Education, Training and Development Practices SETA to place lecturers in industry.
This project was initiated in five TVET colleges and is expanding on an annual basis. The Department of Higher Education and Training has been running a campaign to encourage the recruitment by industry of TVET college graduates.
Students are assisted to obtain internships through Work Integrated Learning, which is done in collaboration with a number of SETAs. To align the work of TVET colleges with the needs of industry more directly - and to ensure that industry expertise and resources are being used in colleges - the Human Resource Development Council is piloting a TVET adoption programme.
This programme encourages companies and industry bodies to form adoption partnerships with TVET colleges to assist colleges to improve their training programmes. These adoption partnerships will assist in addressing challenges of poor administration, management, governance and infrastructure.
We expect that companies that adopt TVET colleges in areas near their operations will provide students with practical learning opportunities. They will also help to develop teaching-learning material and build the institutional management capacity of TVET colleges.
These colleges will then have a greater chance of producing graduates that have the relevant skills that the labour market will be able to absorb. We call on companies across all sectors of the economy to see TVET colleges as a source of well-trained graduates. TVET colleges are the institutions that will produce the employees of tomorrow.
They are critical to the growth of businesses and the further development of key sectors of the economy. It is essential therefore that we work together - government, business and other stakeholders - to improve the scale, quality and relevance of our TVET college system.
I thank you.
Circulated to: ALL MEDIA
ATTENTION: NEWS EDITORS/POLITICAL CORRESPONDENTS
FROM: RONNIE MAMOEPA
DATE: 12 AUGUST 2015
