Cape Town – Steady progress is being made to fix the Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, the Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande said today, outlining several initiatives to improve governance, infrastructure and ultimately the pass rate at FET colleges.
Presenting his Budget Vote Speech today, Nzimande also announced new measures to ensure that training carried out by the Sector Education Training Authorities (Setas) is more focused on skills necessary for the workplace and employability of school leavers and graduates.
The pass rate for FET colleges has increased dramatically in recent years – from just nine percent in 2009 to 45% in 2012 on the back of a number of interventions department has made in FET colleges, including governance support and increased student funding.
The number of FET students on student financial aid has increased more than threefold between 2010 and this year – from 61 700 to 222 800 students, with funding increasing sixfold – from R318 million to R2 billion over the same period.
Over the same period, the number of university students on financial aid has also increased – by 40%, from 148 300 to 210 000 students, with funding growing from R2.2 billion to R3.7 billion.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme had assisted 1.4 million students since 1991, said Nzimande.
While students at FET colleges are given a full bursary, those on financial aid at universities must repay loans.
However, two years ago the department mandated that those students on student-aid that passed their final year would not have to pay back the portion of the loan that covered their final year.
The intervention aims to get more students to complete their degrees, as just 29%, or fewer than one in three students that start university degrees graduate. This however increases to a student through-put rate of 36% for four-year degrees.
Because of the higher through-put rate for four-year degrees, the department is considering making all degrees a compulsory of four years.
However, Nzimande revealed today that the number of teacher graduates had increased from 6 000 graduates in 2008 to 10 361 in 2011 – most of the increase was in maths and science teachers.
The growth in student funding has helped FET college enrolment to increase by 90% between 2010 and 2012 – from 345 566 to 657 690 students.
This, while university enrolments increased by 12% over the same period – from 837 779 to 938 200.
A central application clearing house mechanism – which forms the first part of a move to set up a central application system for learners to gain entrance into tertiary study was set up at the start of the current academic year.
As part of the 2012 FET College Turnaround Strategy to improve governance at FET colleges, Nzimande said 48 chartered accountants had been appointed, with the help of the SA Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica), as chief financial officers for FET colleges.
Added to this 20 human resource (HR) specialists had been recruited by the department to help FET colleges to set up effective HR management systems.
Referring to the notice he published in the government gazette earlier this year, which on April 1 transferred authority over management staff from FET colleges, from the provincial departments of education to his department, Nzimande said the various involved parties would now finalise collective agreements that will help guide staff.
To improve the FET curriculum and ensure that it is more relevant for employment, the department has set up a partnership with the Engineering Council of South Africa.
The department is also developing FET college-based maths and science foundation programmes that will assist students to take up studies in the fields of engineering, science and technology.
Work on the construction of 12 new FET college campuses and the renovation of two existing campuses will start soon.
The renovated and new campuses will expand FET college capacity by a further 28 000 students, with the first intake expected in 2014.
The construction forms part of the first phase of Strategic Infrastructure Project (SIP) which focuses on the rollout of new college and university infrastructure.
The infrastructure grant to universities, which will help fund new buildings as well as infrastructure backlogs, has been increased from R3.8 billion to R6 billion for the 2012/13 to 2014/15 period.
A further R2 billion to be invested by tertiary institutions will bring the amount to be invested in infrastructure development over three years, to R8 billion.
The two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, which are expected to open in 2014, will be established as legal entities in the next month, with construction to start in September.
Both universities will open their doors in 2014 in selected academic programmes, using existing buildings.
"We will be having architectural competitions for the design of the main facilities and launching these sites for construction from September this year," the minister said.
Nzimande said over R1.6 billion has been allocated for universities to build and refurbish student residences – with 86% of the funding allocated to historically disadvantaged institutions and campuses.
The department is also reforming the skills development system to ensure that employers in partnership with learning institutions carry out more technical and artisan training.
A recent study by the department revealed that just five percent of Seta funds were spent on training that resulted in those being trained gaining degrees, certificates or diplomas other qualifications.
The department’s new Seta regulations, which came into effect on April 1, require Setas to target funding towards structured workplace learning and experience and promote partnerships between education and training institutions and employers.
The government has long come under fire over the billions of rands that lie unallocated in the National Skills Fund.
But Nzimande said for the first time ever the fund’s disbursements were on par with those of the fund’s annual income, adding that all of its R7 billion in reserves have been earmarked for specific skills development projects.
Speaking at a media briefing before his budget vote, Nzimande believed that the Seta system is improving and that co-operation between the department, FET colleges and universities of technology had grown.
He said the Seta mandatory grants had resulted in huge wastage with a huge industry of consultants having being created which have added to the cost of training, while many businesses had also lodged false claims on training.
The department wants to reduce the reliance of training carried out through mandatory grant funding and increase the amount spent on discretionary grant funding.
Setas pay out mandatory grant funding, which is drawn from employers’ skills development levies contributions, to employers that can prove that they have carried out workplace training.
Employers must apply specifically for discretionary grant funding, which is made up from surplus skills development levies not claimed by companies through mandatory grant funding.
The department had since reduced the amount that businesses paying skills development levies and that spent on training could claim back in the form of a mandatory grant – cutting this from 50% to 20%.
Employers that trained staff could once claim back up to 70% of their mandatory grants.
Nzimande said his department would in the next few months release a White Paper on Post-School Education and Training, which will focus on post-school education and training opportunities to improve the youth’s employability.– SAnews.gov.za
