Ehlanzeni TVET College Historical Background
Ehlanzeni TVET College Historical Background – See Details Below:
Technical and Vocational Education and Training at Colleges is broadly defined in terms of programmes at levels 2 – 4 on the NQF and is located “at the intersection of General and Higher Education and the world of work” (White Paper 4) and in terms of the law the colleges are intended “To enable students to acquire knowledge, practical skills, and applied vocational and occupational competence, in order to enter employment, a vocation, occupation or trade; or higher education.”
While the focus of TVET Colleges must remain on the core vocational and occupational training role and identity of colleges, national plans for the college sector must also find ways to address the enormous social challenge of providing opportunities for young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs).
The need to find systemic ways of increasing the scale of provisioning of programmes that support income generation and access to sustainable livelihoods in a systematic manner, including workplace exposure for NEET youth to ensure that they access experiential learning is not only a responsibility but an obligation!
The unemployed represents an important target group for the National Skills Development Strategy and the National Development Plan and therefore for TVET Colleges. It is vital that the skills of unemployed youth be upgraded in order to facilitate their transition into active employment and life-long learning and to grow the skills pool from which employers can recruit. It is our responsibility to contribute to this goal, else we are not fulfilling our mandate as a public college.
The single greatest impediment that inhibits investment, job creation and economic growth in South Africa is the shortage of relevant skills
To address the above, it is crucial that government and its educational institutions assume responsibility to assist and support communities trapped in the Second Economy to gain access into the economic mainstream.
Ehlanzeni College offers a variety of vocational and occupational programmes, i.e
- National Certificate Vocational NC(V) levels 2 – 4 which includes theory, simulated practical training and work exposure (each level is a one year programme with a national certificate at the end of each year)
- Report 191 (NATED) programmes (semester and trimester)
- Occupational Programmes (Learnerships, skills programmes and QCTO qualifications)
Accreditation
The programmes presented at Ehlanzeni TVET College are accredited by the following Quality Councils:
1.Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (UMALUSI) for the National Certificate Vocational (NCV) and Report 191 (N1 – N3)
2.The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO)/ Sector Education & Training Authorities(SETAs) for Report 191 N4 – N6, Learnerships, Skills Programmes and National Certificates for occupational programmes.
The strategic priority focus areas for the Department of Higher Education (DHET) are:
- Growth and expansion of access and articulation opportunities for the youth.
- Improvement of academic quality and success, i.e. improving certification, throughput and retention rates.
- Establishing partnerships and linkages with industry, sector education and training authorities (SETAs) and/or other professional bodies and/or institutions of Higher Education for articulation into the labour market and/or further and higher learning opportunities.
- Support system efficiency and functionality.
- Sound institutional governance, management and leadership.
- Monitoring and evaluation and reporting of college performance; and Growth and expansion of artisan development opportunities.
Based on the strategic focus areas of DHET, the mandate of a TVET College is to:
- Form partnerships with Business, Industry, NGOs and Government Departments to support the curriculum and to provide work placement opportunities to students during student and to graduates after completion of studies.
- Become actively involved in realising government’s objectives of reducing unemployment by offering programmes that are relevant and responsive to National, Regional, Economic and Social needs.
- Participate in the implementation of the National Skills Development Strategy, National Development Plan and other national strategies.
- Contribute towards the alleviation of poverty and reduction of the unemployment rate through the delivery of quality responsive programmes and skills development initiatives with a special focus on artisan development.