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Opportunity Issue 104

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Opportunity magazine is a niche business-to-business publication that explores various investment opportunities within Southern Africa’s economic sectors. The publication is endorsed by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI).

SKILLS TRAINING SETAs

SKILLS TRAINING SETAs and TVET colleges must up their game in support of work placement Extract from the welcoming address to the WorldSkills South Africa (WSZA) National Competition, held in eThekwini in 2022, by Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande. It is with great pleasure that we are hosting our 4th WorldSkills South Africa (WSZA) National Competition, this time together with a Conference and Career Festival 2022 under the theme: “Ratcheting up the Production of 21st Century Artisans”. Ratcheting means the process of taking irreversible steps in a particular direction. The direction is the gradual and systematic rejuvenation of the apprenticeship system. The focus is now on implementing and scaling up “The National Apprenticeship and Artisan Development Strategy 2030” with a view to produce artisans fit for the future as well as the 4th Industrial Revolution. As South Africa we are, in many respects, fortunate to have a youthful nation. However, the recent unemployment statistics on young people are a cause for concern. The 2020 fourth quarter Credit: College of Cape Town Labour Force Survey found that about 8.6-million young people aged between 15 and 34 years are not in education and not in employment (NEETs). At the heart of the challenge for post-school education and training (PSET) is to cater for these youth in our college system, with vocational education and training as the most important point of access. We are determined to grow the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector faster and to enable subsidy and infrastructure funding that can support its rapid studentenrolment growth. We now have taken a decision to fund skills programmes offered by our former Adult Education Centres, now known as Community Education Training (CET) colleges, to the tune of R200-million. Furthermore, in helping to draw more young people into the economy, government has, under the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention, initiated various youth development and empowerment initiatives to support young people. These range from formal education and training, learnerships and internships as well as support for youth entrepreneurship. Our initiatives provide the necessary support for young people to take on their challenges and succeed. I urge all students to look out for these opportunities, especially the Workplace-Based Learning opportunities as presented through our Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) in partnership with the private sector. This WorldSkills South Africa programme supports the "Decade of the Artisan" programme which we launched in 2014 after a very successful Year of the Artisan in 2013. We host WorldSkills Competitions in order to stimulate interest of learners, especially in our TVET sector. This will contribute towards alleviating skills shortages in South Africa, especially midlevel skills, as captured in our Occupations in High Demand, Critical Skills List and the Skills Strategy in support of the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. Further to this, this WorldSkills Competition provides a platform from which industry partnerships can be established. Critical to this partnership is the development of a co-leadership 46 | www.opportunityonline.co.za

SKILLS TRAINING model in curriculum development, standard setting and tradetest development. Government has already spent vast amounts of money to support our youth through the TVET system, and therefore it is important that we assist them to transition to the workplace through appropriate placements. To this extent, we have, among others, established partnerships with: • Japan/Toyota on automotive industry training • Germans on the dual system • UK to address youth unemployment • Huawei on ICT skills academies in 22 TVET colleges • SAMDRA on repair and maintenance of mobile devices. These agreements include the provision of training for both TVET college students as well as to give workplace exposure to TVET college lecturers so that they teach and train in what is currently needed by industry. Workplace availability One of the challenges facing our artisan-training system and the apprenticeship system is the insufficient workplace-based learning spaces and opportunities for apprentices. Workplace availability is the backbone upon which our apprenticeship and artisanal training system is built. It therefore follows that much advocacy work and engagements are required with industry in order to ensure that a conducive environment is established for the development of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to implement apprenticeships and other required training programmes. We expect the SETAs to up their game in supporting work placement of college students and other trainees. In fact, private training providers in the SETA system must be expected to also arrange work placement for trainees. Without such work placement we have no vocational or skills-development system. Employers are critical in our artisan development as they should also be in a position to advise our colleges around the curriculum. We need to come up with even more creative solutions on how to incentivise and partner with employers and industry to support skills development. As we plan massifying the enrolments and building of more infrastructure in our TVET sector, our colleges should therefore implement quality industry-driven curricula by engaging the employers with the purpose of strengthening and improving the curriculum so that students can be directed on the right path. We have now also incorporated into our plans that all college principals must have in their performance agreements with the department the issue of work placement and partnership with industry. Any college principal who does not promote work placement has no place in our TVET college system! As we near the end of what has been a successful Decade of the Artisan Programme and the 10th Anniversary of the White Paper for Post School Education and Training, we need to escalate artisan training and deepen partnership with employers and industry. THE LINK BETWEEN GRADUATES AND EMPLOYERS Gradlinc is a one-stop-shop graduate marketplace for employers who are looking to hire graduates as part of their team; and career centres needing a career development platform and resource support. Gradlinc is a locally developed solution that offers a talent pool of verified and eligible candidates that can be matched according to the specific job requirements and needs of your company, saving you time and money. Affordable solution Flexible for time & budget Advanced matching model User-friendly interface JOIN NOW OR PARTNER WITH US TO - Contribute to our knowledge hub for candidates, - Offer bursaries, - Offer your courses and/or - Job shadowing on our platform, - Offer entrepreneurship guidance or other opportunities. www.gradlinc.co.za Contact us on email: info@gradlinc.co.za or call us on +27 21 137 1744

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