WeeklySA_AdminFUTURE: Research findings to enable youth to cope with global technological innovation…
By Isaac Moledi
The International Youth Foundation (IYF) says it has handed over a game-changing roadmap to the Department of Higher Education (DHET) detailing the way forward in strengthening digital and IT in the PSET (PostSchool Education and Training) System in South Africa.
The roadmap, which was developed after months of meticulous research, identifies new models of how the IYF can further scale its influence in developing IT skills in the country and, more importantly, create more feasible job opportunities for students in the sector.
Funded by the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation (MSDF), the research will be imperative in providing DHET with viable solutions for expanding, strengthening and streamlining digital and IT education and funding in the PSET System.
IYF SA Country director, Anusha Naicker, highlighted how the research findings would allow the country’s PSET Systems and students to keep up with the accelerated speed of global technological innovation, providing them with the opportunity for more meaningful and sustainable employment in the sector.
The research, conducted by JET Education Services under the direction of the IYF, was officially handed over by Naicker to DHET’s Chief Director of TVET Programmes and Qualifications, Aruna Singh early this year.
Singh made the important distinction that 4IR is more than just technology-driven change, but an opportunity to help everyone, including leaders, policy-makers and people from all income groups and nations. Speaking on the significance of the research conducted, Singh reaffirmed that it is integral to understand that the digital revolution is intrinsically connected to unemployment, education and job creation in South Africa.
DHET Deputy Minister, David Modiba, noted the knock-on effect the implementation of this research could have, highlighting how a strengthened ICT sector would undoubtedly benefit South Africa’s economy, positioning the country as a competitive force in the industry.
Modiba says the IYF has worked closely with TVETs and other tertiary institutions for many years, and this is just another important step in the foundation’s quest to strengthen the PSET system and create more sustainable avenues of employment for graduates. Most notably, the IYF’s “Skills for Success” programme, in collaboration with Google.org, is giving students across Africa the opportunity to complete the internationally recognised Google Professional Career Certificates. Singh highlighted the efficacy of this project noting that since the project’s inception in 2021, over 600 students have successfully graduated with about 70% of graduates securing employment.
According to Naicker, the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is not a constant project. Instead, it is constantly evolving. At the rate of global technological and digital development, the overall employment landscape is set to change drastically year by year.
According to the World Economic Forum, 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in completely new jobs that do not exist yet. The research handed over not only outlines a practical way forward, but prepares the existing landscape for continued radical change in the ICT sector.
Naicker says while MICT SETA (the Media, Information and Communication Technologies Sector Education and Training Authority) already plays a pivotal role in funding 4IR initiatives, the new roadmap details how the IYF, DHET and TVETs can better leverage off the entity’s funding processes in order to ensure financial feasibility for both students and the colleges themselves.
In the months following the handover, IYF and its partners are already in the process of securing funding to execute the models suggested and value the continued support of SETAs in ensuring the model becomes a reality.
Prior to the handover, JET Education Services CEO, Dr. James Keevy, thanked the IYF for its initiative and praised the foundation’s contribution to positively shaping the future of South Africa’s PSET system and subsequently, the prosperous evolution of the country’s ICT sector.
Ultimately, the research conducted will allow the IYF to better leverage its existing partnerships, secure mutually aligned collaborators, and action the necessary logistical and economic processes that will contribute to strengthening South Africa’s digital and IT sector.
DEPARTMENT SPEARHEADS MAJOR DRIVE TO ELIMINATE POVERTY AND INEQUALITY
DEVELOPMENT: Plans to build more colleges to increase enrolment of students…
By WSAM reporter
South Africa’s higher education departmenthas revealed what is being done to ensure that more students access higher education.
According to the department, more students must enrol in programmes at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and universities if the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) is to meet its goals set in the National Development Plan (NDP).
The NDP seeks to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality in South Africa by 2030. To achieve the goals set out in the NDP, different sectors have targets to create the critical capabilities needed to transform the country’s economy and society.
According to the NDP, South Africa must have further and higher education and training that enable people to fulfil their potential.
This higher education sector must be able to contribute to rising incomes, higher productivity and the shift to a more knowledge-intensive economy. The DHET says it will implement several strategies to achieve the goals set out in the NDP.
These includes expanding access to higher education, increasing enrolment at institutions, improving the success and efficiency of programs offered at institutions and expanding infrastructure at institutions as well as building new infrastructure.
Goals set out in the NDP require the DHET to strengthen and expand the number of TVET colleges to increase the participation rate to 25% and increase the graduation rate of TVET colleges to 75%.
In this regard, the department says eight TVET college campuses will be built over the next Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to ensure they can increase enrolments. This includes building two campuses, the uMfolozi campus and uMgungundlovu-Greytown campus, over the next twelve months, the Careers Portal quoted the department as saying.
Work is also being done with Durban University of Technology to complete an engineering building as part of the Imbali Precinct Project.
The pilot project explores an alternate modality of education delivery based on multiple institutional cooperation and closer articulation.“The DHET wants to increase the enrolment at TVET colleges from 520,000 enrolments in 2023/2024 to 640,000 enrolments in 2025/2026.
They also want to increase the number of students receiving funding from NSFAS to 420,000 in 2025 from 346,258 funded students in 2023.” Emphasis will be placed on increasing the number of qualified artisans and increasing the number of learners who complete learnerships.
The department described the learnership as a type of work-based training programme that combines classroom learning with practical on-the-job training. It provides students with the necessary skills and knowledge to perform a specific job or function.Additionally, the department will look to ensure that 6,000 students participate in work-integrated learning (WIL) to gain experience in the practical application of the work they completed at college.
The department will also look to increase the number of learners who complete skills programmes by 25,000 learners to 130,960 in 2025 from the 105,000 learners who are completing skills programmes in 2023.
The department says it is aiming to increase the number of students completing university with a qualification from 232,000 in 2023/20424 to 249,509 graduates in 2025/2026. This includes increasing the number of engineering graduates, initial teaching education graduates, Master’s graduates and Doctoral graduates.Progress is being made regarding the development of concept designs for the construction of two new universities in Ekurhuleni and Hammanskraal.
The department will also implement nine projects for the provision of 28,000 student beds by 2025/2026.-Additional information by Careers Portal.
