Inspiring bright futures at the College of Cape Town
TECHNICAL and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, previously known as FET Colleges, are national competencies falling under the mandate of the Department of Higher Education and Training. Over the past decade, the TVET sector has been subject to restructuring programmes launched by the government. Today, TVET colleges offer courses in a wide variety of fields of study across both ministerial and occupational programmes, with a focus on giving students marketable and practical skills. The College of Cape Town is a TVET College that has been in existence for the past 17 years and has established itself as one of the top performing colleges in the country. The college is situated in the central area of the Peninsula, and serves the greater Cape Town area, including a large percentage of traditionally disadvantaged areas and townships.
Why choose the College of Cape Town?
Education is the key that unlocks the future of our youth, and for most part, their next priority will be gaining work exposure and ultimately finding stable employment. The success of our education system is less about how many passes it produces, and more about how many young adults are able to participate in the economy and labour market. A TVET college is a great choice with the system being designed to provide the skills our economy and labour market need. The College of Cape Town offers vocational and occupational training as an alternative to general education and training with courses that lead to recognised, accredited qualifications that are in high demand by commerce and industry. All eight of our campuses have well-equipped workshops, lecture rooms, computer rooms, studios for practical work and well-equipped media centres. The College of Cape Town also has 3 residences, all conveniently situated in close proximity to the respective campuses. Services in our Open Learning Centres include a library, computer and internet access, printing, faxing, photocopying and book-binding facilities. Student Support Services are available at all campuses and include services such as student counselling, career guidance, assistance with study skills, and peer education, to name a few.
Our ministerial course offerings
TVET colleges offer different types of career-focused vocational programmes designed specifically to prepare young people to enter the labour market or to become entrepreneurs who start and run their own businesses. Once people become active in the labour market, a range of other career opportunities open up. The College of Cape Town offers many training programmes, of which the Report 191 (commonly known as N Courses) and National Certificate Vocational (NCV) are state funded via the NSFAS bursary scheme. We take pride in our extensive range of part-time courses. Dedicated staff and specialists in the various programme offerings avail their time to ensure that we assist not only the full-time school leaving applicant but also those who can only study after normal operational hours. We also offer some distance learning programmes to equip those that are not in or around Cape Town and/or prefer a learning option that accommodates them in their personal homes or office.
Trades and occupational training
The recently launched Centres of Specialisation (CoS) is a national programme aimed at producing a skilled and capable workforce to support inclusive economic growth, increased availability of intermediate-level technical skills and delivery of qualified artisans in 13 priority trades. It works by a Dual System Apprenticeship model that combine technical education at a TVET college with simulated practical training and lots of authentic work experience in a single, integrated learning programme with employers in the driver’s seat. Apprentices rotate between the college and the company to which they are contracted – so that the ‘real world’ imperatives are built into their learning throughout their apprenticeship.
The College of Cape Town is well positioned for apprenticeship training having received the Centre of Specialisation status for Plumbing and Automotive Mechanic with excellent infrastructure, training resources and industry partnerships in place to deliver quality training. Other than the this, we offer variety of SETA-based skills programmes, learnerships and other apprenticeship training programmes, as well as trade testing in areas such as Electrical Infrastructure, Hospitality, Haircare and Jewellery.
Other niche areas of operations
The College of Cape Town has recently developed a state-of-the-art building for Early Childhood Development and Primary Health studies, as well as a fully functional modern Day Care Centre. The centre, a form of which has been run on the college’s Gardens campus for 24 years, is now open alongside the new building on the Crawford campus. The Day Care Centre caters to children from three months to five years of age. The centre is equipped with modern teaching facilities and observation rooms so that students can observe first-hand the learning activities in a well-run classroom.
In our efforts to remain at the cutting edge of vocational education internationally, the college participates in World Skills Competitions and we are pleased that our students are amongst those representing the Western Cape at the World Skills National Competition. The International Competition is really the “Olympic Games of Skills” with countries coming together to compete to see who is the best in the world.
In our efforts to develop sound partnerships with industry, the College of Cape Town has leveraged the power of work-based learning through its Power Partners Campaign. A prime example of this is its partnership with the Motor Industry Workshop Association (MIWA) and the Retail Motor Industry Organisation.
The partnership recently raised a sponsorship of HaynePro Software Licenses that enables students completing their studies in motor mechanics to have access to a wealth of technical information to become proficient in using the manual ahead of entering the workforce. There are several more examples of active partnerships, local and international that serves to benefit our students. Furthermore, the college enjoys a very sound relationship with local government and has several initiatives that are supported by the Department of Economic Development and Tourism in the Western Cape (DEDAT). Examples include Skills Development Programmes, Work Integrated Learning, Apprenticeship Game Changer activities and driving the shared Digital Agenda in the region.
The College of Cape Town’s vision for the future is to be a progressive TVET leader, and thus the preferred provider of Education and Training in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training sector in the country.