HRDC Summit 2018
The Third HRDC Summit was held in Johannesburg on 10 and 11 May 2018. One of the discussions at the summit looked at how Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges and universities should look at infusing entrepreneurship into curricula to help produce graduates who are ready to start their own businesses.
Not long after the summit, Higher Education and Training Minister Naledi Pandor said that while the council is doing amazing work in the short to medium term to link students in institutions of higher learning and training to, for example, learnership opportunities in specific industries, more needs to be done to not only help young people to be work-ready, but for them to be creators of decent work.
In the interview at her parliamentary office in Cape Town, Pandor reimagined institutions of higher learning as offering entrepreneurship with all courses, a move that would see young graduates establishing start-ups that could reshape the future of the country.
The Minister said this could be the most effective and practical way to reduce concentration in the economy by dismantling monopolies to make way for a more inclusive small-business sector.
“For me this is key. I want young people not just to talk about ‘I am going to get a job’, but about ‘I want to create my own business’.
“And I would like each college programme to have entrepreneurship as one of the courses, so that young people, as they leave the university or college, are actually able to say ‘you know what? I have been taught fashion design; I am going to work for myself. I will establish my own design studio and I am going to have a thriving business producing tailored and designed outfits for my clients,” the Minister said.
The Minister’s words come at a time when unemployment among young graduates remains a concern.
The Minister said entrepreneurship is the way to go because South Africa needs to grow small- and mediumsized businesses to “fuel” the country’s economy.
How HRDC is shaping “niche” TVET colleges
One of the initiatives being driven by the HRDC is the Adopt-a-TVET College initiative, which ensures that the curricula match the needs of the industry.
In the main, there is a need for the HRDC and the industry to contribute in building colleges of excellence that will enable them to supply a top-notch, relevant skillset linked to specific sectors.
Pandor says through its recent research, the HRDC is doing exactly that.
“[We are] building on the research that the HRDC has done, which has begun to help us identify occupational skills where we still do not have focal areas in our institutions and encouraging this notion that actually can do very well through a niche area.
“That rather than try to be a college that offers public administration, secretarial courses and legal services, develop a focus,” she said.
The Minister said that it would be best for colleges to specialise in specific fields of study and be known for producing the best skillset in the country. For example, one college could focus on law and produce some of the country’s top legal minds, while another could solely focus on mechanical engineering or aviation.
“I believe that, in future, this selection in discipline or occupational and professional skills – specialisation as we are calling it – is going to be the way that colleges are going to structure themselves in the future.
“We want to have to have diversity. I don’t want all our colleges to do the same thing.”
“I said to them there are areas in the country where tourism is a very important economic contributor and, as our colleges develop a focus on tourism, I want them to understand that tourism is much more than being a receptionist at a hotel or being a waitron at a restaurant,” she said.
How the HRDC has fared in its focus areas
In 2010, the HRDC adopted a five-point implementation plan to address key areas that would help South Africa improve on challenges of poor skills.
These included:
• Strengthening access to and quality of education at TVET colleges.
• Producing artisans.
• Producing a new generation of academics and creating stronger industry partnerships.
• Strengthening of foundational learning.
• Revitalising worker education.
In a response to parliamentary questions last year, President Cyril Ramaphosa (in his former capacity as the chair of the HRDC while he was still the Deputy President) said that in terms of access to TVET colleges, government has seen a substantial increase in enrolments.
He said at the time that there had been an increased focus in addressing issues such as curriculum relevance, staffing and student success, and noted the role of
Skills Education Training Authorities (SETAs) in supporting workplace linkages.
On efforts to support and train artisans, the target for the period 2011 to 2015 was 65 110 and the target was exceeded by more than 5 000.
President Ramaphosa also said that an independent study conducted in 2016 found that 79 percent of newly qualified artisans found employment. The study further indicated that 58 percent find permanent employment, with 23 percent in less stable contract or temporary jobs. Furthermore, 56.5 percent find jobs easily.
Partnership revitalising work and learning
The Third HRDC Summit was opened by its new chairperson, Deputy President David Mabuza.
The Deputy President said the summit, which sought to develop new networks and strengthen existing partnerships, would be remembered as a marketplace of innovative ideas about how social partners can implement programmes that will succeed in skilling young people and absorbing them in their millions in employment initiatives.
Minister Pandor said her predecessor Minister Blade Nzimande worked very hard to establish partnerships with the private sector and with industry. She said the department would continue to leverage on those partnerships and “expand them even further”.
One of the concerns, the Minister said, was young trainees being unable to complete their qualifications because they were unable to get practical experience in the workplace.
“HRDC helps with our conversations with industry, because within HRDC, you have the private sector present, you have civil society present, you have students, you have many government departments – and so we are able to articulate our need for partnerships to all of them”.
“South Africa has a mandate from National Development Plan to increase the number of artisans in our country exponentially.”
“We cannot do it without partners; it is just going to be impossible,” she said.
CONTACT DETAILS: Address: 6 Floor Ndinaye House, 178 Francis Baard Street, Pretoria 0001 MS LINEO RAMATABOE Phone: +27 (0)12 943 3188
Email: Ramataboe.l@dhet.gov.za
MR LESLEY MAKHUBELE Phone: +27 (0)12 943 3175
Email: Makhubele.L@dhet.gov.za
Website: hrdcsa.org.za