 Nzimande wants Setas to link students to employers Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said on Thursday that limited access to workplace experience had left thousands of students from universities of technology and Further Education Training (FET) colleges unable to qualify. He said that the Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) would be placed at the forefront of overcoming these gaps, as they had in-depth knowledge of the labour market and employers in their sectors. The Minister said that the new Seta landscape and the implementation of an overarching strategy for all the institutions falling under the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) would facilitate such action. The DHET had restructured the Seta landscape reducing the number of institutions from 23 to 21, while also proposing alternative governance and management structures, which was opposed by the Services Seta. The DHET wants Setas to have one standard constitution, smaller boards, allow the Minister to participate in the selection of board members and to include two Ministerial appointees to the board. Nzimande said that the DHET was developing ways in which the work and the resources of institutions could be brought together to benefit the entire system. “This vision will be elaborated in a Green Paper that my department will be publishing soon for public comment.” The Minister said that education was a top government priority, accounting for 19,4% of the total national budget for 2011/12. The department received R37,4-billion of which R9,1-billion was a direct charge against the national revenue fund and allocated to the Setas and the National Skills Fund. “Our department’s goals are firmly located within the overall objectives of prioritising job creation, and within the framework of the New Growth Path, the Industrial Policy Action Plan II and the Human Resources Development Strategy,” he added. -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
