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Department of Education. Briefing to the Portfolio Committee FET COLLEGES 4 February 2009. Interventions in FET Colleges. Infrastructural development Enrolment in scarce skills Roll out of the FET college bursary scheme through NSFAS
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Department of Education Briefing to the Portfolio Committee FET COLLEGES 4 February 2009
Interventions in FET Colleges • Infrastructural development • Enrolment in scarce skills • Roll out of the FET college bursary scheme through NSFAS • Reskilling of college lecturers to support the delivery of the new programmes
Socio-economiccontext, 2005 • To define the role of FET colleges in meeting the Government targets of: • Reduction of unemployment • Increasing GDP growth • Poverty reduction
2005: FET Sector challenges • Poor co-ordination of the FET College sector • Poor public perception and lack of sector identity • Poor student access and low student participation rates in vocational programmes • Poor quality programmes and qualifications • Low graduation and throughput rates arising out of high failure rates and low retention rates • Low technical and cognitive skills of graduates • Lack of relevance and responsiveness to the needs of the economy • Dearth of managerial skills and capacity • Low funding of the FET college sector • Absence of an effective management information system to inform decision-making • Lack of understanding of vocational education • Shortage of suitably qualified lecturers to drive vocational education
Infrastructural Development • A R1,9 billion re-cap allocation • R1,86 billion for transfer to provinces over three years • R0,35 billion for the DoE to prepare for the implementation of the grant • R0,15 billion over three years for further development work, monitoring and support for the implementation of the re-cap grant
Strategic areas of the RE-cap Grant • Re-skilling staff to offer responsive programmes • Upgrading physical infrastructure to offer vocational programmes • Providing suitable equipment to support programme delivery • Providing support for the development of modern vocational programmes • Establishing student support services units • Establishing connectivity of 50 FET Colleges to improve communications, information management and curriculum delivery. • Buying or building of new classrooms, laboratories, offices etc.
Further achievements • Development of policies and legislation • FET Colleges Act, 2006 • National Plan on FET Colleges, 2008 • Student Support Services Framework, 2007 • Draft National Lecturer Development Framework • Draft Funding Norms and Standards for FET Colleges • Establishment of a HEDCOM sub-committee of FET colleges
Challenges that persist • Under-funding of the sector • Expansion and use of ICT in colleges • Lack of a uniform management information system • Training, recruitment and retention of lecturers • Increasing student participation • Increasing graduation and throughput rates • Finalisation of the implementation of the FET Colleges Act, 2009
Enrolment in scarce skills programmes, 2007-2009 • In 2007, 25073 students were enrolled on the NC(V) programmes • In 2008, this figure was almost tripled to 61 320 students (51 173 for Level 2 and 10 147 for Level 3 • The projected figure for 2009, subject to confirmation by provinces on 19 February is 120 230.
Roll-out of the FET College Bursary • In terms of The Further Education and Training College Act, 2006 public FET colleges may raise revenue through the charging of college fees. • College fees are fees charged to students by public FET colleges to cover the portion of the training cost not covered by formula funding of programmes.
Roll-out of the FET College Bursary • However, the net effect of this structuring should be that the total planned income from college fees should be more or less equal to 20% of the total programme costs.
Roll-out of the FET College Bursary • R600 million allocated for FET Colleges Financial Aid Scheme – over 3 years • 2007 = R100 million • 2008 = R200 million • 2009 = R300 million • To ensure that an inability to pay college fees does not constitute a barrier to academically capable students’ access to a programme at a public FET college. • Part of Government strategy for alleviating the impact of poverty
Conditions for awarding bursaries • College bursaries based on approved NC(V) programmes & student enrolments • College to allocate a dedicated staff member to administer the scheme – student support officer recommended • Awarding of bursaries to be based on Means Test – evidence thereof required • Approved & signed bursary agreements required
Role of Colleges • Advertise the DoE FET College Bursary Scheme to students. • Accept and process applications from students. • Colleges to nominate a dedicated staff member for the administration of bursaries – student support officer/s recommended • Colleges to set up a Bursary Committee (Financial Aid Committee): • management; • student support; • student administration; • finance; and • student representative council (SRC).
Monitoring & Support • DoE, PDE & NSFAS – monitoring & support • DoE provides annual training of provincial and college student support services officials and lecturers • Colleges submit reports to DoE, PDE & NSFAS • NSFAS – regular audit
Challenges • Great demand versus funding • Different levels of infrastructure development to support the administration of the bursary • Demand by colleges of registration fee before a student is admitted
Lecturer training • The aim of lecturer training was to enable lecturers to efficiently support the delivery of the NC(V) programmes • The training therefore focused on: • Teaching and assessment • Curriculum content, Integrated Summative Assessment Tasks • Remedial Teaching for Maths and Maths Lit.
