City Press reports that enrolments at the government’s 50 technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges have seemingly plummeted this year.
In adjusted estimates of expenditure released last week, the higher education vote shows that TVET college enrolments stood at 580,719 at the end of September. Last year at the end of August, this figure had already been 614,358 a month. On a “full-time equivalent” basis, the colleges have done even worse, demonstrating that the enrolments achieved include too many short- or part-time courses. The number of artisan learners and “work-based learning opportunities” also fell. The policy statement simply notes that college enrolment targets are “unlikely to be achieved by the end of 2016/17”, pointing to a crisis for Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande’s plans to have the universities unseated as the core of the post-school system.
- Read this report by Dewald Van Rensburg in full at City Press
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