Business Day
*Seta billions must pay for FET colleges --- Nzimande* *Karl Gernetzky, Business Day, Johannesburg, 2 August 2012*THE billions of rand allocated to sector education and training authorities (Setas) must be diverted from private service training providers to further education and training (FET) colleges, says Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande.
Since 2000, Setas had collected R37.5bn from employers through the skills levy, to spend on training workers.
Setas and FET colleges have both been criticised by employers and the government for poor cost effectiveness and low outcomes.
This money "could have changed the world", if it had been spent properly, Mr Nzimande said yesterday at a briefing where he announced that R2.5bn from the National Skills Fund was to be invested in 50 public FET colleges. Mr Nzimande has been in conflict with the Seta system since he became higher education minister. He has accused many Seta boards and managements of enriching themselves, and said the quality of skills training provided by some private service providers bordered on "criminality".
FET colleges themselves have clammed up about their pass rate, after they had reached a dismal low of 12% five years ago.
Higher education director-general Gwebinkundla Qonde said yesterday pass rates had improved since then, and the department was confident 50% of students would pass in key programmes by 2014.
Mr Nzimande yesterday questioned why Setas relied on private service training providers, and why some public FET college courses failed to provide training for scarce skills only available at expensive private institutions.
Setas should now prioritise public FET colleges to provide skills development, which would capacitate the sector, he said.
The department had a "stick" to ensure this happened --- Setas had agreements with it that a proportion of funds they received would go to public FET colleges, and this goal was now included in their strategic plans.
A lack of compliance would be picked up during annual audits, and result in "punitive action", Mr Nzimande said.
The department wants a sevenfold growth in the FET sector, to 4-million students by 2030, and a doubling of student numbers at universities.
Martin Prew, director of the Centre for Education Policy Development, said while the vast pool of National Skills Fund money available could "very quickly" capacitate the FET sector, it was characterised by weak management and poor financial controls.
The key question was whether the college managements were capable of using the additional funds to capacitate themselves and provide the skills training as contracted by the Setas, he said.
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