Big change coming to how SA measures skills programmes
CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s skills programmes will increasingly be judged by whether learners actually find work, continue studying or start businesses, as Higher Education Minister Buti Manamela pushes government to stop treating enrolment numbers as proof that public training programmes are succeeding.
Appearing before Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Manamela said government needs to follow learners beyond the point at which they enter programmes and establish what happens to them afterwards.
A person appearing on an enrolment register cannot automatically be counted as someone who completed a programme, obtained a qualification or entered employment, he said. The shift could change how government assesses the performance of SETAs, the National Skills Fund and Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges.
The approach forms part of government’s proposed Skills Revolution, which seeks to reorganise skills development around measurable employment, productivity and economic outcomes rather than the amount of training funded.
Manamela has previously said SETAs should move beyond operating largely as grant-disbursing and bursary institutions and become more closely connected to employers and actual skills shortages. Their performance would increasingly be measured against workplace learning, employment opportunities and their ability to address skills gaps.
The change is significant because South Africa spends public money across a large network of SETAs, the National Skills Fund, TVET colleges and other post-school programmes while continuing to struggle with high unemployment and difficulties moving young people from education into sustainable work.
Government’s own mid-term evaluation of the National Youth Policy recently found that although progress had been made in education, skills development and youth employment programmes, weaknesses in implementation, coordination, funding and accountability continued to limit outcomes.
Manamela said the National Skills Fund would also need stronger project oversight and verified delivery, while SETA reforms should improve grant management, employer participation and the ability to track learners through programmes.
TVET colleges would be expected to connect relevant courses with capable lecturers, suitable facilities and workplace opportunities. Universities, meanwhile, face pressure to maintain access and quality while dealing with financial and governance problems.
The same results-based approach is being applied to NSFAS.
Manamela said preparations for the next academic year should be measured against whether students receive correct funding decisions, registration systems work, accommodation is safe and allowances are paid on time. Problems should be identified before students are left carrying the consequences of administrative failures.
He also wants greater clarity over irregular expenditure. A reduction in the amount appearing on an irregular expenditure register does not necessarily mean money has been recovered or the underlying problem has been fixed.
Future reporting should distinguish between money actually recovered, investigations, referrals, authorised write-offs and other accounting adjustments, with consequences where wrongdoing is established.
The broader change is therefore not simply about funding more training. Government wants to establish whether the money already being spent produces qualifications, employment, businesses and improved livelihoods.
For thousands of South Africans entering publicly funded training programmes every year, that would mean success is no longer recorded when their name appears on an enrolment list, but by where that training eventually takes them.
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