Eastern Cape Business 2017 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
TVET
The Eastern Cape has eight Technical and Vocational
Education Training (TVET) colleges, most of which
have more than one campus: Buffalo City, Port
Elizabeth, Lovedale, King Hintsa, Ingwe, King Sabata
Dalinyebo, Ikhala and Eastcape Midlands College. King
Sabata Dalinyebo offers business and engineering
studies among its formal programmes, and short
courses in bricklaying and computer studies.
Over 20 000 students are enrolled at this level in the
province. The Eastcape Midlands TVET College has five
sites: in Graaff-Reinet and Grahamstown and three in
Uitenhage, where students can study Business Studies,
Electrical Engineering, ICT and Computer Science
and Mechanical Engineering. The other campuses
specialise in Business Studies.
Lovedale Public TVET College serves the community
through three campuses at King William’s Town,
Alice and Zwelitsha, near King William’s Town. The
programmes of each campus reflect the economic
priorities of that region. In Alice, the focus is on agriculture,
King William’s Town offers business diplomas,
while engineering is available to students at the
Zwelitsha facility.
Buffalo City TVET College, with two large campuses
in East London and Mdantsane, specialises in Business
and Engineering for full-time studies, but offers a wide
range of part-time courses as well. The college’s School
of Occupational Training is located at St Marks Road.
The provincial government has committed a sum
of R1.5-billion over five years to aligning TVET colleges
more closely with the needs of the local economy
through learnerships.
Auto skills
• The Mercedes-Benz Learning Academy in East
London has MerSETA accreditation. A R130-million
agreement between Mercedes-Benz and the Jobs
Fund (run by National Treasury) has set high goals
for the academy in tackling skills shortages, and not
just for the auto-manufacturer.
• Another Jobs Fund initiative is putting 135 unemployed
engineers to work over three years, in partnership
with the Automotive Industry Development
Centre Eastern Cape (AIDC EC) and its members.
• Tyre manufacturer Goodyear has an engineering
training facility in Uitenhage, with a focus on the
training of instrument technicians.
• The Uitenhage Despatch Development Initiative
(UDDI) is working with Filpro in offering township
mechanics a two-year Informal Automotive Service
Centres Development Programme. The first group
of 106 trainees include generalist mechanics, tyre
repairers and panel beaters from KwaNobuhle,
Khayamnandi and KwaLanga. Filpro is largely funded
by GUD Filters and promotes entrepreneurship in
the automotive industry.
• Volkswagen’s Commercial Trainee programme has
been running for 15 years. Students with a nontechnical
qualification are exposed to practical experience
in departments such as Finance, Logistics,
Purchasing and Human Resources. Volkswagen
has five learning academies in Uitenhage. Open to
employees and to suppliers, the academies’ programmes
are SETA-accredited. and offer a range
of courses available through workshops, exercises,
e-learning or on-the-job-training.
Other developments
The South African National Roads Agency Limited
(SANRAL) has opened an engineering materials laboratory
to test materials for use on roads in the Eastern
Cape, which will also be used to give graduate engineers
experience. This will form part of SANRAL’s
experiential learning programme.
Meroe Skills Development was the service provider
used by SANRAL when it put 20 contractors through a
programme to train them to make dolosse (concrete
blocks to mitigate wave action on the coast). The venue
for the training was the Heartlight Community Learning
Centre in Walmer, Port Elizabeth.
Premier Hotels trains chefs and hotel managers
through its Academic College SA. Professional Cookery
and Beverage Management are among the diplomas.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority
(SAMSA) is investigating the feasibility of establishing
specialist maritime schools in South Africa’s coastal
provinces, including the Eastern Cape.
23 EASTERN CAPE BUSINESS 2017