Progress in Transferring Skills Development to the

Department of Higher Education and Training

and Transitional Arrangements

Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and

Training,16th September 2009

Structure of Presentation (1)

• The Context: – Creating a new Department of Higher Education and

Training • Legal establishment and legal mandate• Institutions for which the DHET is responsible• Administrative Transition• Managing the transition phase: administrative and financial

• Scope of DHET• DHET and the Medium Term Strategic

Framework and Programme of Action

Structure of Presentation (2)• Skills Transition

– Legal responsibility 1st November– Financial responsibility 1st April– Immediate Tasks for Minister:

• Strengthening relationships with key stakeholders• Clarifying overarching skills strategies• Strengthening the NSA to

–Review NSDSIII–Review the recommendations on the SETA

Landscape

CREATING A NEW DEPARTMENT

1. Legal establishment and legal mandate 2. Institutions for which the DHET is responsible3. Administrative Transition4. Managing the transition phase: administrative and financial

LEGAL ESTABLISHMENT(1)

• Proclamations– Promulgation of department

• The Dept of HET was established by Presidential Proclamation No. 48 of 2009, Govt Gazette No. 32387 of 7 July 2009

• The new Department of HET formed through;– a split of the DoE to the DHET and DBE– incorporating the Skills Development functions of the

Department of Labour

LEGAL MANDATE (1)

• Proclamations– Re-Assigning of Legislation

• Ministry of Higher Education and Training responsible for a range of Legislation in terms of:

– Presidential Proclamation No 44 of 2009 – Government Gazette Number 32367 of 1 July 2009

– Presidential Proclamation No 531of 2009 – Government Gazette Number 32549 of 4th September2009

Previous DoE Legislation (1)

• National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act, 1999 (Act No. 56 of 1999)

• Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997)

• Adult Basic Education and Training Act, 2000 (Act No. 52 of 2000)

• Further Education and Training Colleges Act, 2006 (Act No. 16 of 2006)

• National Qualifications Framework Act, 2008 (Act No. 67 of 2008)

Previous DoE Legislation (2)

• The following Acts contain sections applicable to the mandate of the Ministry– National Education Policy Act, 1996 (Act No. 27 of 1996)– Employment of Educators Act, 1998 (Act No. 76 of 1998)– South African Council for Educators Act, 2000 (Act No. 31

of 2000)– General and Further Education and Training Quality

Assurance Act, 2001 (Act No. 58 of 2001)

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LEGISLATION EXTENT OF TRANSFER

Skills Development Act, 1998 (Act No. 97 of 1998)

All the provisions except-a)sections 2(1)(g) and (h), 2(2)(a)(v), (vi) and (xii), 5(4) (only with respect to Productivity South Africa), 22(1), 23, 24, 25, 26K, 26L, 26M, 26N, item 4 of Schedule 2A and Schedule 4; andb)any other provision which pertains to “employment services”, as defined in section 1, or Productivity South Africa, as established by section 26K.

Skills Development Levies Act, 1999 (Act No. 9 of 1999)

All the provisions

National Qualifications Framework Act, 2008 (Act No. 67 of 2008)

Section 9

Previous DoL Legislation

Institutions for which the DHET is responsible (1)

• Qualification Councils– South African Qualifications Authority– Council on Higher Education (including HEQC)– Qualification Council for Trades and Occupations

• Advisory Boards– Council on Higher Education– National Board for Further Education and Training– National Skills Authority

• Funding Structures– NSFAS– National Skills Fund

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Institutions for which the DHET is responsible (2)

• Providers– 23 Public HEI (and private)– 50 FET Colleges (and private)

• Nationally planned• Regionally relevant• Responsive to local needs• Nursing and Agricultural Colleges to remain with line

Departments but to form part of a co-ordinated College sector within a defined framework

– Trade Testing Centres– Skills Development Institutes

Institutions for which the DHET is responsible (3)

• Sectoral Education and Training Authorities that cover all economic sectors by allocated standard industrial classification codes with the following responsibilities:– Manage stakeholder relations and skills demand needs in the sector– Develop sector skills plans and signal sector skills demand and

priorities– Disburse mandatory grants against employer workplace skills plans

and annual training reports– Disburse discretionary grants for national and sector skills

development activities (projects, learnerships, apprenticeships, bursaries, workplace experience, internships, skills programmes, ABET)

– Improve quality of learning in the workplace through learning development planning (qualifications and learning programmes, curriculum development support), assessment and certification

– Quality assure learning achievements (currently as SAQA accredited ETQAs accredit providers, approve learning programmes and certificate successful achievements, register assessors)

– Manage learnership agreements and apprenticeship contracts for employed (18.1) and unemployed (18.2) learners

– Support development of Institutes of Sectoral and Occupational Excellence

ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSITION:National Macro Organisation Project (1)

• Departments of Labour and Education have established 9 operational work streams under the MOP of the DPSA to manage split and incorporation of skills development functions – Deadline for completion 31 Oct 09– Organisatonal scoping

• to analyse and identify functions for transfer to the affected departments

– Human resource scoping (HR Audit)• for affected functions including corporate services of both

relinquishing Departments

– Organisational structure• Designing the new organisational structures of both new (DHET and DBE)

and relinquishing departments (DoL)13

ADMINISTRATIVE TRANSITION:National Macro Organisation Project (1)• NMOS Operational Work Streams (ctd)

– Physical resource audit– Finance and budget audit– ICT audit– Labour relations– Legal– Change management and communications

Conclusion of NMOS :

• The purpose of the NMOS Organizational Report is to finalize the organizational design and processes in order to conclude:

– Consultation with labour in departmental chambers.

– Approval by the relevant Executive Authorities for the identified functions, staff identified for transfer and organisational structure of affected departments.

– A determination by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration on the transfer of functions and concomitant staff.

Managing the Transition: Administrative

• The processes of allocating staff to the new departments is unlikely to be complete by 3th October.

• It will be proposed that:– The following functional units be transferred from the

relinquishing Department of Education as soon as the organogram has been approved, and that an SLA be concluded regarding financial management until the end of the 2009/10 financial year:

• Branch Higher Education• Chief Directorate FE Colleges• Directorate HRD• Directorate Adult Education

– The functional units identified by DPSA be transferred from the Department of Labour as soon as the organogram has been approved

Managing the Transition: Financial

• It will be proposed that:– The corporate service functions remain with the

relinquishing department of the DoE and DoL until the end of the 2009/10 financial year under a SLA agreement

– The DHET has no budget for 2009/10. All ac tivities are funded through the approved budgets of DoE and DoL.

– The DGs of DoE and DoL are the accounting officers for 2009/10

Scope of DHET (1)

• The bringing together of Higher Education Institutions, FET Colleges and the Skills Sector into a single Ministry of Higher Education and Training provides a powerful basis for addressing education and training in an integrated way. The Ministry has the responsibility to develop the country’s education and training institutional capacity and resources into a coherent but diverse and differentiated post school learning system serving adults and youth within the framework of the HRD-SA.

Scope of DHET (2)

• This post school system for the country will be based on guiding principles which will include:– The post schooling system will be planned as a single

nationally coordinated entity of the highest quality with maximum articulation and portability;

– The system will be designed and operated to maximise equity of opportunity and outcome for youth and adults in and out of the labour market;

– The system will consist of a diverse and differentiated institutional base – with institutional missions being appropriate to the needs of the country.

Scope of DHET (3)• The work of the Ministry will focus on addressing

the short, medium and long-term priorities of a Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa which must be aligned to:– The Government Programme of Action; and the

Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF)– Government policies including:

• National Industrial Policy Framework and Industrial Policy Action Plan;

• The Land Restitution and Rural Development Strategies; • The Anti-Poverty Strategy; • The Technology and Innovations Strategy; • The Growth and Development Strategy• New sector-specific plans that emerge; • The HRD Strategy for the Public Sector.

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (1)

• Comprehensive rural development strategy: Skills development– Recapitalise agricultural training colleges to

develop and run training programmes to support rural economies.

– Skills development and training services will be accessible to farm workers.

– Rural FET colleges will be strengthened and equipped to address a range of relevant rural development skills challenges.

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (2)

• Strengthen the skills and human resource base– Broaden access to post-secondary education and

improve higher education throughput rate• Deliver post-secondary education through a diverse mix of

sites of learning and types• Where appropriate, colleges for various professions will be

established to address skills shortages• Learners will be given the tools to make informed choices

regarding education opportunities• Financial need and the physical capacity of the post-

secondary system must meet learner demand

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (3)

• Strengthen the skills and human resource base– Broaden access to post-secondary education and

improve higher education throughput rate (ctd)• Higher education should skew resources to areas of study

that will aid in addressing the skills shortages and ensure enrolment of the ablest of students irrespective of socio-economic background

• The transformation of higher education institutions will be intensified with a culture built on professionalism, innovation and personal accountability

• Efforts will be made to increase the proportion of students studying at postgraduate level

• A sustainable investment strategy will be developed

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (4)

• Strengthen the skills and human resource base– Broaden access to post-secondary education and

improve higher education throughput rate (ctd)• The FET sector nationally (including Agricultural Colleges)

will be the primary site for skills development training. • FET will play a significant role in providing second chance

education for those who do not make it in the 12th year programme of education

• FET colleges and SETAs will link with business, industry, and other s to involve employers/firms more meaningfully

• FET colleges to recruit and retain highly skilled and experienced instructors

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (5)

• Strengthen the skills and human resource base– Broaden access to post-secondary education and

improve higher education throughput rate (ctd)• FET instructors to link classroom experiences with practical,

workplace-based learning experiences.• FET colleges to partner with other governmental agencies

and civil society programmes that create and incubate small enterprises

• Government will ensure better coordination and integration of the relevant government departments and agencies responsible for skills development, including SOEs.

MEDIUM TERM STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK (6)

• Training and skills development initiatives in the country must respond to the requirements of the economy, rural development challenges and social integration. – The main aim would be to increase the number of skilled

personnel in the priority skills areas such as design, engineering and artisanship categories that are critical to manufacturing, construction, cultural activities and other priority economic sectors identified in the NIPF.

– Additionally skills development programmes will be implemented, purposefully aimed at equipping the unemployed and vulnerable with requisite skills to overcome poverty and unemployment.

IMMEDIATE TASKS

• The immediate tasks include ensuring that all policies, strategies and plans of each of the component sectors (HE, FET and Skills) are brought into alignment with:– the National Human Resource Development

Strategy.– the MTSF and PoA– The MTEF

The Skills Transition• The Minister assumes the legal mandate on 1st

November:• Urgent Issues before the Minister include:

– Appointing a Chair for the NSA. The NSA would need to be consulted with regard to:

• Publication of the restructured SETA Landscape for stakeholder consultation

• Approval of the publication of the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS III) 2010 – 2015 for stakeholder consultation

– Launching the QCTO and the appointing the Chair.

ImmediateTasks for Minister HET:• Strengthening relationships with key

stakeholders particularly, business and labour and collaboratively:– Clarify overarching skills strategies so that structures

and instruments are refined to serve strategy, and that the various components of the education and training system are coherently conceptualized

– Strengthen the NSA so that it can rigorously and vigorously perform its policy advisory role to the Minister, operate as powerful source of strategy to complement the HRD Council as well as establish the processes necessary to effectively monitor agencies and quality assurance processes

• With a re-invigorated and strengthened NSA: – Reviewing NSDSIII so that it is a strategic instrument of the HRD

and its related social and economic developmental strategies– Reviewing the recommendations on the SETA Landscape to

ensure that SETA structures are:• Based on a more precise understanding of the role of the SETAs and

the priorities they should follow• Reflect an appropriate segmentation of the economy that is aligned

with emerging industrial strategies and the work of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations

• Minimize capacity deficits at all levels, avoid duplication and maximize economies of scale

• Financially sustainable• Build the public sector• Informed by policy positions of government