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As the government moves to modernise South Africa’s qualifications for occupational skills, higher education minister Buti Manamela has appealed to industry to make more workplace training places available to students. These qualifications require students to complete a theoretical component and then spend up to two years learning on the job.“I’m appealing to industry — please open your doors for training. This is not a task government alone can succeed in,” the minister said on Thursday.The department currently facilitates the placement of about 21,000 students from Technical and Vocational Education Training colleges each year. However, it was unable to specify the unmet need for workplace training, saying it is yet to finalise its process for verifying the data available.An online petition highlights the challenge faced by many students enrolled for National Accredited Technical Education Diploma (Nated) programmes. These students, who are only eligible for bursaries from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme for the first 18 months of theoretical study, say they are battling to complete their qualifications due to a shortage of funded workplace training opportunities.Manamela said work was under way to increase the number of opportunities while exploring funding mechanisms with industry and other government departments to provide students with stipends.Assuring students that existing qualifications would continue to be recognised, the minister said updating South Africa’s occupational skills qualifications was essential to ensure they remained relevant and appropriate for the evolving needs of South Africa’s economy. “The transition from legacy qualifications to occupational qualifications represents one of the most significant reforms in South Africa’s post-school education and training landscape,” he said. Details for the transitional arrangements for phasing out pre-2009 qualifications will be published in the Government Gazette on June 15.The changes follow a policy directive published in 2024, at which point 1,475 pre-2009 qualifications had reached their registration end date. Another 630 qualifications were approved for extension to allow enrolled learners time to complete their studies.The government had assessed all the occupational qualifications and would apply a differentiated approach to phasing them out, said the minister. Qualifications have been classified into four groups, he said:Category A: not pre-2009 and registered on the National Qualifications Framework. No change.Category B: pre-2009 qualifications and National Accredited Technical Education Diploma (Nated) Programmes: pre-2009 qualifications will be granted extensions ranging from six months to two years. Details for transitioning from current to new Nated qualifications have already been published.Category C: regulatory unit standards: extensions of up to three years have been granted to provide regulators and industries time to review programme requirements and transition to replacement occupational skills programmes.Category D: trades. Transitional arrangement of up to a year
