New campuses and a revamped modern curriculum have not made technical vocational education and training (TVET) colleges the preferred choice for many students after matric, but this appears set to change.
About 50 colleges across the country are wrapping up enrolments this week, with many closing registrations next Friday. Many prospective students only consider them after failing to get into university.
TVET colleges offer vocational and occupational training and are a viable option for many matriculants because the programmes they offer arm students with critical skills — relevant to the economy’s needs — that they can use to immediately start earning a living.
Sam Zungu, deputy director-general responsible for TVET colleges in the department of higher education & training, told the Sunday Times that the next five years will see TVET colleges “firmly positioned as drivers of sustainable economic growth and innovation”.
Zungu said the past five years had seen a reform of the TVET college sector. A comprehensive curriculum review had overhauled several programmes, replacing them with a Quality Council for Trades and Occupation (QCTO) version of competence-led training.
Students first look whether they are accepted at universities or not, then they come to TVET colleges
— Sam Zungu, higher education and training deputy director-general responsible for TVET colleges.
Zungu said the traditional N1-N6 TVET college programmes were done away with as they were failing to meet the skills requirements of modern industry.
“They lacked sufficient alignment with occupational competencies demanded in fields experiencing high growth, such as green energy, digital technology and advanced manufacturing,” he said.
TVET education now combined both theory and practical work. In the past, practicals were done at company level.
“With the [new] occupational programmes, it’s all combined. You spend two days [a week] at the college and three days at the company until you conclude,” Zungu said.
The reforms meant retraining teachers to add practical training.
Zungu said they had completed overhauling N1-N3 programmes, and were now dealing with N4-N6.
Though “there's still a stigma” regarding TVET colleges, the picture was slowly changing. One Limpopo college, he said, received 240,000 applications for about 15,000 available spaces this year.
“It means there is a need [for TVET education],” Zungu said.
Universities in South Africa have about 1.1m students, while TVET colleges have 500,000, but the department of higher education plans to have five times that number five years from now, Zungu said.
Despite being positioned to become a cornerstone of tertiary education, TVET colleges, which have about 170,000 places for first-year students, are largely still seen as a plan B.
“Students first look at whether they are accepted at universities, then they come [to TVET colleges],” Zungu said.
If it was not for funding constraints, TVET colleges could already be able to accommodate up to one million students nationwide, he said.
As South Africa accelerated its efforts towards economic diversification and sustainability, TVET colleges would serve “as the breeding grounds for skills that drive emerging industries”.
Zungu said an example was the so-called just energy transition — a shift away from coal to cleaner energy sources — that Eskom was embarking on.
“TVET colleges will spearhead the development of skills for renewable energy, green building technologies and sustainable infrastructure development, including in the hydrogen economy, through equipping students with knowledge in hydrogen energy technologies,” he said.
Other areas of opportunity included the oceans economy, automotive technology and the mining sector, which he said was still “a rising industry due to opportunities in beneficiation”.
“Seventeen TVET colleges that offer agricultural programmes will be receiving support from AgriSETA in relation to programme accreditation, staff capacity building, as well as funding for programme offerings.”
Zungu said they were planning to adopt a model similar to the qualification available in Germany of master craftsman — an artisan who has completed a state-recognised vocational qualification and other examinations, attaining a much higher qualification.
“In Germany, for you to run a hair salon, you must [qualify to] be a master artisan, which means you qualify as an artisan first and then [complete] three more years to become a master artisan; then you can start a business as an electrician, plumber or hairdresser,” Zungu said.
They had introduced “TVETprenuers” in partnership with the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation, which runs competitions for entrepreneurs nationally.
On the public’s perception of TVET colleges, education expert Mary Metcalfe said university degrees were seen as having higher status, “including the regalia, which adds to the delight in graduation celebrations in communities”.
Colleges are making changes to offer programmes that are more responsive and aligned to the needs of employers and learners, including modular learning and occupationally-focused programmes
— Sebolelo Sybil Chabane, a skills adviser at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator
“Even preschools use the symbols in the graduation from preschool — almost a visual statement of family aspiration,” she said.
Metcalfe said university graduates were admired in communities .
“The TVET colleges may be less well understood and the technical and vocational courses offered in these colleges may be less well known,” she said
Sebolelo Sybil Chabane, a skills adviser at Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator, a nonprofit social enterprise dealing with youth unemployment, said the real impact of the curriculum changes at TVET colleges will only be apparent in the medium to long term.
“Colleges are making changes to offer programmes that are more responsive and aligned to the needs of employers and learners, including modular learning and occupationally-focused programmes,” Chabane said.
She said TVET colleges were important as the South African economy required “a variety of skills that cannot all be met through university qualifications”.
“Not all pupils are suited for, or interested in, an academic learning track,” Chabane said.
Students give a thumbs-up
Mahlatse Tlhokoa, 23, from Mokopane in Limpopo, a level-two plumbing student at the SWGC in Doornfontein, admits that going to a TVET college was not his first choice. He ended up there after failing to qualify for an engineering course at university.
“I did not get a bachelor pass in matric and if I had passed well, I was not going to be here [at SWGC],” Tlhokoa said.
Now, a year into his studies, Tlhokoa has changed his mind as he has acquired sufficient skills to be self-employed.
“With the skills I have now, I know how to install a geyser, bath tub, shower and basins,” said Tlhokoa, who plans to start his own plumbing business upon completing his studies.
Kabelo Phala, 21, from Sterkfontein in Limpopo, studies carpentry at SWGC, even though his first choice was also university.
“Unfortunately I didn't get enough points [in his matric results] to qualify to study law at university ... and opted to come here,” Phala said.
He said he now realises the importance of the programme that he is part of, especially in a developing country such as South Africa. On completion of his studies, he wants to start his own business.
The South West Gauteng College (SWGC) in Johannesburg — one of the biggest TVET colleges in SA, with several campuses, including in Roodepoort, Soweto and Alexandra — could take less than half of the applicants for the 2025 academic year.
After receiving 20,158 applications, only 7,989 could be accepted, spokesperson Sabelo Tshabalala said.
He said the college was moving with speed into innovation programmes, including robotics, with programmes offered either full-time, distance or part-time.
“The college has just purchased an IT campus in Florida. Online teaching and learning, as well as all artificial intelligence and robotics programmes, will be offered from this campus,” Tshabalala said.
He said they were in the process of “sorting additional funding from local and international partners, mainly for equipment”.
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