TVET college lecturers to receive training in Germany

South Africa and Germany have formed a multimillion rand partnership that will see TVET colleges improve their educational system and training.

According to The Herald, this partnership hopes to make TVET college graduates more employable through training and tweaking the curriculum to meet the needs of the corporate sector.

It seeks to utilise the knowledge and expertise of world-renowned German engineering to upgrade the perceived low status of TVET colleges through upskilling lecturers and updating the curriculum.

This partnership was established in 2006 by the Eastern Cape and Handwerkskammer Erfurt (German Chamber of Crafts and Trade). Lecturers that have been selected to represent these colleges will be trained in modern and advanced methods of automotive electronics, service and maintenance, fault finding and electronic systems.

According to The Herald, the German chamber will pay a R975 000 bill per lecturer for the four-week training.

German Embassy head of cooperation Volker Oel said: “Germany is assisting South Africa in its efforts to reform, redevelop and restructure the TVET system to encourage school leavers that TVET studies is not second-choice education. “Building on our expertise in the German vocational sector, we are working on issues of the curriculum and lecturer development in South Africa.”

The Herald reported that, the Department of High Education and Training chief director for innovation Gerda Magnus commented that the tertiary sector was missing the intermediate and artisan skills needed to produce a productive labour force required by industry. “The department is looking to reform the TVET sector to meet the needs of industry.

“To achieve this we entered into a partnership with Germany in 2016 to make this a seamless transition,”

He continued to say they are trying to equip our colleges with modern equipment which meets what industry needs.

Handwerkskammer Erfurt managing director Thomas Malcherek said, “through this partnership, it is evident that your country has taken steps to create security and a more employable graduate.

According to Herald the EastCape Midlands College principal Charl van Heerden commented and said, “We have industry leaders on board to ensure we do actually bridge the gap between the workplace and tertiary education.

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