Nzimande worried about FET graduates
2011-08-03 20:39
Durban - The performance of graduates from further education and training (FET) colleges raised concerns, High Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday.
"A sparse analysis of the performance of our FET college graduates raised concerns," said Nzimande addressing delegates attending a KwaZulu-Natal Seta forum in Durban.
Nzimande said the success and employability rates were low, adding that it was worrying that linkages between colleges and the industry were few.
"There are concerns regarding the alignment between what is being taught at the colleges and what industry needs. That is why the employability of college graduates is low,” he said.
To address the problem, government had resolved to turn every workplace into a training space to accommodate graduates who need experience.
"We intend to increase learnerships at all levels of government and we expect the state owned enterprises to do the same."
The priority would be given to FET and students from the universities of technology graduates, Nzimande said.
He said there were 5 000 university of technology students who could not complete their studies because they did not have the work place experience component.
There were also 20 000 FET graduates who had completed their studies but could not qualify for jobs because they could not access the work place experience component, he said.
- SAPA
