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Edwin Naidu
Buti Manamela, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, said South Africa will likely fall behind on its goal of 2.6 million students in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges by 2030.
In his address at the Huawei ICT Academy Annual Instructor Summit in Woodmead on Friday, Manamela said the TVET sector sought to attract 600,000 students in 2024 but only managed to attract 500,000, highlighting the importance of swift interventions to urgently boost student numbers.
“We need alternative, cheaper, impactful forms of delivering TVET-related programmes. The same applies to our community colleges. Education delivered using ICT tools and solutions will make a dent for the nearly four million young people not in an education institution and getting the necessary skills,” said the Deputy Minister.
Looking towards addressing the challenge, Manamela said partnerships with Information and Communications Technology companies could create the potential for learning platforms since content and online instructors are already available.
“We need to collaborate to ensure we deliver education to the gadget,” said Manamela, adding that far too many students attending TVET colleges go to classrooms when the teaching medium could be delivered online.
Manamela said this was based on the need to impact unemployment and boost the SMME sector. In August, Statistics South Africa, reported that the country’s official unemployment rate increased from 32.9% in the first quarter of this year to 33.5% in the second quarter, the highest since 2022.
The concern is the fact that 3.6 million (35.2%) out of 10.3 million young people aged 15 to 24 years were not in employment, education or training.
Manamela praised the Huawei ICT Academy programme which collaborates with universities and TVET colleges to train, develop, and certify some of the best ICT talents across South Africa.
This summit is part of an ongoing commitment to building ICT skills among youth. Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Heads of Departments, and instructors from various universities in South Africa will attend it. Notably, Deputy Vice-Chancellors from the University of Johannesburg and the University of Cape Town took part in the summit.
Huawei Chief Executive Will Meng said the ICT sector has been among the fastest growing in the country, and it will continue to be so for years to come.
“The 4IR conversation has been occurring for years in South Africa, from years as early as 2018 whereby the DHET Minister of that time, Minister Pandor, recognised that we’re in the age of the pervasive influence of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence and need responsive skills and development research focus and investment to benefit fully.
“All these changes will require more qualified personnel to meet the growing demands of the ICT industry. In this regard, we must be ready for this growth by creating the workforce necessary to meet future needs as well as current needs.
“By bridging the gap between demand of enterprises and the supply from higher education institutes, Huawei hopes to provide more technical and skillful talent, more advanced technologies, and more support to innovation and entrepreneurship to facilitate a virtuous cycle and support the sustainable development of the ICT industry,” he said.
Meng said when talking about the role of tertiary education in the 4th Industrial Revolution, Huawei believes that investing in education is most important to support the future trends.
To bridge the gap in ICT talent, the firm established the Huawei ICT academy program aiming to bring the solution of industry-academy collaboration for talent development.
In the collaboration model under Huawei ICT Academy Program, Huawei provides Courses Authorization, Instructor Enablement and Learning Resources. Universities prepare for the Teaching Plans, Lab Environments and Certified Instructors, all these resources are then channeled to students allowing them to gain ICT competency, practical experience, career certifications, and job opportunities.
Globally, up to now, over 2600+ Huawei ICT Academies have been developed, over 11000+ instructors have been certified and over 200,000+ students have been cultivated yearly. The Huawei ICT Academy endeavor takes place in over 110+ Countries worldwide.
The Huawei ICT Academy program has partnered with 76 institutes in the higher education sector, whereby we identify them as academies in this program, within South Africa until now.
By 2024 July, more than 300 instructors had participated in the Instructor Training program – they were trained, and prepared for student class opening. In 2024, over 270+ students have participated in online and offline Huawei training programs.
The 2024 Huawei ICT Academy objective has been focusing on improving the quality of student and instructor training in South Africa.
Huawei will hold a Job fair in 2024, with the aim to connect Huawei ICT graduates with Huawei partners for job placement opportunities.
“In South Africa, Huawei has positive relationships with various institutions. We aim to maintain positive relationships with the various institutions we have partnered with and have an even higher-quality skills transfer process for lecturers and students; our learning environments will become more and more immersive in every institute.”
Finally, to finish, the revolution of improving education curriculum is, in our presence, a big challenge to tackle; thus, how can we each play our part in keeping the South Africa Education Curriculum ahead of the 4IR curve.”
Charles Cheng, Deputy CEO of Huawei South Africa, also reflected on the critical impact of the Huawei ICT Academy, saying, “More important than the public praise are the jobs we have helped create and the entrepreneurial growth we have been able to support through our programmes, which span from primary school goers to SMME owners.”
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