Legislation & international agreements implementation/review: DHET progress report; CATHSSETA on its Annual Report 2015/16

Meeting report

Department Higher Education and Training Progress report on implementation of international agreement, and on legislation due for review
Mr Ghaleeb Jeppie, Chief Director: International Relations, Department of Higher Education and Training, described how international agreements applied in South Africa. He noted that an international agreement of a technical, administrative or executive nature only, or an agreement that is entered into by the national executive and does not require either ratification or accession, will bind the Republic without having to be approved by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). However, it will have to be tabled in the National Assembly and the NCOP within a reasonable time.

In the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Chief Directorate for International Relations takes its mandate from the White Paper for Post-School Education and Training. This speaks to the importance of the internationalisation of higher education.

He explained that the drivers for educational cooperation include exchange of best practices and benchmarking in a global context, pursuing international opportunities for human resource and skills development, mobilisation of external resources to support the departmental agenda, supporting and contributing to outreach programmes, developing South Africa as a regional and continental knowledge hub, and supporting the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) through educational diplomacy.

The strategic objectives are anchored in the policies of DHET, which aim to meet the developmental goals of achieving a capable, well-educated and skilled citizenry, participating in international exchange and production of knowledge and skills, thereby contributing to the sustainable development of South Africa, the African region and the world. The Department’s international cooperation relations agenda is framed within the parameters of the South African foreign policy.

South Africa, through the DHET, has agreements and declarations with countries in order to forge strong educational alliances and programmes. For example, it has an agreement with Angola to partner between institutions and to promote collaboration between accreditation entities. In Burundi, there is an agreement in the area of capacity building in Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS), teacher education and higher education planning. The University of Johannesburg has offered post graduate scholarships. This offer has not yet been taken up as the internal political situation has halted full implementation of the agreement.

BRICS countries have an agreement of mutual cooperation among member states in Higher Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and mutual recognition of qualifications. Twelve South African universities are participating in the BRICS network of universities.

The Chinese government is providing 2 000 short term skills training opportunities in vocational education, infrastructure, hotel management policy development and water saving technologies. In 2015, 470 South Africans participated in various training programmes in criminal investigation, public administration, construction and management. In September 2016, 223 South Africans were sent for training in construction, marine, renewable energy and food safety.

Agreements exist with Cuba to promote the study of Spanish, to establish Spanish and Latin American studies programmes at South African institutions, and to encourage exchanges amongst institutions of higher education, including academics, students and experts. A Latin American studies proposal has been developed and seeding funding requests have been submitted.

The European Union and the Department have an agreement to set up a sectoral policy dialogue on education and training to cover jointly identified issues of common interest. Three seminars and senior officials’ meetings have been held alternately in Brussels and South Africa.

He described the other countries with agreements with the DHET, those under negotiation, those offering scholarship and those who have offered philanthropic or developmental assistance (see presentation for full details).

The operational budget of the Department is R1.2 million. There has been a steady flow of cooperation with priority countries, translating into increased scholarships, research opportunities, linkages, curriculum development, exchanges, training, funding of niche projects and internships in foreign based companies. Universities, TVET Colleges and SETAs are benefitting from these partnerships.

Discussion
Ms J Kilian (ANC) asked which universities are participating in the BRICS agreements and how the Department would coordinate the function of qualifications, through South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), so that there was parity in recognition of qualifications with countries with whom South Africa had international agreements.

Mr E Siwela (ANC) asked how the current unrest in higher education impacted on the  international relations. He wondered what were the reasons for the failure of beneficiaries to take up scholarships that had been offered, and asked whether the scholarships had been reprioritised to benefit South African students, or whether they were still on offer for Burundian students? He also asked if the volunteer programme in Mpumalanga was still ongoing.

Dr B Bozzoli (DA) thanked the Department for the presentation. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) had international programmes too, and she wondered whether, in view of the small DHET budget but the massive overlap in terms of international agreements, it would not make sense for these departments to work together to save on duplication? She asked for more detail on the Cuban doctors’ programme. She asked what exactly were the strategic goals in relation to international work.

Ms S Mchunu (ANC) asked why only 12 out of the 26 universities were participating in the BRICS agreement, and which were the four TVET colleges. She thought the China agreement was impressive. She asked if there was any movement on the green economy?

The Chairperson asked how many South Africans are being sought out, or are providing expertise to countries. The universities have elaborate international programmes and she wondered how the DHET managed them, and whether there was collaboration rather than control.

Mr Jeppie said that that there is collaboration between provinces and national departments, but the Constitution is clear that only national executive could enter into formal agreements. DHET and DIRCO had decided to set up a structure to unpack the nature and opportunities that are afforded to South African students, either bilaterally or through specialist education. There is a role for the Department.

In regard to the universities collaborating on BRICS, he explained that the figure of twelve for collaboration in each country had been decided upon by the BRICS member states, and South Africa was then asked to put forward two universities for involvement in the first phase. That did not mean that others would be excluded if they had not been interested at the initial stages. A Standing Expert Committee was in existence, comprising representatives from SAQA and DHET,  professional councils such as the engineering or health professional councils that would then develop the instruments for recognition, which would then go through all technical ramification before being sent off for endorsement. Once the agreement was in place, students could submit their documentation for verification to SAQA in terms of a mutual agreement.

He conceded that the educational unrest had impacted on South Africa. South African institutions had been the pride of the continent and over 70 000 foreign students are studying in South Africa, some of whom have now had to leave early to return to their homes because of the financial implications of remaining in residences.

Initially, DHET feared that South African students would be reluctant to study abroad, partially because they would rather complete their courses at their own university than travelling to other countries where they would have to learn another language and spend an extra year studying. Students were being encouraged to learn other languages. The courses required at least 60% in mathematics to study some courses overseas. The Japanese volunteers programme to Mpumalanga is continuing. The Cuban doctors programme was handled in the Department of Health, but DHET held a watching brief on retraining doctors. In terms of the strategic drivers, DHET had to ensure that there were suitable implementation plans to execute the goals/drivers and that was why the country had not entered into all agreements with countries.

The Eastern Cape colleges were beneficiaries of the green economy, and they were situated there because of the plant in Uitenhage. Specialist skills and expertise from South Africa were sought after, with University of Pretoria doing work on constitutional law and University of Cape Town also doing research work. All universities in South Africa had some form of international offices and partnerships, as  DHET recognised that in order for institutions to be globally competitive and produce quality graduates, global collaboration would be needed. The International Education Association of South Africa comprised all 26 universities in South Africa and DHET participated. DHET has also been visiting the international offices to get a first-hand understanding of what their programmes are like, who they are collaborating with, and providing advisory input to the institutions. Sometimes, management of the institutions will be invited to accompany the DHET on official missions abroad, and bilateral relations exist between institutions directly. He confirmed that the mandates of DST and DHET were not the same, and they did not overlap.

Ms Kilian asked whether, in terms of the legislative mandate, these agreements fell under section 231(3) of the Constitution, and if so, whether they had been tabled in the NA.

The Chairperson asked the Department to send all international agreements that had been tabled, and those not yet tabled with an indication of when this would happen. The DHET would be speaking to Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) at the next meeting.

Review of the current legislation governing the higher education and training sector

Another delegate from the Department took the Committee through the review of the current legislation.
Continuing Education and Training Act, 2006 (Act No. 16 of 2006)

The Further Education and Training Act 2006 (FET Act) was amended by the Further Education and Training Amendment Act 2012 (Act No 3 of 2012) and the Further Education and Training Amendment Act 2013 (Act No. 2013). The FET Act was then renamed to become the Continuing Education and Training Act 2006 (Act No 16 of 2006) (CET Act).

The White Paper required that the college sector must move from the provincial domain to be a national competency. The Further Education and Training Colleges were renamed to become the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The Adult Education and Training (AET) centres or Public Adult Learning Centres (PALC) were converted into Community Learning Centres (CLCs) and the respective CLCs were incorporated into substructures of the CETCs in the region in which they are situated.

Higher Education Act 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997) (HE Act)

The HE Act was reviewed through a joint effort between the Department and the Universities of South Africa Forum. The Bill is in its final stages, and has been approved in the NA, by the Select Committee and is due to be tabled for final approval by the NCOP shortly. It picks up on the issues identified in the White Paper as needing to be amended.

National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act 1999 (Act No. 56 of 1999) (NSFAS Act)

The NSFAS Act is in the process of being reviewed but is subject to the outcome of the Ministerial Task Team on the Student Financing Model as well as the Presidential Commission on student fees.

Skills Development Act 1998 (Act No. 98 of 1998) (SDA)

The policy on the new Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) landscape has not been promulgated by the Minister. This policy will be critical to the development of legislation to accommodate the new SETA landscape policy. The Skills Development Amendment Bill can only be finalised after the policy has been finalised. This Bill is scheduled to be tabled in the Parliament during 2018.

National Qualifications Framework Act, 2008 (Act No. 67 of 2008) (NQF Act)

The Bill has been drafted and was supposed to be brought to the 2016 parliamentary programme, but due to the municipal elections the Minister agreed to postpone the tabling of the Bill to the 2017 Parliamentary Programme. There had been consultation with key role players and it is scheduled to be published for public comment in the immediate future.

General and Further Education and Training Quality Assurance Act 2001 (Act No. 58 of 2001)

The Bill to amend this Act rests under the legislative authority relating to the quality assurance function of Umalusi as the Quality Council, and the Further Education and Training sub-frameworks of the NQF. The Bill has been reviewed and at this stage no amendments are considered which are directly linked to any provisions in the White Paper.

Discussion

Dr Bozzoli asked for clarification on the intention to renew the SETAs to the end of 2017 although the new Act is planned to be introduced in 2018.

Ms Kilian asked for clarification on the extension of the term of SETAs.

Ms S Mchunu (ANC) noted that SAQA had informed the Committee in the previous week that it had developed a policy on represented qualification, which will require amendments to the National Qualification Framework. She asked if the amendments envisaged had taken this development into consideration.

Ms  Kilian said that the Committee had deliberated on the complexities of qualifications, as well as the role of Umalusi. She noted that the GFETQA Act was not likely to need amendment, but the Committee had suggested the need for uniformity across the different quality assurance bodies, and she wondered if that had been considered by the DHET, and whether there could be a simplification of the whole system through the NQFA.

The DHET representatives noted that the timeframe of the SETA is extended from April 2016 to end of March 2018, because the legislation would not be in place, and the Minister had extended it owing to the uncertainty of the policy framework.  One of the options is to extend it for another year, in order to deal with any amendments, although it might be that the current Act, which is quite flexible, is sufficient. A policy is needed before the final determination can be made.

Mr Maliviwe Lumka, Chief Director: SETA Coordination, DHET, added that the extension of SETA is causing some uncertainties but the consultation process is complex, and the two year extension would allow for a thorough consultation with all the role players. The documentation was in final draft which would be submitted to the Minister.
In relation to the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) now published, he said that it would be important to  look at the fabric and the structure of the NQF Act. The legislation came about as result of a concept pre 1994, and set up the SA Qualifications Council. SAQA must comply with the policy framework and develop it further although the different quality councils deal with their pieces of the framework. Dispute resolution mechanisms were in place to avoid conflict and no change to the legislation was necessary in order to do this.

The Chairperson asked the Department to note the concerns of the Committee with regard to the question to the Minister and provide more clarity.

Dr Bozzoli said that the Minister should come and brief the Committee on what his plans are for the SETAs. They were a multi-billion rand project, with thousands of students and employees. The last time that SETAs were renewed, this happened at the last minute and it caused huge instability in the SETAs. The Minister should also provide a summary of the problem statement and a re-submission of the plan with renewal of the SETAs for a further two years being set in motion now as he knew that the plan would not be completed on time. He said that people at SETA must be incredibly insecure about the future of their jobs, and he suggested that it would be responsible to renew them now, until 2019 or 2020.

Ms Kilian asked for clarity, from the legal perspective, as to how these institutions operate in the meantime. Filling of vacancies had far-reaching implications, and she wondered if they were presently filled for a contracted period and it there were any directives coming from the Department to say to SETA that it would extend for a certain period assuming that the plan might not  be completed. This issue would have to be well-managed, otherwise there could be wasteful expenditure. If the Department proceeded with this uncertainty the result would not be good.

Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality, Sports Sector Education and Training Authority (CATHSSETA) Annual Report 2015/16 briefing
Mr Pumzile Kedama, Administrator for CATHSSETA, said the organisation had received a clean audit. It  achieved steady improvement in performance against targets, from 34% to 80% between 2013/14 and 2015/16 financial years. It recruited 24 interns, 13 people had been absorbed, five had left, five were employed and only three were not placed. Currently 87% of the positions in the new structure are filled.

Six regional offices covering all nine provinces were established and are already functional. Five offices were established in TVET colleges, in line with the post school education and training White Paper.

Interviews for the position of the CEO were completed in September 2016. Documentation was submitted to the Minister for Cabinet consideration.

For the appointment of the accounting authority, the standard constitution has been amended and submitted to the Department for ministerial approval. The CATHSSETA stakeholders have been invited to nominate representatives to the Board of CATHSSETA.

Ms Keitumetse Pebane, Senior Manager: Skills Development, CATHSSETA said the organisation achieved 60% of its targets in programme 1, 75% in programme 2, 100% in programme 3 and 65% in programme 4.

The reason for the uneven provincial distribution for 2015/16 relates to uneven distribution of service providers and training providers, migration from rural to urban provinces, learner dropouts, learner throughput from TVET colleges, low intake on TVET colleges programmes and participation by employers in smaller regions.

Financial matters

Mr Malusi Shezi, Chief Financial Officer, CATHSSETA took the Committee through the financial expenditure report of the organisation. The fraud investigation for the period 2010 to 2014 led to legal action to recover R5.3 million from former employee.

Discussion
Ms Mchunu commended the organisation for obtaining a clean audit and for the reduction on irregular expenditure. However, the over expenditure in programme one and programme 2 without correlating achievements is worrying. She was also worried about the underspending on Programme 4, which is the core delivery programme of the organisation, and asked the reason for this under-spending. She also suggested that the Department must look at the calculation on page 39 of its Annual Report, which did not tally.

She asked what criteria were used to determine the allocations for bursaries, internships and learnerships. She also commented that the provincial distribution as shown on page 10 seemed to be centralised on Gauteng and Western Cape, and wondered why that was.

She asked if SETA had recouped the money used to pay for international trips and university fees for the former board members’ families, and if not, asked why not.

Mr N Khubisa (NFP) asked if all the critical posts had been filled. He commented that there was an outcry on the need for skills development in Eastern Cape, and wanted to know what was happening there. He also said more clarification was needed on what SETA was and was not funding.

Ms M Nkadimeng (ANC) commended SETA for obtaining a clean audit. She then noted that SETA had established six regional offices so that some of the provinces were making use of the same office, and she wondered if those regions that did not have offices were receiving adequate support, and how many staff members were employed in each region, as well as their salary bands.

Ms Nkadimeng also said that the DHET had previously reported that Western Cape had challenged the directives of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) directives, and there was a process to resolve the legislative issues around the directives. She wondered if the non-compliance now reported by government departments and public entities was the result of the unresolved legal issues, and what progress there had been to resolve the challenges.

She further pointed out that during the Committee’s midterm review workshop the Committee was informed that the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) was not paying its 30% contribution to CATHSSETA because the SETA was not providing training that would specifically address the skills shortage in the biodiversity sectors. She wondered if this was an indicator that public entities were not contributing because they were not getting value for money, and asked if CATHSSETA had ever provided reports to any of the paying departments as to how their contributions were being used – and if so, what the response had then been.

Dr Bozzoli congratulated SETA for obtaining a clean audit. She asked what the administrator found and what had been done about; SETA was put under administration and the Committee knew about one instance of fraud, but she thought that an administration order implied that there could be more. How much corruption did the administrator find, and what was done about it? How many people were fired, how many were prosecuted? She added that one most noticeable aspect had been the handing out of tenders, and providing skills training if people getting the tenders did not provide the skills. She furthermore questioned why page 7 showed that 5 551 people entered the skills programme but only 1 545 graduated from the programmes.

Ms Kilian commended SETA for obtaining a clean audit. She asked what it was doing about the non-payment of the levy and said that there was a huge list of non-paying entities. She was concerned that any over-expenditure did not seem to be aligned or linked to performance targets. She too wanted to know why so few of those entering the programmes completed them.

Mr Siwela congratulated SETA for obtaining clean audit but asked what the administrator had done to ensure that the good governance in place would continue after he left. He asked if any other irregularities had been found and what was being done to address them.

Mr C Kekana (ANC) asked why SETA was apparently giving out grants based merely on discretion.

The Chairperson asked why SETA is assisting the National Lottery, and what form this took. She asked what support DHET was giving to SETA and what exactly was being done to bring SETA up to scratch? When the Committee did its oversight, it picked up the problem of the levy, with some SETAs saying that certain departments refused to pay, and she asked if the Department had it in mind to change directives to actual compelling clauses.

Mr Kedama thanked the Committee for its support. He said that over-expenditure mainly occurred in Programme 1 which was support functions of IT and finance, and there had been trends seen over a period of time, particularly for smaller SETAs, perhaps because the comparison of the size of the budget did not match the obligations they had to fulfil. SETA had improved on its performance, and he cited the example of employers applying for bursaries for employees; some learners came into the programme, discovered it was not what they had hoped, and left. This would impact upon the targets.

Over expenditure is witnessed in programme one. This programme covers the support functions, IT, finance. There has been a trend over a long period of time especially for the small SETAs and this may be as a result of the size of the overall budget in relation to the obligation that it has to fulfil. In terms of under spending SETA has improved in terms of its performance. For example, bursaries for the employed. There are employers applying for bursaries for their employees, because of the mobility within the sectors someone can get a better opportunity and leave. That impacts on the targets. Some of the learners come into the programme and discover that it is not what they envisaged, they may leave. This also impacts on the targets. He noted that all critical positions had been filled, and although there were still some vacancies, the organisation was able to fulfil its obligations.

He said that intensive investigations were held into the allegations and there was no evidence to suggest that  money has been moved from CATHSSETA to someone’s account or pocket, except for one former employee who had been arrested and charged. However, it seemed that correct processes were not followed, which would not lead to criminal charges, but to disciplinary charges and some, once charged, had resigned. There is however evidence to suggest that processes have not been followed. This cannot lead to someone being arrested or charged criminally. Some officials have been charged though, some resigned and others were disciplined. People have been made to account for their actions.

In respect of the provincial spread, he said SETA had to start somewhere, and must pay specific attention to areas where most of its stakeholders were located, and would set up the offices there. If they were rolled out in all the provinces, there would be even more over-expenditure.

Management was in place and capable of taking the organisation forward. It will also depend on the accounting officer

The National Lotteries Board had employees, and would apply in the same way as any other employer for the allocations.
 

Ms Pebane said the criteria for learners’ qualification include gender, class, geographic, and most importantly scarce and critical skills. There is an intensive engagement with the stakeholders through the various mandatory grant processes to identify these skills.

She noted that most of the non-achievement was in relation to completion, because of the large numbers of dropouts. The learners mentioned in the skills programme numbers had mostly come in from the previous financial year. Some programmes took longer than others, and may cross over financial years. In 2016/17 there may be over-achievement because of the programmes that are currently under way.

SETA runs an intensive stakeholders’ engagement. Some of the things that the sector calls scarce and critical skills puts them in a position where what they are offering may be important, but is not classed as scarce and critical.

Mr Shezi spoke to the over expenditure, saying SETA had embarked on revenue generational projects. Its projection was a shortfall of R28.4 million, which it will be receiving each year from the departments and other entities that were listed in the response to the Portfolio Committees. The engagement with particular departments had started, some are forthcoming and others will need certain interventions at a higher level.
He explained that “recouping” meant bursaries that were granted and students went to study internationally. In regard to the recovery, CATHSSETA had obtained legal opinions. The SETA followed the  internal process but there was also a court action that SETA was opposing in respect of a contract payment, although it had had to pay under protest in the meantime.

He said that there are six support staff in the regional offices and salary bands would be sent on as he did not have them offhand. He noted that “discretionary grant “ had a specific legal meaning and this was not actually using discretion in the normal sense.

In relation to the question what could be done to persuade departments to pay levies, he said that it would assist if this Committee were to ask National Treasury to send a circular, as departments took communications from National Treasury more seriously. National Treasury can deduct the money directly and give it to the relevant SETAs or issue a circular that states that failure to comply will result in a statement of non-compliance in the audit report.

Another CATHSSETA representative said CATHSSETA had a firm foundation and the organisation can move forward. Performance was centred on Gauteng and Western Cape since most service providers were there.

Mr Lumka agreed that there was still a challenge with the Western Cape contributions, and both the provincial government and National Treasury had a problem with the 30% figure, which had emanated from DPSA. He suggested that this should be explained in a separate report as the explanation was long.

Government departments were exempt from paying skills development levies, but may contribute. The Skills Development Levies Act resided with National Treasury and any amendments would have to come from that department.

He explained that in his capacity as administrator he had been asked to provide a plan, and he hoped that the board would be in place before the end of the year. Regulations were in place but it would be incumbent on the new administrators to make sure that it did not regress.

The Chairperson asked that the Department take its concerns to the Minister for further clarification.

Adoption of the programme of the Committee

The Committee programme was adopted, with some amendments.

The meeting was adjourned.