The National Skills Authority(NSA) is established in terms of Chapter 2, section (5) of the Skills Development Act (SDA) 97 of 1998, as amended (Act 37 of 2008) to advise the Minister as per the Act
The National Skills Authority(NSA) is established in terms of Chapter 2, section (5) of the Skills Development Act (SDA) 97 of 1998, as amended (Act 37 of 2008) to advise the Minister as per the Act
The year 2010/11 was practically a year of managing the implications of the function shift as well as concretizing the new system in DHET
Transition from DoL to DHET meant a new window of opportunity to review skills development system in order to align it to the national priorities of government
Challenges on the ground were that of pooling resources to support the new mandate
Fortunately, the NSA had already undertaken a strategic workshop to engage the Minister and the DG with the purpose of realigning the NSA activities
The NSA is an advisory body, established to advise the Minister on matters related to skills development
The NSA is an advisory body, established to advise the Minister on matters related to skills development
It is made up of a Board – comprising social partners, and there is a secretariat located in the Department that supports the Board
The current NSA was appointed into office a month after the Presidential proclamation to establish the DHET
This resulted in almost half of the membership being new and had to grapple with the issues related to the transfer of functions as well as to clarify the NSA role
The HRD : DDG was tasked to temporarily carry out the activities of the Executive Officer until the responsibility was transferred to DDG:SD to date (The process of appointing the EO is underway)
The year 2010 was over packed with urgent skills development activities that were crucial to the establishment of the new post school landscape
The succeeding slides will capture some of the key issue that were addressed
Advice to the Minister was provided on:
Advice to the Minister was provided on:
NSF matters
capping on administration from 2% up to 10%
NSF Strategic plan with emphasis on the allocation frame work
SETAs
Advice to extend the lifespan of the SETAs by one year for the period 2010/11
Advice to subject poor performing SETAs under administration
PSDFs
NSDS III consultations workshops were convened in Provinces through the Provincial Skills Development Forums
Skills Summit
NSA actively participated and led the summit in conjunction with DHET that resulted in a declaration of commitment by stakeholders (Minister’s agreement)
NSDS
NSDS
Advice to extend the NSDS II for a year to allow time transition and review of NSDS II
Advice to release draft NSDS III for public consultation
NSA consolidated inputs and provided advice on the NSDSIII
NSA Work plan 2011/12 developed to support NSDSIII implementation
Seta landscape
Advice on the re-establishment process (broad public consultation and public hearing process that led to the final new Seta landscape – 2011 to 2016)
Seta landscape 2011/16 endorsed and follow up on the PSeta and other Setas subjected to administration was made
NSA Repositioning
Intense discussions on how to strengthen the capacity of the NSA and its relationship with the DHET in order to maximise its role are ongoing
Legislation and policies
Legislation and policies
NSA reviewed the policies and advised the Minister accordingly on:
Skills Development Bill,
Seta Regulations and
Seta Constitution
Investigative function - two investigations are being conducted:
The following NSA 5 key areas of advice to the Minister over the next
five years were presented for noting and further inputs:
Review Skills development legislative framework to support integration of education and training and the national priorities of government (inclusive of the NSF framework)
Develop Framework on the mobilisation of business, government, community and labour to take full ownership of the NSDS III
Post school education and training that encourages society to support and build a developmental state
Strengthen the monitoring and evaluation functions particularly on the NSDSIII performance and governance.
Research, development and innovation to promote beneficiation and business enterprise development opportunities.
Identity of the NSA and its roles vs that of the skills branch
As an advisory body – what should the role of the NSA be
Is the NSA an entity that must have its own resources, budgets and functions, and how do these relate to the Department’s
Is the NSA board composition effective and does it address the challenges
As an advisory body, should it be undertaking the functions prescribed in the Act and what do these mean
Thus, how should the NSA be funded – the current functions are undertaken by the Department, funded through voted funds, will it be acceptable to duplicate funds and activities
Once the repositioning is concluded, the NSA will be appropriately capacitated to optimally execute its advisory mandate