The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has allocated R19.2-billion to increasing the number of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges during the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) cycle, Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday.

Delivering his 2014/15 Budget Vote in Parliament, he stated that the department was aggressively placing a focus on TVET colleges as the most preferred schooling option to build the critical skills that the South African economy needed.

“We are building more TVET colleges across the country and more money will be directed to elevate their stature and [programme] offerings. Our top priority is to expand them while improving their quality,” Nzimande said.

He noted that, as post-school education and training institutions were unevenly distributed across the country, with rural areas being particularly poorly served, the DHET had committed R2.5-billion towards the refurbishment of two existing TVET college campuses and the building of 12 new campuses.

The Minister further said that, as the department placed great emphasis on linking education and the workplace, sector education and training authority (Seta) offices were now being opened in rural areas and townships, as well as at TVET colleges, to bring them closer to the people they served.

“By the end of this financial year, all TVET colleges will have a Seta office,” he noted.

Nzimande also pointed out that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) had been expanded to include students at TVET colleges.

For the 2014/15 financial year, the DHET has allocated R6.14-billion to NFSAS. This amount includes R3.91-billion for loans and bursaries to universities, R2.11-billion for bursaries for TVET colleges and R116.2-million for administrative purposes.

The amount allocated by the DHET would be further supplemented by the R2.42-billion made available through NFSAS recoveries, the National Skills Fund (NSF) scarce skills bursaries, through Seta bursaries and through bursaries from government departments.

Therefore, the total funding available for loans and bursaries for the 2014 academic year was R8.85-billion, he said.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that, since the launch of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission’s Strategic Integrated Projects , the DHET had been working to determine the skills needed to build and maintain government’s massive new infrastructure plans.

He said this had necessitated a wide range of investigations across all the sectors associated with the National Infrastructure Plan to identify the skills needs and expected shortages.

“The department will be launching a report on the anticipated skills shortages for the Strategic Integrated Projects in September 2014,” Nzimande announced.

For the MTEF, the DHET’s budget increased at an average yearly rate of 6.8% from R34.3-billion in 2013/14 to R42-billion in2016/17.

The amount of R36.9-billion for 2014/15 was an increase of R2.5-billion, or 7.4%, on the 2013/14 allocation, excluding funds from the skills levy.

“The skills levy, which is channeled through the Setas and the NSF, is expected to increase at an average [yearly] rate of 9.5% from R12.3-billion in 2013/14 to R16.1-billion in 2016/17,” he said.