New international project for EEC
Ekurhuleni East TVET College (EEC) has been selected as one of two TVET Colleges in South Africa to run a Dual System Pilot Project (DSPP) for electrical and plumbing trades.
They will be guided by the German Association for International Cooperation (GIZ).
The college principal, Happy Sibande, says the new initiative was announced by a German parliamentarian Dr Thomas Feist, from Berlin, during his visit to the college.
“This initiative will be beneficial in ensuring that staff and students are better trained, in the workplace, for the workplace of the 21st century.
“This dual system apprenticeship training model is new to South Africa but has already been applied with success in Germany.
“Under this system students spend up to 70% of their training period in the workplace itself.
“The theoretical training they receive at the college is continually reinforced with practical application in the workplace.
“Students alternate between the college and the workplace in block periods of between eight and 14 weeks throughout their training period,” she says.
Happy says the TVET colleges can play an important role in addressing the skills shortage in South Africa.
“It is our vision that Ekurhuleni East TVET College will be a world-class Technical Vocational Education and Training institution,” she says.
Happy says that, together with five staff members, she undertook a study tour to Germany in January to learn more about the programme.
“The DSPP lecturers at the college will visit German institutions in May.
“This will lay the basis for student exchanges in the future,” she says.
Happy adds that the programme could only succeed with the support and active participation of industry.
“It was therefore important that we nurture relationships, both internationally and with local industries,” she says.
