SUMMARY - IDEAL COLLEGE CONFERENCE DURBAN, 17-18 MAY, 2010

13 March 2010 - Molapo Campus Hall

By Dan L Nkosi: Principal/ CEO of South West Gauteng College and Convener of Gauteng Chapter of SACPO

 

Ladies and gentlemen, Programme Director, Chairperson of SACPO.

 

A very good teacher almost died trying to teach me what was known in English as a precis - summarizing.

 

The real summary of this conference is the one that each delegate made for himself or herself in their mind because, it is expected and natural that each delegate would have subjected the input of the conference to some internal interrogation and sifting and arrived at some internal and even personal conclusions. So, your own internal and personal summary will enjoy supremacy to this hurried attempt at a summary. And this particular attempt at a summary respects that and does not, in any way, purport to supersede or impose on anyone''s personal summary of the deliberations.

 

To give you an example, the definition produced by my own internal interrogation and synthesis of the input of the conference is that of an ideal college being everything that the community around that college wants it to be - programmes, systems, and all. More like what the Nile River was to Egypt! Every aspect of life in Egypt revolved around the Nile River! Source of food, transport, culture and even religion. Even the child Moses, was saved in, and by the Nile. So, an ideal college can, in my view, be one that is the centre of the life of the community around it. Each delegate probably made his own definition and summary of an ideal college from the input of the conference and that is viewed by the organizers of the conference as being good.

 

The conference was, from the outset, premised on the assumption or condition that commissions were going to be the drivers of the conference and its output and that the presentations, both in the plenary and in the commissions were merely intended to stimulate debate and provoke and prick our thinking.

 

Each presentation, whether in the plenary or in the commissions achieved this in its own peculiar way and the results met the test and expectations of the organizers, either in general or specific terms, if not both. The Chairperson of SACPO, Mr JJ Mbana successfully set the tone for the conference and gave it direction and stimulation, during his welcome, freeing the delegates to dream and dream big - a message which was also echoed by Dr Nzama in his welcome when he welcomed us, this time to the Kingdom. Dr Nzama described the conference as a rare opportunity which needed to be exploited to the fullest for the sake of the country, its economy and its young people.

 

The DG, Prof Metcalfe gave a thought-provoking address, also imploring the conference delegates to dream and dream big, even giving the impression that she was going to subject the delegates to a test on the important acronyms and concepts spawned by the unfolding developments in the sector (PQM, PIVOT, etc.). Her own definition of an ideal college was very simple, but stimulating and went this way: a college with effective and efficient governance, management and systems that ensure quality teaching and learning. As a rider to her definition, she said an ideal college should contribute to improvements in the access and success of students.

 

In her conclusion, the DG, gave a sense of the urgency of the situation by declaring, almost in the form of a warming that ''the 2011 academic year cannot start in the same way as the 2010 academic year!''

 

The presentation by Mr Thabo Mashongoane on the NSDS III, very ably demonstrated the synergy that is intended with the ''collapsing'' or grouping together of the entities involved in skills development (higher education, SETAs, colleges, etc.) under the one ministerial umbrella of the Department of Higher Education and Training. The presentation put the NSDS III at the centre of skills development and pointed to the opportunities this presented for colleges.

 

In his presentation, Paul Musker, among other important points, emphasized the fact that the Round Table Discussion that took place in Midrand was born out of the importance attached by the new Education Administration on stakeholder involvement and the need to arrive at a collective understanding and agreement on what needs to be done in the short-to-medium term to bring about coherence and fast-paced movement in skills development in the country and to make colleges, in particular, the preferred providers and not second-choice Cinderella institutions. Reference was also made to the fact the work started at the Round Table Discussion would culminate in a Summit in September of this year, which SACPO needed to contribute to. He also referred to what he called; ''the new paradigm shift for policy and planning.''

 

The very insightful presentation by Chris Murray on the programme for supporting job creation in under-developed communities came as a welcome and even sobering reminder to all that colleges are essentially about connecting young people and communities with the economy and that colleges should help develop entrepreneurship among students and youth.

 

The presentation by Ms R Keus of Pearson was on the Frontier Online Teaching and Learning Platform and how the platform can help with issues of access, student reach, marking and communication.

 

Dr Claudia Beck-Rheinhard covered the systemic audit conducted in the Eastern Cape, lessons learnt and how the findings and, or lessons learnt connected to the concept or idea of an ideal college.

 

Mr Lottering of ABSA added to the wealth of the conference with his address on the overview of Employee Benefits, notably, medical aid and retirement fund, even emphasizing the fact that 70% of the sector is banked by ABSA and the benefits of compounding more contracts with ABSA.

 

Ms Taljaard and Morne Meyer of CAPTest, presented on the Competency and Placement Test as an instrument capable of helping with funding and pass rate challenges, among others, and confronted the conference with some of the ever-worrying statistics of the sector. She argued that a basic screening test, CAPTEST, is an effective, cost-effective tool that can help colleges, provided it is managed, applied and followed-up properly, with appropriate academic support.

 

The plenary reports of the Commissions - all seven of them - proved that the conference had succeeded as a generator, boiling cauldron and melting pot of the sector''s wisdom to be contributed towards the concept of an ideal conference, which wisdom will go a long way in enriching the Minster''s September Summit. All the reports bore witness to active and passionate participation. Each commission ably responded to the dynamics brought about by the topic or theme of discussion. Some of the commissions, notably the Governance Commission, brought to the fore dynamics whose value included a timely reminder to all of us and SACPO, in particular, that important as we are as a player in these developments and times, we are but one player among many players and that our views and strongly held views, are just that - our views and views strongly held by us! And that there are other views and views held strongly by others, which will and should also be allowed space in the sifting funnel towards an ideal conference. Each commission was pioneering in the way it drove home fundamental points that it viewed as critical for the defining of an ideal college. The specific points raised in each commission will, for the sake of time not be covered, with the understanding that these will be contained in the conference package which will be sent to all delegates.

 

In conclusion, the conference of the last two days will, undoubtedly go into the annals of the history of this country''s education and training for its boldness in tackling issues and its contribution to and enrichment of the process(es) of finding solutions to the country''s skills development malaise.

 

I am deliberately ending with Dr John Pampallis''s input on behalf the Minister, which input seemed to take the form of a compass, endorsing the idea and direction of the conference, but nicely and politely cautioning that the envisaged ideal college should not be a ''straight-jacket'' one-size fits all, but needs to allow colleges to flexibly respond to different demands and circumstances dictated by their localities. The Ministry''s belief in the sector''s capability to rise to the country''s skills development challenges was very clear and obvious throughout the address by the Minister''s Advisor, John Pampallis.

 

Just some straight-forward last points:

• The copies of all presentations and break-away transcripts will be forwarded to all delegates
• The SACPO Executive will meet on 2 June, 2010, with all break-away facilitators, to further refine and consolidate the product of the conference and to ensure that, in time, this is fed to the Ministerial processes.

Thanks

 

Dan Nkosi
Principal