False Bay TVET College
With 11 940 enrolled students in 2019, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges are an important avenue to post-school education and vocational training and are crucial to job creation, economic growth and the future prosperity of the country.
False Bay TVET College has five well-resourced campuses in the Cape Peninsula that collectively have an annual enrolment of around 11 000 students. While not the largest college, False Bay has consistently been recognised as one of the best TVET colleges in South Africa for over 15 years.
Along with its services to our youth, communities and diverse industries, False Bay TVET College has strong ties and strategic partnerships with employers, government departments, the SETAs, representative industry bodies and both local and international educational institutions. These partnerships enable us to leverage resources and opportunities that give our students not only affordable access to quality training and jobs but to life skills, work experience and cultural enrichment.
Ten reasons for our success
1. Ideal Location
Our five campuses located in the communities of Muizenberg, Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha, Westlake and Fish Hoek are easily accessible, allowing students to commute from anywhere in the Peninsula. In response to demand, the College is set to double its enrolment and add two more specialised campuses: a 6.5-hectare mega-campus in Mitchell’s Plain that will serve as many as 10 000 students and the Swartklip campus located at the former Denel munitions testing grounds, which will offer state-of-the-art artisan-related programmes to 3 000 students a year.
2. Benefits of Investment
The TVET sector has recently attracted heavy government investment, which is rapidly improving the access to and quality of TVET qualifications. These investments include the NSFAS funding fee-free education for the majority of TVET students; the SETAs spending over R500 million on bursaries and placements at TVET colleges, universities and universities of technology; the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) funding 12 new campuses and colleges; and the DHET supporting 14 universities to develop programmes for improving TVET lecturers’ qualifications.
3. Efficient Administration
The College’s growth is underpinned by strong leadership and an award-winning administration system that has been recognised by the Auditor-General of South Africa and the DHET. The College has twice received clean audit awards and has received a clean audit for the past five years.
4. Relevant Curriculum
The College offers vocational, occupational and skills training programmes with a special focus on artisan skills in the Electrical, Motor Mechanics, Welding & Fabrication, Fitting & Turning, Automotive Body Repair, Spray Painting, Masonry, Plumbing, Carpentry and Joinery trades.
Courses are also offered in Business, Information & Communication Technology, Hospitality, Engineering, Tourism, Yacht & Boat Building, Safety in Society, 2D Animation and Education Studies. All College programmes are examined and certified nationally and designed in collaboration with commerce and industry.
5. Strong Partnerships
Private and public employer organisations recognise that the only way to assist young people to gain work experience and increase their employability is through engaging with them and opening up workplace opportunities.
False Bay TVET College understands and promotes the important role of employers in providing workplace experience, internship and employment opportunities to College students and graduates. All our partnerships are informed by this common understanding.
6. Placement Track Record
The College excels at supporting its graduates during their transition to the world of work. Its Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) Department achieved a 92% placement rate in 2018, a feat few colleges could match in the current state of the economy. The College employs five dedicated WIL officers who provide graduates with work placement support.
This service helps to connect students to job opportunities and prepares them for the world of work via the work-readiness programme. The WIL programme not only benefits students but participating companies are able to improve their company B-BBEE scorecards, access SETA benefits, release full-time staff for training and upskilling and improve staff retention.
Our WIL programme was recognised by the ETDP Seta at the 2018 National Skills Conference and Development Awards with the prestigious Gold Award in the Most Outstanding Skills Development Stakeholder category.
7. Forward Thinking
False Bay TVET College is increasingly investing in new technology to take advantage of the digital age. As access to information improves with every advance in internet technology, our students benefit from new teaching methodologies, opportunities for distance learning and participation in international joint programmes.
The government has initiated the Centres of Specialisation Programme through the DHET to address the demand for qualifications in the priority trades needed for the implementation of the government’s growth strategy. False Bay TVET College was selected as the Centre of Specialisation and premier training institution for riggers as well as mechanical fitters in the Western Cape.
In keeping with the global trend, the College recognises that many graduates are more likely to start their own businesses in future than remain as employees in established businesses. To facilitate the entrepreneurial development of students and graduates, the College hosts the Centre for Entrepreneurship/Rapid Incubator (CFE/RI), a partnership with the DHET and the Department of Small Business Development. The CFE/RI provides a supportive environment, top-class machinery and physical space to student entrepreneurs to enable product development. Learning is supported by structured individual mentoring and the facilitation of linkages to new resources.
8. Student Support
The College offers comprehensive student support and development services at all its campuses, which include career guidance, financial aid, personal counselling, academic support and job placement.
9. Inclusive Education
False Bay TVET College has an Inclusive Education Office which ensures that students with disabilities are able to access our learning facilities and support services at all our campuses. For students who experience difficulty accessing the College due to work commitments or distance, the College provides alternative modes of teaching and training, including part-time classes and distance learning options.
10. Student Life
Our relationships with the students begin even before they enrol as the first contact for many happens on our popular Open Days, where prospective students and parents receive all the course information and career guidance they need to make an informed choice. False Bay TVET College students are offered a rich campus life focused on healthy activity that encourages the development of beneficial co-curricular learning, including participation in inter-college sports and various clubs and societies.
Students are served by an active Student Representative Council and there is regular engagement between management, the faculty and students across all courses and campuses. Our structured communication environment enables the College to identify and service students’ needs effectively, which often leads to innovations, such as the recently introduced mobile health and wellness campus clinic, the first such facility in South Africa.
How to contact False Bay TVET College
Please see our website at www.falsebaycollege.co.za for contact details of our campuses, course details and assistance with the application process.
- Contact: 021 787 0800 / Jacqueline.Layman@falsebay.org.za
- Centre of Entrepreneurship & Rapid Incubator: 021 201 1215 / info@falsebayincubate.co.za
- Work-Integrated Learning Department: 021 700 6400 / jobplacement@falsebay.org.za
