Higher Education and Training
Higher Education and Training
Higher Education and Training
When the previous Department of Education was divided into two sections: Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) was formed in 2009.
The new Department’s mandate encompassed components of skills development that had previously been under the Department of Labor’s purview.
The new Department was created particularly to focus on post-secondary education and training in a holistic manner, and it has greatly expanded its scope of operations.
DHET Vision
- Leading the charge for expansion in post-secondary education and training.
DHET Mission
- To provide national strategic leadership in support of the Post-School Education and Training system, with the goal of improving South Africans’ quality of life.
DHET Values
- The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) is dedicated to achieving the following goals:
- Integrity.
- Accountability.
- Committed.
- Responsiveness.
- Proactive behavior.
- Continuous learning.
- Rationality.
- Teamwork.
- Emotional intelligence.
Higher Education and Training has a constitutional mandate derived from the Republic’s supreme law, the Constitution, which lists education at all levels, including tertiary education, as a functional area of concurrent national and provincial legislative competence in Section 29, read with Schedule 4.
Section 29 rights in education
Section 29 reads as follows:
Everyone has the right to:
- to a fundamental education, including adult education
Further education, which the state must make gradually available and accessible through acceptable ways.
2. Everyone has the right to get an education in the official language or a language of their choice in public educational institutions where it is reasonable to do so. In order to ensure effective access to, and implementation of this right, the state must consider all reasonable educational alternatives, including single medium institutions, taking into account:
- Equity
- Practicability
- The need to redress the results of past racially-discriminatory laws and practices.
3. Everyone has the right to establish and operate independent educational institutions at their own expense that:
- Do not discriminate against people based on their color.
- Are you registered with the government?
- Maintain standards that are not less stringent than those at comparable public schools.
4. Subsection 3 does not restrict the state from providing financial assistance to autonomous educational institutions.
The legislative mandate of the DHET
The Higher Education Act establishes a unified and nationally coordinated higher education system, as well as a statutory Council on Higher Education (CHE) (link www.che.org.za).
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS Act) governs the awarding of loans and bursaries to eligible university students, as well as the administration of such loans and bursaries.
The Further Education and Training Act (FET Act) governs and funds FET Colleges, as well as other aspects of offering a FET college education.
Act No. 16 of 2006, Continuing Education and Training Act (SET Act, 2006).
The National Qualification Framework Act (NQF Act) governs the administration of the NQF, including level dispensations and associated topics, as well as qualifications and quality assurance of qualifications required under the NQF’s sub-frameworks.
The Skills Development Levies Act regulates the imposition of skills development levies as well as other relevant issues.
FET Colleges, as well as other parts of providing a FET college education, are governed and funded under the Further Education and Training Act (FET Act).
The NQF Act controls the administration of the NQF, including level dispensations and related matters, as well as qualifications and quality assurance of credentials required under the NQF’s sub-frameworks.
The Skills Development Taxes Act governs the imposition of skills development levies, among other things.
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