High Level Skills are a boost for Business

OVERVIEW OF THE ISETT-ISSA PROJECT

In November 2001, the Isett Seta went into a partnership with the Institute for Satellite and Software Applications (ISSA), a division of the Department of Communications, to develop high level programmes that benefited over 380B.Sc. graduates in Maths and Science from the previously disadvantaged communities around South Africa.

The overall objective of the project has been to produce strategic human resource capabilities in the ICT sector, by offering the graduates the opportunity to move their careers through Postgraduate Diploma in Engineering, Masters in Engineering, Masters in Software Engineering and Internetworking. These programmes where funded by the National Skills Fund (NSF) under the auspices of the Department of Labour (DoL).

This was achieved through transforming the existing programmes into qualifications with unit standards, which allows the learners to become part of South Africa’s engineering “cream of the corp.”

Over and above, the Isett Seta instituted an internship project in 2004, in recognition of the number of unemployed graduates and insufficient work experience. Isett therefore embarked on an eight month internship pilot program with the support of 50 companies, who committed to employing the interns during and after completion of the programme.

The project has been extremely successful with ± 340 interns graduating in June this year. Out of 380 intakes, 247 are permanently employed and 35 on contractual basis.

The events were held at the following venues in the various provinces.

  • Hilton Hotel, Durban on the 21st June
  • Cullinan Hotel, Cape Town on the 25th June
  • Liban Conference and Banqueting Venue, Woodmead, Johannesburg on the 28th June 2005 (Pictures)

These learners have acquired all the required work experience in technical skills, soft skills and business skills as required by the workplace provider and intern. Soft skills and business skills typically addressed such aspects as financial skills, research skills, HR skills, management and leadership skills, and presentation skills. They are ready to be absorbed by employers.

POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN ENGINEERING (PDE)

This one-year course was run in collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch. B.Sc graduates from previously disadvantaged universities, with at least two years of Physics and majors in Mathematics, Physics or Applied Mathematics, were eligible to apply. The diploma covered the fields of electromagnetics, telecomms, computers, satellites and design projects. The diploma prepared learners for careers in Satellite Communications Systems. ISSA offered the top PDE graduates an opportunity to pursue a Masters in Engineering Science(MES) degree, with support from the University of Stellenbosch. During the course of this project, the PDE was transformed into a two-year qualification, with defined unit standards.

MASTERS IN ENGINEERING SCIENCE (MES)

The MES programme was a training partnership between StellenboschUniversity and ISSA. Applicants wishing to pursue this stream of training were selected from the previous year's PDE programme.

This stream was therefore not open to learners that were first-time ISSA applicants. he course had an in-depth focus on the fields of electromagnetics, telecommunications, computers systems & programming and satellite dynamics.

At this level, the students were actively involved in the development of electronics for command and control systems, ground station design, RF systems, on-board computing systems, etc. The MES has been a two-year programme, and the Isett-ISSA project developed a qualification with unit standards for this programme.

MASTERS IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (MSE)

The MSE programme was a training partnership between the prestigious Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) in the United States and ISSA. BSc graduates, with majors in Computer Science and Mathematics, were eligible for the MSE programme. The software engineering program involved a step-by-step approach to the development of advanced software architectures, management of the software development process, as well as advanced programming and modelling. The MES was a two-year programme. Through the Isett-ISSA project, this programme was introduced into South Africa, with the University of Stellenbosch providing the education. This programme is now known as the B.Sc. (Hons) Software Engineering degree, and the Isett-ISSA project was responsible for developing the qualification with unit standards for this programme as well.

INTERNETWORKING

BSc graduates, majoring in Mathematics, Applied Mathematics or Computer Science, were eligible to apply for this programme. The programme in the past offered advanced technical networking training, and the scope to attain such internationally sought after industry qualifications as CCNA, CCNP, MCSE, ACE and others. These qualifications were revised, and in 2002, CCNA, UNIX, Dot.net, and MCSD was offered. Apart from receiving advanced practical training on a Cisco examination-type laboratory, students in this stream sat for worldwide-standard qualification examinations. Punctuated with such courses as Multimedia Engineering, SAP-R3, Project Management, Programming Languages and a wide spectrum of others, this stream offered an opportunity to widen one’s horizons tremendously. Networking was a two-year programme. During the course of the Isett-ISSA project, this programme was initially split into two one-year streams. Despite ISSA’s preference to drop this programme at the end of 2003, the project nevertheless developed the qualification with unit standards. These unit standards have since been adopted by other networking qualifications and learnerships.

From its inception, training was focused on recruiting individuals from previously disadvantaged communities. Graduates from Science and Engineering faculties make up a very small pool in South Africa. Finding Science graduates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds has been challenging at best. Seeking out specifically female science graduates from previously disadvantaged backgrounds warranted focused recruitment methods.

BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAMMES OFFERED BY ISSA

The benefits of the programmes offered by ISSA have been to:

  • Provide B.Sc. graduates from previously disadvantaged communities with the opportunity to move into the engineering field.
  • Provide more opportunity for graduates from previously disadvantaged communities to become a part of South Africa’s engineering cream of the crop.

BENEFITS OF TRANSFORMING THE ISSA PROGRAMMES INTO QUALIFICATIONS WITH UNIT STANDARDS

  • These qualifications with unit standards can be used for learnerships.
  • By their very nature, the development of qualifications with unit standards required the participation of potential employers (industry). One of the intentions was to provide employers with the skills that they need in the workplace. Industry has often expressed the concern that graduates from these institutions are far from being “workplace-ready”, and extensive effort is then still required to achieve this. As an example, many of these graduates have little or no knowledge of business skills. The participation of potential employees in the development of these qualifications provided a platform for industry to ensure that the skills produced are applicable to the workplace and business environment.

THE ISETT NSF INTERNSHIP PROJECT

As part of the Isett-ISSA project, Isett also instituted an internship project in 2004. During 2003/4, Isett recognised that there were many graduates and post-graduates within South Africa that were finding difficulty in obtaining employment after graduating. The reason often cited by potential employers is that these graduates have insufficient work experience to meet the immediate needs of the potential employer. Isett therefore decided to embark on a pilot internship programme to assist these unemployed graduates. With funding assistance once again from the National Skills Fund, Isett encouraged partnerships between these unemployed graduates and workplace providers/potential employers, partnering for an eight month internship period. During this period, these interns obtained structured workplace experience, supplemented with formal courses that enabled the interns to market themselves more effectively.

Prior to signing a tri-partite internship agreement between the workplace provider, the intern and Isett, the workplace provider assessed the skills development needs of the intern, in conjunction with the skills needs within the workplace provider’s organisation, and developed a skills development programme for that intern, across the eight month period. The internship catered for any additional technical skills, soft skills and business skills as required by the workplace provider and intern. Soft skills and business skills typically addressed such aspects as financial skills, research skills, HR skills, management and leadership skills, and presentation skills.

The formal academic courses selected for the intern built onto the content of past degrees and short-course certificates that were acquired by the intern.

This internship programme applied to graduates with at least a Bachelor’s degree. Isett funding amounted to a maximum of R40,000 per intern, including VAT, and this included a monthly allowance for the intern of R1,700 per month, and the provision of a mentor by the workplace provider was required.

This opportunity was only available to Isett levy contributors who were prepared to commit to employing the intern during and after completion of the internship. This placed the onus on the workplace provider to:

  1. Identify suitable candidates. As the employer, the workplace provider is best suited to decide which candidates are best suited to their type of business.
  2. Identify, in collaboration with the intern, what additional skills need to be acquired by the intern through formal training.
  3. Identify what Training Provider is best suited to provide those skills.
  4. Identify, in collaboration with the intern, what workplace experience the intern will be acquiring.

Some 50 organisations committed to this program, covering 384 interns who were unemployed when contracted to this project.

MAIN STAKEHOLDERS THAT WERE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT

Stakeholder involvement on this project took several forms.

  • Reference Group. The Reference Group comprised several people, drawn from
  • The relevant SGBs,
  • Industry, either through the various industry associations or through direct participation of ICT organisations.
  • Educational institutions such as the University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch, and MonashUniversity.

These participants worked with the project development team. Consultant(s) were appointed to perform the actual development of the qualifications and unit standards. The Reference Group assisted in overseeing and guiding the work being conducted by the consultant such that the final product related to the needs of potential employers.

  • The ISETT-SETA Board of Directors. The ISETT Board comprises people from industry, government and labour, and were be kept informed of the progress of the project. The primary purpose of keeping the Board informed was to draw on their experience and perceived needs of their stakeholders, as well as to encourage these members to feed back to their stakeholders.

MAIN BENEFICIARIES OF THE ISETT-ISSA PROJECT

While developing the qualifications and unit standards over the course of the project, the project also sponsored about 340 learners at ISSA. Over and above this, 384 interns were also sponsored.

Overview of the ISETT-ISSA ProjectPage 1
Version 1.2, June 2005