Thank you, Chairperson, and thanks to hon member Mushwana for this question. We want to say that, as a department, we do agree with the fact that there is a general belief across our communities that FET colleges deliver programmes and qualifications that are significantly inferior in quality compared to those offered by universities.
This is a perception that has developed over a long time, and we are committed to changing it. We are making several efforts and interventions to change this perception; I will mention only a few here in response to this question.
First of all, this year the Department of Higher Education and Training has already held three summits - the Higher Education Summit, FET Colleges Summit and a Skills Summit. Part of the strategy of holding these summits was to involve all stakeholders so that, amongst other things, we create cohesion between these institutions that constitute the Department of Higher Education and Training landscape.
In addition to that, what we have also put at the centre of our work, as part of improving the functionality of the colleges, is that there needs to be high articulation between FET colleges and universities so that kids who take programmes in FET colleges are also able to proceed to university if they choose to do so - something that is not systematised at the moment.
Furthermore, within the next few weeks we will be finalising the National Skills Development Strategy 3. One of the things that we have put into that strategy is that we must strengthen the relationship between the sector education and training authorities, Setas, and FET college, as well as the relationship with the employers, so that ideally, in the medium to long term, every FET college student is able to get workplace experience.
This is one of the biggest problems that we face. We think that with some of these measures we will be able to improve the attractiveness of the FET college sector. This will be in addition to the mobilising that we, as government, will continue to do to engage our communities.
Lastly, the FET Summit also focused on very critical issues around how we can revive and strengthen the FET college sector, including improving teaching and learning, efficiency, governance, financial management, as well as preparations for 2011, so that we can start next year on a sounder footing. Thank you.