The chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Marius Fransman, on Wednesday called on Higher Education Minister Dr Blade Nzimande to "advance" a long-term strategy for skills development among the youth.

The committee wanted Nzimande to put plans for skills development for the youth in place through his policy statement, a draft of which the Minister would table to Parliament in November.

"The committee has raised various concerns about fragmented skills training in the country. Young people do not know where to go for skills training opportunities and need more information. About 2,5-million young people are unemployed, lacking relevant skills, therefore effectively leaving them marooned unemployable," Fransman noted in a statement.

He added that more data was also needed on the unemployed youth in order to "track these 16- to 35-year olds in partnerships with institutions like the National Youth Development Agency".

The committee had welcomed the fact that the Minister had put a strategic document for the transition to align skills training and higher education in place and commended Nzimande for taking the "correct approach" in dealing with all facets of skills development, from professional to apprentice level.

Nzimande, meanwhile, said that there was a responsibility on the part of universities, as public institutions, to account publicly. Perceptions also had to be changed about colleges, which had a bigger role to play in the post school system.

"It's not the end of the world if a child cannot go to a university. There are many more options to explore in preparing such a child for employment," he said.

The current Department of Education would be split into two departments, namely Basic Education and Higher Education and Training, with the legal responsibility becoming that of the respective Ministers in November.

The new Higher Education and Training department would encompass the majority of out-of-school and adult education and training aspects of education, but would exclude certain specialised sector colleges like nursing and agriculture.

It was also envisaged that the 23 Sector Education and Training Agencies would migrate from the Department of Labour to fall under the new department.