Date: 05/11/2010
Source: The Presidency
Title: SA: Motlanthe: Briefing by the Deputy President of South Africa, on the outcomes of the Human Resources Development Council meting, Pretoria

The Human Resources Development Council met today, 05 November 2010 to evaluate progress achieved in the implementation of the Human Resources Development Strategy.

The meeting was chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and attended by ministers, organised labour, organised business, civil society organisations and higher education institutions.

Members of the HRD Council were approved by cabinet and also the HRD strategy was adopted by Cabinet in September 2010.

The mandate of the HRD Council, which is made up of the social partners and experts, is to advise government on the matters related to the Human Resources Development of the country for an inclusive growth path.

It further has a mandate to monitor progress made towards achievement of the commitments made in the strategy.

The HRD Council adopted the work plan for the next year based on the HRD Strategy.

The work plan identifies five key points, namely:

· Strengthening and supporting the FET colleges to expand access;

· Production of intermediate skills (artisans in particular) and professionals;

· Production of academics and stronger industry-university partnerships in research and development;

· Foundational learning; and

· Worker education

The meeting agreed that the critical approach and common theme with regard to human resources development is that we need to identify and remove bottlenecks in the skills pipeline and develop mechanisms that provide learners/students with placements in order for them to attain educational qualifications.

The Minister of Higher Education and Training, whose department has the responsibility for the day to day support of the work of the Council, emphasised that the key challenge facing the country in the production of artisans and professionals is the lack of work place experience.

"We enrol a number of young people in universities, who complete the university part of their learning, but because they cannot access workplaces to continue the other part of the qualification, they are unable to qualify for certain professions. Accountants, architects, engineers, town planners, etc are some of the professions affected by these bottlenecks in the system", Minister Blade Nzimande said.

The meeting noted that work that is underway in the production of artisans within government and in the private sector and some partnerships have already been established in this regard. This work will be taken forward by the Technical Working Group of Council.

The council received a presentation on the model used by the accounting profession to address the bottlenecks in the production of Chartered Accountants.

The model intervenes in the entire skills pipeline, starting with career awareness at school level and other support at school level, to support at tertiary level, at post- graduate and at the workplace for experiential learning.

The Council adopted this model and agreed to build further on the experiences learnt with impetus of improving human resources in other professions.