Universities were not the only post-school education option available to the South African youth, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday, noting that further education and training (FET) colleges could play a critical role in preparing young people for economic participation.

"We encourage school leavers to make use of the vocational learning opportunities in our FET colleges," the Minister said in a speech delivered at a media briefing on post-schooling options.

However, he added that these colleges had to become institutions of choice, with the Higher Education and Training Department setting the advancement of access to, and quality of, the college sector as one of its biggest priorities for this year.

"As part of government's commitment to strengthen our skills and human resource base, we intend to broaden access to post-school education over time. I have previously indicated that the shape of our post‐secondary system is not appropriately balanced between universities and colleges," Nzimande noted.

He added that access to universities had to increase, but enrolment in colleges had to double in the next five years.

There was latent capacity to increase enrolments in the college system, but there was a need to first consolidate this sector, which had seen enormous changes in the past few years, the Minister highlighted.

"2010 will be utilised to deepen quality initiatives in readiness for expansion, to consolidate the various initiatives we have undertaken with Sector Education and Training Authorities (Setas) and Universities of Technology, which aim to increase the responsiveness of the colleges to the needs of the workplace, and to manage the transition of the colleges from a provincial to a national function," Nzimande stated.

Meanwhile, the Minister also encouraged learners who would not be able to study full-time and who wanted to enter the work force, to pursue learnership, apprenticeship and skills programme opportunities.

"The Department of Higher Education and Training is working with the Setas and the National Skills Fund (NSF) to make more learnerships available in 2010. The Setas will be recruiting 35 000 learners into these programmes during 2010. A further 2 500 will receive opportunities for skilling into creating their own new ventures," he added.

The department would, through the NSF, pledge R500-million to a project to roll out learning programmes for matriculants that did not meet university of college entrance requirements.

Nzimande, meanwhile, further pointed out that South Africa had to produce at least 12 500 artisans a year to meet the needs of the economy.

This would require a dramatic increase of the average qualification rate of 5 600 artisans a year, he added.

Other priorities for the department, this year, would include supporting the establishing of the Human Resource Development South Africa Council, strengthening the National Skills Authority and improving access to and success rates in universities and colleges.

Further, the department would work towards developing a post-school funding system, redefining the Seta landscape and deal with the efficiency challenges in the NSF.