Higher Level Vocational Education in South Africa: Dilemmas of a Differentiated System

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In South Africa, the concept of ‘higher vocational’ education and training is multi-layered and understood very differently depending on which institutional type it is being associated with. In spite of the establishment of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in 1995 which was intended to bring about some coherence across the education and training system, and enhance portability of credits and articulation, perceptions of institutional hierarchies and the ‘value’ of their qualifications have persisted. Public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges (FE colleges in the UK) have historically offered vocational qualifications which in NQF terms (Levels 5 and 6) are within the university/higher education space, but these qualifications have never been accepted as ‘higher education’ due to their location in TVET colleges, and the fact that they have not been accredited within the university quality assurance structures. In the university system on the other hand, the term ‘higher vocational’ is rarely used to refer to qualifications that are closely related to work or practice, with the term ‘professional qualifications’ being preferred.Notwithstanding, in the last decade there has been growing recognition of the need for qualifications that span the boundary between TVET colleges and universities, and allow greater access to further and higher education for young people who for various reasons cannot access university. Moreover, in terms of government’s national plan for post-school education (White Paper on PSET, 2013), the TVET subsystem is set to grow by a much greater margin than the university sector. Albeit to a limited extent, universities and TVET colleges are collaborating in the design of Level 5 ‘Higher Certificates’ that can be offered by colleges, or universities, and become pathways into university programmes. These higher certificates enjoy higher status than historical TVET Level 5/6 offerings, due to their having the input and approval from universities at the outset, although much of this provision is being driven by universities of technology and comprehensive universities at present, rather than what in the South African differentiated higher education system are designated ‘research’ universities.This chapter traces the convoluted pathway that TVET colleges and vocational education in South Africa have traversed, and the significant reversal of integrated higher vocational education systems within South Africa’s post-school education and training sector. This chapter outlines policy approaches to higher vocational education in South Africa, which largely position vocational higher education in higher certificates and diplomas that do not articulate with professional undergraduate degree qualifications, hence preserving the status quo.South Africa’s higher education institutional landscape has undergone significant restructuring since the advent of democracy in 1994, and this chapter outlines ways in which these changes have privileged academic disciplinary learning at the expense of vocational higher education. Furthermore, we focus on instances of TVET college higher education vocational provision and identify some of the key challenges for college participation in higher vocational education.Conceptual framings that we draw on in this chapter are those of David Raffe and others with regard to scholarship on the notions of parity of esteem and unification.