Status Quo Report
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Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report (7th Edition) KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority June 2011 Prepared By: Karen Kohler Jody van Merode 1 ____________________________________________________________________________ Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report 7th edition Table of Contents Page Number Executive Summary 4 1. Introduction 5 2. Education vs. Training 9 3. Course Types 12 4. Institutions 13 4.1 Universities 13 (a) University of KwaZulu-Natal – Durban Campus 13 (b) University of KwaZulu-Natal – Pietermaritzburg Campus 13 (c) University of KwaZulu-Natal – Westville Campus 14 (d) University of Zululand - KwaDlangezwa 14 (e) University of South Africa – UNISA 14 4.2 Technikons/Universities of technology 15 (a) The Durban University of Technology - DUT 15 (b) The Steve Biko Campus of the DUT 15 (c) The Pietermaritzburg Campus of DUT 15 (d) Technikon South Africa 15 4.3 Technical Colleges 16 4.4 Private Institutions 16 4.5 Schools 17 4.6 Other Initiatives 17 5. Problems 17 6. Registration and Accreditation 18 6.1 Accreditation Bodies 19 (a) National 19 (b) Provincial 23 2 ____________________________________________________________________________ Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report 7th edition 7. Policy 23 7.1 National 23 7.2 Provincial 25 7.3 Local 25 7.4 Private sector 26 8. Conclusion and Recommendations 26 References 27 Appendices 28 Appendix 1 - Institutions and Courses Appendix 2 - Institution Contact List Appendix 3 - Acronyms Appendix 4 - Registered Institutions (see appx 5) Appendix 5 - Department of Education Registration List and Information May 2011 Appendix 6 – KZN Schools Offering Tourism as a Subject Appendix 7 – Executive Summary Skills Audit 3 ____________________________________________________________________________ Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report 7th edition Executive Summary The field of education and training for the tourism sector has undergone fairly radical change over the past several years. While some years back it was characterized by uncertainty, duplication, and fly-by-night service providers, a significant amount of ‘tightening-up’ has occurred and the path to a worthwhile, accredited qualification in the tourism sector is now a lot easier to identify. Provinces are expected, in terms of a national policy document referred to as "Institutional Guidelines for Tourism Promotion and Development in South Africa", to Identify training needs Implement national tourism training programmes in provinces Monitor training needs and standards in provinces, and Design and implement training programmes which are of particular relevance to provincial priorities. A tourism education and training authority, or THETA (Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority), has taken over the responsibility for the accreditation of courses not at the level or of the duration of those from universities or technikons. The THETA thus deals primarily with the lower levels of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). The levels of the NQF and the trainer/provider alignment are regulated by SAQA pronouncements. THETA, then, is one of a number of Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) which were set up during March 2000. A great deal of the confusion between the SETAs and THETA has been clarified recently and the THETA web site is partially responsible for this improvement. It is to be found on www.theta.org.za. THETA has undergone a name change and will from 1 April 2011 be known as CATHSSETA, which is an acronym for Culture, Arts, Tourism, Hospitality and Sports Sector Education and Training Authority. Tourism KwaZulu-Natal first produced a study of the tourism education and training situation in this province in 2000, and has updated that on several occasions since then. Also, as complete a list as possible of institutions offering any manner of training or education course to the sector, as well as a list of all the courses offered, accredited or not, was compiled in 2000, and was updated twice during 2001, twice in 2002, in 2003 and 2007. This report contains the latest information. There have been intensive studies on tourism in terms of global competitiveness and which have had an impact on the status and management of the tourism sector. As a result, it requires greater numbers of appropriately trained, skilled employees, managers, and developers. In South Africa there have been any numbers of articles in the media pertaining to skills shortages in a variety of industrial sectors, including tourism and tourism-related fields. Tourism education and training initiatives are one of the ways to deal with these shortages. 4 ____________________________________________________________________________ Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report 7th edition 1. Introduction Since the compilation of the original report on the status quo of tourism education and training in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in 2000, there have been a number of far-reaching changes in the field. Mergers amongst tertiary training and education institutions have reduced the options in some cases. Name changes have blurred the lines between more practical, technically-based courses and theoretical, strategic courses. In fact, there is a dire necessity for both to exist, and for both to turn out qualified graduates in increased numbers in both areas. Meanwhile the sector itself remains lacking in adequately trained and skilled personnel at both levels. While this is certainly not the case with all institutions, all courses, or all personnel, the situation is problematic. The present report is an attempt to clarify further the status of tourism education and training in the province, bearing in mind that the situation is a fluid one, constantly changing with the addition of new courses, new accreditations, new institutions, mergers of existing institutions, and the demise of yet others. Plans for such changes continue into the future, ensuring the fluidity of this situation for some time to come. Equally confusing remains the state of devolution of certain responsibilities with regard to tourism education and training from the national to the provincial bodies and from, for example, S A Tourism to the national education department. However, with time, a substantial amount of this confusion seems to be in the process of being reduced and resolved. The national Department of Tourism (NDT) in Pretoria, does not have a Chief Directorate especially for tourism training and accreditation. The NDT subsequently became responsible for the registration of tourist guides in conjunction with the provinces, a responsibility which used to fall solely to S A Tourism (previously SATOUR). The responsibility for the accreditation of the institution which teaches tourist guides and the accreditation of the courses taught falls to the sector THETA, which also deals with accreditation issues. “Quality assurance” according to the CATHSSETA website, “is the core of successful skills development and each SETA, having been accredited as an education training and quality assurance body (ETQA), is responsible for ensuring that training programmes and qualifications in its sector are of a high standard no matter where in the country they are presented. SETAs must make sure that providers are competent to deliver courses, and must monitor assessment of learners. In its role as an ETQA, CATHSSETA: accredits education and training providers; monitors provision; register assessors; collaborate with other ETQAs, when quality assurance of non-core activities is required in other economic sectors, and report to SAQA on how it fulfils its ETQA role. These issues are clarified further in section 6 of this report. 5 ____________________________________________________________________________ Tourism Education and Training in KwaZulu-Natal 2011: A Status Quo Report 7th edition To some extent then, the confusion, duplication, uncertainty and insufficiency in terms of education and training in KwaZulu-Natal remain. Certain tertiary institutions offer short courses in aspects of the sector, others offer anything from one-day courses, to modules, to post- graduate degrees extending over several years, and the extent to which this diversity is accredited also varies considerably. Not only do tertiary institutions offer all manner of training and educational opportunities at a wide variety of levels, but there also exists a range of other in-house training initiatives. Added to the confusion has been the tertiary institution merger initiatives which have took place in the province a few years ago. All sorts of training and education efforts have proliferated during the recent upsurge in the importance of tourism and increased interest in its potential for employment, frequently with little reference to the needs and requirements of the sector and the players involved. This trend has continued with hosting the FIFA World Cup last year and the benefits to the tourism sector which were derived from that event. According to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Economic Impact Report compiled by Tourism KwaZulu-Natal, the South African World Cup indirectly created more than 45 000 jobs and gave the country’s economy a boost of about R93 billion. The domestic tourism contributed more than R22 billion of the total generated annually by the tourism sector in 2009 (SAT, 2010), encouraged people