Adapting Excellence Beyond Conventional Standards

While our dynamic courses don’t fit traditional accreditation frameworks, we offer widely recognized short courses accepted within South Africa’s SAQA system.

 

The work that we do is unique and dynamic and is continuously updated. There is no Unit Standard (with content that remains static over time) that matches our work.

Therefore it is not possible to get accreditation and consequently our programmes are offered as non-credit bearing short courses.

The following information from the SAQA web site is applicable and important since many employers believe they can only claim their levies back when making use of accredited providers:

Short course provisioning is one of the most dynamic features of South Africa’s emerging education and training system. These courses are particularly associated with ‘just in time’, and ‘just enough’ learning to meet specific needs in workplace environments. This approach is a viable and common method for optimal workplace functioning in many contexts. It makes access to learning manageable, and saves the employers and the employees money, time, energy and resources.

In essence, a short course is a type of short learning programme through which a learner may or may not be awarded credits, depending on the purpose of the programme.

A Non-credit-bearing short course is a type of short learning programme for which no credits are awarded in relation to unit standards or (part) qualifications depending on the purpose and/or assessment of the programme.

Do short Course Providers qualify for levy grants (i.e. in terms of Skills Development Act of 1998)?
There is a belief that employers can only claim their levies back when making use of accredited providers. This is not entirely correct. In the Government Gazette (No.20865 of 7 February 2000) it is made clear that the Skills Development Levies Act provides for recovery of the levy payment based on the submission of Workplace Skills Plans (WSPs), Workplace Skills Implementation Plans (WSIPs) and the submission of the names of skills development facilitators (SDFs), not on the basis of making use of accredited providers and NQF-aligned learning programmes.