UNU-WIDER 8d ago

In this SA-TIED Seminar Series session, Stephanie Allais of the University of the Witwatersrand presents new SA-TIED research on South Africa’s skills development system, with a focus on the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges. The session examines why, despite repeated waves of reform since the democratic transition, South Africa’s vocational education and workplace training institutions continue to face persistent challenges. These include weak employer engagement, fragmented planning systems, compliance-heavy governance, and uneven institutional capacity. Drawing on international and South African research, industry focus groups, and workplace interviews, the presentation argues that policy reform has often focused too heavily on governance frameworks, targets, reporting systems, and regulation, rather than on the long-term work of building capable and responsive institutions. The discussion explores how overly complex regulatory systems can weaken coordination, distort skills planning, and make it harder for employers, colleges, and public institutions to work together effectively. It also situates South Africa’s experience within wider international debates on vocational education reform, labour market coordination, and the role of the state in supporting skills development. Key themes include employer engagement, SETA and TVET college reform, compliance-driven governance, skills planning, institutional capacity, and what a more pragmatic, institution-building approach to skills development could look like.