2ND ICT AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP CONFERENCE 2016

www.gscollege.co.za

April 2016Special edition

Extracts from the address of the chairperson of College Council

The purpose of the conference was to improve the quality of teaching and learning in TVET Colleges in the country through the sharing of innovative ideas, technologies and best practices with all participants. “I am proud to be part of a dynamic team that is committed to contribut-ing towards the growth of the TVET College sector by creating a platform where new exciting partnerships around ICT and Entrepreneurship can be established, and old ones revived”, said Magagula. The chairperson stated that the College wishes to express sincere appreciation for the support from Government and the Ministries as it has been re-affirmed by this conference that government is fully committed and has embarked on a 10 year develop-mental strategy to enhance information technology projects by introducing world class ICT resources and strengthening human capacity in the field.“In conclusion, the road maps have been created to continue the dialogue

around enhancing the quality of teaching and learning through ICT. It is up to TVET colleges to join forces with the various stakeholders, ride the technological wave and keep the momentum going. As institutions of choice we need to stay abreast of an ever-changing educational landscape. We trust that the conference has added value and it will refocus your energy,” he concluded.

Petros Magagula, College Council

Chairperson

Extracts from the CEO’s Address

2nd ICT Conference 2016Gert Sibande TVET College held its 2nd ICT and Entrepreneurship Conference in Secunda, Graceland, on 13 – 15 April 2016. The conference attracted 230 delegates from TVET Colleges from all 9 prov-inces of South Africa. A total of 21 speakers were invited to make presentations during the conference. Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana, Minister Naledi Pandor, Mike Santer (BluPoint), Mpho Seemela (ProQuest), Farrel Pillay (CAD House),Karen Walstra (Google SA), Gerda Magnus (Chief Director: Curriculum DHET) and Craig Dass (EOH) are some of the highly regarded speakers who made pres-entations.

The NDP 2030 and the White Paper on Post School Education and Training are very clear on their expectations of TVET colleges. The two main priori-ty objectives are to increase access and improve student performance. The 2nd ICT Conference, hosted by Gert Sibande TVET College, will deliber-ate on the critical role that ICT can play in addressing these two objectives.One of the main goals of this conference is to start a dialogue that will result in a collaborative ICT approach by all 50 TVET Colleg-es on how we can synergistically harness the potential of ICT to en-hance the quality of teaching and learning in the TVET sector. “Ladies and gentlemen, your support for this conference is indica-tive of your commitment to continuously improve the quality of teach-ing and learning in the TVET sector. I am confident that the pres-entations, discussions, debates and dialogues over the next 3 days will benefit us on our journey to transform the TVET sector into one that is synonymous with excellence, high-quality and success”.

Principal and CEO, Nick Balkrishen

The keynote address, on the first day of the conference, was delivered by the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Honourable Mduduzi Manana. In his address, the Minister said “The White Paper on Post-School Education and Training unambiguously state that the DHET’s highest priority is to strengthen and expand public TVET colleg-es and turn them into attractive institutions of choice for school leavers.” The minister also stated that we have to do things differently, use more appropriate teaching method-ologies, but most importantly, we have to look at the price tag and make TVET College education and training more cost-effective. According to the Minister, to achieve this, we ‘have to think differently on how ICT is used, not only as a tool, but an integral part of the modern citizen’s life and

contributing to the individual’s as well as the college’s productivity and attainment. The deputy minister applauded Gert Sibande TVET College on the initiative of hosting the ICT Confer-ence and for creating a platform for the sector to share best practices. My chief message today is a sobering one. I want to ask you, and the entire Higher Education and Training community, to look ahead and start thinking more creatively and with much greater urgency about how to contain the increasing costs of colleges and work smarter, through the use of ICT, towards cost-effective college education and training.”

Day 1: the keynote adress by the Deputy Minister

The Gala Dinner...

Deputy Minister, Mduduzi Manana (right) and the Col-lege council chairperson of Gert Sibande TVET College Council, P.P Magagula, enjoy some fun-filled banter dur-ing the Gala Dinner.

Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training,

Honourable Mduduzi Manana, delivers a powerful keynote

address

College CEO Nick Balkrishen thanked SRC EXCO President Aaron Nhlapho and his team for their support during the Gala evening.

The entertainment for the Gala evening was breathtaking and set a celebratory mood for the evening

Deputy Minister, Mduduzi Manana (3rd from left) being briefed by the Gert Sibande TVET College chairperson of council, PP Magagula (extreme right), CEO and Principal, Nick Balkrishen, Aruna Singh (DHET) and Trudi Van Wyk (Head Of Open Learning)

Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana (centre) receives a token of appre-ciation from college council mem-ber, Dr A. Beeka with the assistance of the programme director, Portia Radingwane.

DR Singh (CEO of Buffalo City TVET), Gugu Mahlangu (Evander Campus Education Special-ist), Dr Beeka (GSC college council member) and Faith Sibeko (GSC staff) having fun at the Gala dinner event.

4 Lucky draw winners received prizes on stage. The prizes (tablets) were sponsored by Mustek and handed out by Mduduzi Manana, a manager from Mustek (far left).

day 2: Key Note address by Minister Naledi Pandor

The Minister of the Department of Science and Tech-nology, Honourable Naledi Pandor, delivered her keynote address on Day Two of the conference. In her address Minister Pandor spoke on the benefits of technology. She said that “We are familiar with the benefits that Science and Technology bring to our lives and Na-tional Economies, for example, the Internet. Access to the Internet is as important to economic develop-ment as access to electricity. According to the minis-ter, to enjoy the benefits of Science and Technology, we need human capital development, world-class re-search infrastructure, and continuous collaboration between academia, government and industry. Minister Pandor also touched on issues of partnering with the private sector to harness the potential ben-efits of ICT. “The benefits are expected to be in line with the broader government socio-eco-nomic development priorities such as job creation, skills development, poverty reduction and improving the quality of life. We expect the framework to stimulate public-private partnerships in IT research and development and innovation,” said Minister Pandor.

Minister of Science and Technolo-gy, Honourable Naledi Pandor, de-livers a thought-provoking address.

“GIRL POWER” - Minister Naledi Pandor (3rd from right) gives the ICT conference a “thumbs up” together with college and DHET officials.

Portia Radingwane, Hester van Zyl, Aruna Singh and Rohelna Burger enjoy coffee during one of the coffee breaks.

Portia Radinwane, Hester van Zyl, Aruna Singh and Rohelna Burger

enjoy coffee during one of the cof-fee breaks.

Minister of Science and Tech-nology, Naledi Pandor (left) who provided the key note address on Day 2 of the ICT conference with Aruna Singh (DHET).

Day 3

Engela Franken, who was the chief event co-ordinator called her team to the stage and ex-pressed her gratitude to them.

Management staff being thanked for the sterling work they did during their stints as pro-gramme directors during the ICT conference. FLtR: Mpho Ramulifho, Shereen Dindar, Nee-lan Govender, Andri Steyn, Engela Franken and Jannie Pretorius.

gRATITUDE TO THE MAIN SPONSORS

Alan Knott-Craig (Project Isizwe)

The key to addressing these challenges will be ensur-ing that your eLearning strategy is effective and de-signed to improve learning outcomes. In developing your eLearning strategy, a range of factors need to be considered, simply selecting the technology device or digital solution is not enough to ensure that your strat-egy will deliver improved educational outcomes.

Alan Tait (Pearson)

Technology can be used to address many of the challenges we face in the TVET sector. Some of these challenges include limited reading, writing and maths skills of students entering TVET Colleg-es or the need to equip students with employability skills to suceed in the 21st Century.

Gert Sibande TVET college staff worked tirelessly to en-sure that delegates were comfortable.

Engela Franken, the E-Learn-ing manager of Gert Sibande TVET College and the chief event co-ordinator has some fun on stage. Engela was sin-gled out during the opening remarks by the CEO for her meticulous planning in organ-izing the ICT Conference.

Gerda Magnus, Chief Director Programmes and Curriculum addressed dele-gates on Day 3.

Comments from delegates“It honestly feels right to partner with Gert Sibande TVET College and we were very impressed with the calibre of speakers and the overall quality of the event. I am looking forward to our next collaboration in 2018.” Michelle (Pearsons).

“Please accept our warmest appreciation for the opportunity and hospitality that was afforded to us at the Gert Sibande College’s 2nd National ICT & Entrepreneurship Conference. We were blown away by the CEO’s introduction, but also at the quality of both the attendees and the organ-isation. Thank you.” Mike (Blupoint UK).

“I really enjoyed the conference and I think it was a well positioned line-up. I learned a great deal and really enjoyed the presentations.” Prof L v Zyl (North West University).

“The conference was brilliant. It was well organised and will add great value to the TVET sector. Congratulations and thank you Gert Sibande TVET College.” DR Singh (CEO of Buffalo City TVET College, Eastern Cape).

Day 1 Programme

Day 2 Programme

Exhibitors in action

Day 3 Programme

delegates listen attentively

Sponsors of the ICT Conference