Question NW1433 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration

Reply:

1. The total allocated to the National School of Government was:

a) 2015/16 – R 140.4 million of which R47.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The trading Account then raised R 68.4 million of its own revenue.

2016/17 – R 88.6 million there was no allocation for the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R137 million.

2017/18 – R 153.9 million of which R63.6 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R 115 million.

2018/19 – R 168.9 million of which R 72.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R 151.7 million.

2019/20 – R 187.9 million of which R84.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading account generated its own revenue of R154.2 million

(b) from 1 April 2020 – R 190.6 million of which R93.7 million will be transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account budgeted revenue target has been revised downwards to R 75.2 million due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

 

2. In repositioning for the future, the NSG is expanding its mandate in three spheres of government, state owned entities and organs of state and support the outcomes of priority 1 of MTSF (professionalising public administration). In doing so, it is critical for the NSG to intervene DIRECTLY by providing or facilitate ETD programmes; INFLUENCE (content creation of public administration, quality of ETD); and REFER (where the NSG cannot offer ETD interventions, we refer public servants to other recognised training providers esp. HEIs). The five year strategy programmes places emphasis on the quality of our ETD interventions and of those who deliver on behalf of the NSG; as well as to embrace partnerships and collaborations with public and private institutions to support ETD interventions to achieve depth and scale. In this regard, we are co-branding programmes we deliver in partnership with HEIs to grow our visibility, impact and brand value. The NSG has concluded partnerships with the following HEIs:

The NSG Programme	HEI, Geographical Allocation and Programme Recognition
EDP Contract period: Oct 2019 – Oct 2022	University of the Free State (UFS): National Participants who hold a relevant Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent qualification) may apply for admission to the Post-Graduate Diploma (Public Administration and Management) and may receive exemption for one of the six modules.
EMDP and AMDP Contract period: 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2023	North West University (NWU): N.West, Mpumalanga & Limpopo EDP: Advanced standing (exemption) in relation to some 1st year modules of the BA Public Governance AMDP: Advanced standing (exemption) in relation to all 1st year modules of the BA Public Governance
	University of the Free State (UFS): Free State & KZN EDP: Exemption from 2 modules of the Higher Cert in Management Development AMDP: Exemption from 4 modules of the Higher Cert in Management Development
	University of Forte Hare through Fort Hare Solutions (FHS): E. Cape EDP: 81 credits toward the Higher Cert in Public Admin AMDP: 85 credits toward the Advanced Cert in Public Admin
	University of the Western Cape (UWC): W.Cape & N.Cape EDP: Exemption from one 1st year module of the B Admin degree AMDP: Exemption from one 3rd year module of the B Admin degree
	Tshwane University of Technology (TUT): National Departments & GP EDP: Exemption from 1st year Nat Diploma Public Management (to become Diploma in Public Affairs) AMDP: Exemption from 1 module of the BTech Public Management (to become Advanced Diploma in Public Affairs)

The National School of Government (the NSG) has been working in partnerships with public universities for more than 10 years for the delivery of training programmes such as Integrated Management Development Programme (IMDP) and for the Legislature programmes. The Universities we have partnered with previously on the IMDP programmes include the University of Stellenbosch, Nelson Mandela University, Vaal University of Technology, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, University of Pretoria, University of Limpopo, North West University (NWU), University of Forte Hare through Fort Hare Solutions (FHS), University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). On the Legislature programmes we have worked with WITS and University of Johannesburg.

The process of partnering with public universities is done through a tender process. New programmes are being explored with public universities and should bear fruits within two years – these will focus on economic governance, leadership in times of crisis (like Covid-19) and on a variety of 4iR programmes including Cyber Security and data analytics for policy making.

Over the last ten years, the training programmes in partnerships between NSG and Parliament have achieved the following based on successful participation by participants:

1. Certificate in Governance and Leadership - offered by the NSG in partnership with UNISA: Approximately 182 participants successfully completed the Certificate in Governance and Leadership; and
2. Graduate Certificate in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership - offered in partnership with the Wits University School of Governance as a short learning programme. The Graduate Certificate links to further qualification i.e. as determined by partnerships with HEIs and as determined by HEI admission requirements (PGDip in Governance and Public Leadership; MM in Governance and Public Leadership). Approximately 289 participants successfully completed the Graduate Certificate in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership.
3. Over the period of the last ten years 178 participants enrolled for the PGDIP in Governance and Public Leadership through WITS. Through the University of Johannesburg 41 participants enrolled in a Continuing Education Programme and 73 participants enrolled to complete a PGDiP at the University of Johannesburg.

3. The majority of facilitated courses offered by the NSG are accredited with a relevant quality assurance authority. These include:

• Higher Education Institutions
• Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies within the relevant Sector Education and Training Authorities, for example the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA); and
• Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO)

The School also offers non-credit bearing courses. The value of these courses lies in the agile development and up-skilling of public servants by developing knowledge, improving competency and enhancing practice. All courses offered by the School are approved through internal quality assurance processes. The NSG has 129 accredited and non-accredited courses/programmes of which 99 are accredited and 30 non-accredited. The details are as follows:

HEI approved	21
ETQA accredited	69
QCTO accredited	9
Total number of accredited courses/programmes (ETQA & QCTO):	99
Number of non-accredited courses/programmes	30
Grand total number of courses/programmes	129

The curriculum will be reviewed to align to the ETD needs for all salary levels (i.e. entry to exit). The NSG will also undertake the curriculum review using a peer review mechanism. The School is also building internal capacity for quality assurance and accreditation management. Furthermore, there is a process underway of establishing a Curriculum Review and Quality Assurance Committee which will also bring experts as part of continuing improvement of our curriculum and course delivery.

4. The NSG offered 9 self-paced open eLearning courses during the national lock down. Officials are able to self-register and enrol in the course or courses of their choice, which include:

1. Ethics for Internal Auditors
2. Ethics in the Public Service (Compulsory course)
3. Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP)
4. Introduction to Financial Management and Budgeting
5. Introduction to Leading Change
6. Introduction to Strategic Planning and Management
7. Know and live our Constitution
8. Policy and Procedure on Incapacity Leave and Ill-Health Retirement (PILIR)
9. Writing for Government: Basic writing skills for Executive Support

The implementation of the SMS Pre-entry Programme (Nyukela) continued during lockdown. Since the national lock down and up to the end of June 2020 there was a total of 9 156 enrolments on the NSG eLearning platform, 2166 of which were in the SMS Pre-entry Programme (Nyukela). Officials who are new to eLearning are able to self-enrol in Getting Started with eLearning, which prepares them for online learning.

The NSG in partnership with University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS) will deliver a two weeks online Seminar on Building Governance Capacity for South Africa through the ZOOM platform starting from the 13th July 2020.

The National School of Government (NSG), in partnership with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) will be launching in August 2020 a five-day gender course Leading Change by Championing Gender Equality. The course will be on the online platform and will cover the Mainstreaming of Gender, Gender Based Violence and Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting.

The NSG is in the process of entering into a MOA with TIPS to develop online courses on COVID-19 and the South African Economy and South Africa’s Industrial policy and action plan. The courses will be rolled out in quarter 3 of 2020/21 financial year.