Message from the Council Chairperson

It is with gratitude that we as Council have been at the stewardship of another financial and performance year of the College, which has had its fair share of successes and challenges. We have strived to maintain high levels of sustained operations through a difficult period brought on by scourge of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has brought about a process of introspection, for the College, Council, Management, Staff and Students, as we have all been affected and impacted either personally, academically, or professionally. This period should be used as a reflection opportunity for all of us, to reflect on the relevance of our actions, activities, offerings, and efforts within the Post School Education Sector.

In the year under review, the College has strived to improve on its internal controls, financial, and performance management to improve the delivery of academic services and improve the attrition rates of our programmes. The programme of delivery of the College has been negatively impacted by the lockdown restrictions imposed on the country and the constant changes, postponing, and halting of the academic calendar. These challenges have translated into higher expenditure being realized to ensure the College is a safe space for learning and is technologically ready to deliver programmes through hybrid methodologies.

The challenges have also had an impact on learner attrition rates, as is evident in the lower output rates for successful completions during the year under review, with other examinations having been postponed to the new reporting period. It is worth noting that through the stewardship of the Principal, Executive Management, Lecturing and Administrative staff, these challenges have been expertly dealt with as and when they arose, while maintaining an underlying principle of ensuring that everyone is kept safe and not placed in any risk.
The “new normal” is a myth, as the future will never be normal again. This is a statement we need to embrace as the College and strive to be future fit. This will entail realigning our curriculum and delivery model to suit online and hybrid training models, that are supported by a stable and robust ICT infrastructure and applications. Remote learning will be the new norm, which poses several risks in the areas of assessment and moderation of learning outcomes and student competencies. The College will need to continuously engage with all PSET stakeholders and benchmark against best practices, to become future-fit. Continuous professional development of our lecturing staff will need to be a cornerstone for the future-fit goals of the College, to ensure that adequate support if provided to our students and open avenues for innovation and delivery improvement.

While in the process of “Repositioning the College to meet the demands of the 21st Century”, we remain focused on the principles that underpin a high performing environment and transforming education and skills development. This cannot be achieved without the support of management, lecturing and support staff, the SRC, students’ organisations, the Welkom community and other College stakeholders, to whom we express our sincere gratitude and affirm our commitment to continue fostering collaborative working partnerships.