Unfurling Post-School Education and Training (UPSET) is an initiative funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), led by Durban University of Technology (DUT) and supported by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) under the supervision of Prof. Darren Lortan and Dr Heidi Bolton. The initiative works on strengthening articulations, learning and work pathways in South African Post School Education and Training (PSET) sectors.

CUT's Institutional Planning and Quality Enhancement (IPQE) launched the Unfurling Post-School Education and Training (UPSET) Free State Articulation Hub on 20 October 2022. The purpose of the event was to engage around the hub’s planned activities, to see how the hub’s activities can feed into the work of participating organisation and discuss how organisation can play a role.

External stakeholders were given the opportunity to share their views and messages of support as this was the fourth hub to be launched amongst the other three at DUT, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the University of Limpopo.

In his address, Prof. David Ngidi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Teaching and Learning, mentioned that the launch is a continuation of broader objectives that the university had set in Vision 2020 and Vision 2030. “This agreement pledges our committed approach to working more closely with TVET colleges, which allows us to reach a common goal in expanding access of our youth to further training and higher education institutions. We want to strengthen the bond between us and pledge our commitment to and in support of the combined activities of this articulation,” said Prof. Ngidi.

“In our research with SAQA and DUT (2015 to 2020), we learnt that where a regional approach has been adopted, articulation thrives, and the three provinces that have been discovered is the Free State, Western Cape and Limpopo. The extent to which articulation is taking place in these regions is phenomenal,” said Prof Darren Lortan, UPSET Project Leader. He added that UPSET aims to facilitate regional articulation and formalisation, jointly offer higher certificates and track students who are articulated in the system through the regional articulation hubs.

Dr Heidi Bolton, Senior Manager of Research (SAQA), highlighted the need to choose three higher education institutions in South Africa- a comprehensive and private university and a University of Technology (UoT); to document the policies that support and implement articulation. CUT was one UoT that was documented, and some good articulation practices within the institution were found.

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Mr Ike Mokhele, CUT Senior Director: Institutional Planning and Quality Enhancement (IPQE) and Free State Articulation Hub Leader, and Prof. David Ngidi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning, addressing stakeholders.