Mr Makhele - Director, Department of Technical and Vocational Training (TVD)
Ms Ntshepeng - Industry Advisor
Pioneering Class of TVET
Limkokwing University Lesotho hosted the official launch of TVET programmes at its main campus in Maseru recently. The objective of the launch was to introduce programmes that will bridge Lesotho’s labor market skills gap through technical and vocational education.
Present at the event were The Director TVD, the CEO Private Sector Foundation, The CEO Council on Higher Education, The CEO Standard Lesotho Bank, The CEO FNB Lesotho, Member of Parliament for MEC, Chief Operations Officer Lesotho Housing and Development, The Director SMME Support Network Lesotho, The Managing Director Lesotho Chamber of Commerce and Industry, NMDS, Industry Advisors, representatives of the current running TVET class and the media fraternity.
The Director Academic Quality Assurance Mr. Ntlaloe Ntlaloe, mentioned that Limkokwing Lesotho identified a gap in the education sector. He cited that the majority of LGCSE graduates cannot proceed to higher tertiary education level due to unqualifying exams results even though students had prerequisite subjects.
“There is a gap on skills that are required in the labour market, Limkokwing wants to bridge the gap by offering programmes that enable people who are already in the field to come improve their skills at their own time while simultaneously implementing what they have learned in class,” he said.
Limkokwing Lesotho’s industry advisor Mrs. Nts’epeng Ts’ita-Tikiso applauded Limkokwing for introducing TVET programmes as she always advocated for programmes that will facilitate bridging the ever-growing need for vocational skills for Basotho youth in the country.
“Our Government has been longing for this kind of development and investment and TVET is investing in the national social economic development. I especially appreciate the course introduced under TVET because they directly link with the NSDP2. TVET holds the key technological progress in rapid industrialization, wealth creation and poverty alleviation. The cost of effectiveness of vocational education is worthwhile for Lesotho due to various challenges of unemployment and lack of practical skills that we observe in the industry,” she said.
When handing over the TVET accreditation certificate to Limkokwing University Management the Director TVD said, “This is a remarkable occasion! We are getting to a stage where Lesotho is diversifying its labour force preparation. The skills required in the market today are different from those of yester-years. Diversity of every Mosotho’s skill is a prerequisite because we are currently living in the knowledge-economy era. Today we are launching programmes that are quite important for the socio-economic development of Lesotho and we are doing that in an institution that prioritises producing industry ready graduates.”
In his vote of thanks and closing remarks, Limkokwing’s Vice Chancellor Adv. Tefo Macheli urged other tertiary institutions in Lesotho to take the same path of introducing TVET programmes to empower as many Basotho as possible.
“A lot of people in the country believe that the different higher learning institutions are always in rivalry and competition to see which one produces the best graduates. This is to a certain extent a very short-sighted point of view. The different institutions all specialise in different fields to produce the best graduates and labour force in the different avenues of the industry. I therefore urge all other higher learning institutions in the country to introduce vocational courses so that we may all drive towards a greater Lesotho for ourselves and our youth,” he concluded.
Limkokwing University has accepted its first cohort of students studying under TVET in September 2021 and has introduced five different programmes namely Certificate in Marketing, Certificate in Graphic Design, Certificate in Business Information Technology, Certificate in Innovative Tourism and Certificate in Architectural Technology.