A framework to enhance the management and administration of technical and vocational education and training college-industry partnerships in South Africa

All Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college programmes are required to have a component of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) to ensure that all students have access to classroom-based activities aligned to the workplace as well as workplace learning (WPL) that involve real-world experience in relevant industry environments. To improve the availability and quality of TVET college-industry partnerships that enable WIL, TVET colleges need to continuously initiate new industry partnerships and sustain those they have already established. Building on the global and national focus on youth unemployment and the role of the TVET sector, this study focuses on the management and administration of TVET college-industry partnerships, with an output that leads to a proposed framework to promote effective and efficient management and administration of these partnerships in the TVET sector in South Africa. A qualitative research approach hinged on an interpretive paradigm was used, and data was collected from a sample of 21 participants in various TVET colleges in South Africa. An interview guide was used to collect data. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results indicate that TVET colleges initiate partnerships, but the partnership management and administration process has no framework to guide the practitioners and is not measured. Through a framework the study recommended that practitioners follow the proposed framework, which offers various steps to initiate, sustain, and maintain partnerships. The study concluded that the framework be used to establish a centre of excellence in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.<br>