Boland TVET College Historical Background

In 1998, the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) transformed the 15 existing colleges at the time into six mega Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges as part of its transformation policy for technical colleges in the Western Cape. Further Education and Training colleges have since been renamed as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges, under the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). Three of these colleges are based in the Cape Metropole and three are rural.

Boland College, as a rural based college, consists of five campuses, namely Caledon, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Strand and Worcester with its Head Office in Stellenbosch. Before the amalgamation took place, four of these campuses were independent, competing colleges, each with a long and proud tradition of quality education and results and a certain degree of autonomy. The amalgamation process was completed in 2001, and a fifth campus was opened in Caledon in January 2002. These campuses all have excellent facilities.

Strand Campus opened its doors in 1963 offering evening classes, and full-time programmes have been offered since 1983. New campus buildings were completed in 1995. Paarl Campus also originally started as an evening school in 1968 and became a Technical Institute in 1979. Worcester Campus started in 1970 as a Technical Institute and merged with Söhnge Teachers’ College in 1998 to form the Worcester Community College.

The College serves a widespread rural geographical area known as the Boland region. The provincial demographics show that the Western Cape population is a fairly young population with 65% of its occupants being under the age of 35 years.

Various factors have contributed to the need for Boland College to address education and training opportunities. These opportunities are also encapsulated in the philosophy of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training legislation. It is the vision of Boland College to be committed, creative and innovative leaders in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the Boland Region.