NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Generic Management
SAQA QUAL ID – 59201
Purpose:
A person acquiring this qualification will be able to manage first line managers in an organisational entity. First line managers may include team leaders, supervisors, junior managers, section heads and foremen. The focus of this qualification is to enable learners to develop competence in a range of knowledge, skills, attitudes and values including:
Initiating, developing, implementing and evaluating operational strategies, projects and action plans, and where appropriate, recommending change within teams and/or the unit so as to improve the effectiveness of the unit.
Monitoring and measuring performance and applying continuous or innovative improvement interventions in the unit in order to attain its desired outcomes, including customer satisfaction, and thereby contributing towards the achievement of the objectives and vision of the entity.
Leading a team of first line managers, by capitalising on the talents of team members and promoting synergistic interaction between individuals and teams, to enhance individual, team and unit effectiveness in order to achieve the goals of the entity.
Building relationships using communication processes both vertically and horizontally within the unit, with superiors and with stakeholders across the value chain to ensure the achievement of intended outcomes.
Applying the principles of risk, financial and knowledge management and business ethics within internal and external regulatory frameworks in order to ensure the effectiveness and sustainability of the unit.
Enhancing the development of teams and team members through facilitating the acquisition of skills, coaching, providing career direction, and capitalising on diversity in the unit.
The skills, knowledge and understanding demonstrated within this qualification are essential for the creation of a talent pool of experienced and effective middle managers that represents the demographics of the South African society. This qualification will create a leadership cadre for the South African society throughout multiple industries and sectors both private and public.
Rationale:
The National Certificate: Generic Management, NQF Level 5 forms part of a learning pathway of management qualifications across various sectors and industries. It is specifically designed to develop management competencies required by learners in any occupation, particularly those who manage first line managers. The qualification builds on the FETC: Generic Management and further develops the key concepts, principles and practices of management that will enable learners to lead, manage, organise and control first line managers and team leaders. The learners will typically be managers who have other junior managers or team leaders reporting to them. In smaller organisations or entities, the managers could primarily be responsible for managing the supervisors and staff within their section, division or business unit.
The scope of generic management covers five domains: leadership, managing the environment, managing relations, managing knowledge and the practice of management. This qualification addresses each of these domains with generic competencies, so that it allows learning programmes to be contextualised for specific sectors and industries. It reflects a similar design to the FETC: Generic Management, in that it provides opportunities for learners to transfer between various specialisations within management. This leads to the strengthening of management competencies and will enable managers at this level to manage successfully systems, processes, resources, managers and teams in their various occupations and contexts.
This qualification is further intended to empower learners to acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values required to operate confidently as individuals in South African communities and to respond to the challenging economic environment and constantly changing world of work. Ultimately, this qualification is aimed at improving the effectiveness and leadership abilities of middle managers in various occupations in South Africa, in private and public business entities as well as non-governmental organisations. For this reason, the word ‘entity’ includes a company, business unit, public institution, small business or non-profit organisation.
NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Generic Management
SAQA QUAL ID – 59201
Purpose:
The purpose of the Qualification is to enable a learner, under general supervision, to:
- Plan, establish and manage a simple to moderately complex project and project team whilst using a variety of routine and non-routine processes.
- Select from a wide choice of standard and non-standard procedures.
- Take full responsibility for the nature, quantity and quality of output.
- Take responsibility for group output as required.
- Show possession of a wide range of scholastic and/or technical skills applicable in the field of project management.
The purpose of this Qualification is to address the project and general threshold competence required to manage simple to moderately complex projects.
A project manager operating at NQF Level 5 maybe a full-time manager or a part time manager involved in the product design and development work. He could be operating as a technical specialist and as a project manager.
Range:
Simple to moderately complex projects are defined as projects, which may have:
- A high degree of stability, few uncertainties or a low rate of change with regard to the expected deliverables (results), phase contents, organisational processes and procedures, legislation and team members.
- A limited range of different methods or approaches relating to: the design and creation of deliverables and end-products, or the project management method.
- A low to moderate impact on the environment and/or socio economic elements of the project, and/or a moderate to low need to comply with legislation and/or a moderate number of stakeholders affected by or interested in the project.
- A low strategic importance to the organisation or organisations involved, i.e. not included in the strategic plans of the organisation.
- Agreement between most of the stakeholders about the characteristics of the product of the project. The benefits of the project are well defined and agreed.
- A low number of different organisations participating in the project.
- A low number of interfaces between the project and other organisational entities in order to produce the end deliverable.
This Qualification is intended for people with prior project work experience. The learners accessing this Qualification will be working in or with Project Management teams or using a project approach to their business. These may be technical, business, public sector or community development projects from any economic sector. This Qualification could add value to learners operating their own business, as project management is an integral component of many business systems.
Qualifying learners working on a project will have the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to function more effectively and in a professional manner, add value to their job performance and enhance their ability to follow and implement policies and procedures.
Rationale:
The National Diploma in Project Management, NQF Level 5 provides for a comprehensive set of competencies that will enable a person to manage, co-ordinate or support simple to moderately complex projects in any sector.
In South Africa Project Management is considered a scarce skill and there is an urgent need for competent practitioners who can work as project leaders/co-ordinators and project managers.
Project Management is a discipline in its own right and requires application of a range of competencies that extend beyond the field of general management. Projects vary in complexity and thus the industry recognises a progression of skill development and application by individuals. This National Diploma provides the skills needed by project management personnel and for the wide set of competencies required when managing simple to moderately complex projects.
The Qualification includes project management competencies required locally and internationally as well as a selection of general management skills that are essential to a project practitioner. These include skills related to South African legislation.
This Diploma supports the development and recognition of a comprehensive set of project and general management competencies and their application as workplace skills. It allows recognition of prior learning for current practitioners and it may be used to support career development programmes.
NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Banking
SAQA QUAL ID – 61589
Purpose and Rationale:
The South African Qualifications Authority Act, 38 of 1995, states that the objectives of the National Qualifications Framework are to “… to create an integrated national framework for learning achievements; … facilitate access to, and mobility and progression within education, training and career paths; … enhance the quality of education and training; … accelerate the redress of past unfair discrimination in education, training and employment opportunities; and thereby … contribute to the full personal development of each learner and the social and economic development of the nation at large.” The postulation of this qualification is informed by the priority of equity. The qualification is intended to reflect the entirety of skills possessed by any particular learner, regardless of that learner’s prior educational background. Moreover, it is in the interest of equity that this qualification is capable of reflecting the unique sets of skills of individual learners, and individual needs, potentialities and talents are accommodated by this qualification in the interest of equity.
In accordance with the terms of regulation 6140 and the needs and requirements of the specific banking industry the purpose of this qualification is to represent a planned combination of learning outcomes in the field of business, commerce and management studies and specifically the sub-field of banking which has the purpose to provide qualifying learners the competence and the basis for further learning.
In addressing the necessary core, fundamental and elective unit standards it plans to add value to the qualifying learner in terms of enrichment of the person through the provision of status, recognition, credentials and licensing.
It further promotes the enhancement and marketability and employability of learners and plans to open up the access routes to additional education and training through this process. It further has the purpose of providing benefits to society and the economy by enhancing citizenship, increasing social and economic productivity providing specifically skilled/professional people and transforming the redressing of legacies of inequity.
NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Information Technology (Systems Development)
SAQA QUAL ID – 48872
Purpose:
The purpose of this qualification is to enhance readiness and provide entry into the areas of Systems Development at NQF level 5. It prepares learners for entry into the workplace or as undergraduate study in the Systems Development areas covered, providing them with the necessary knowledge needed for further study in the fields of Information Technology and Computer Sciences at Higher Education level.
The qualification is addressing the need in the workplace for nationally recognised qualifications, based on unit standards, that will allow people with workplace experience in the Systems Development areas covered, to request assessments and get recognition for prior learning.
A qualifying learner will be able to communicate effectively with fellow IT staff & users of information technology, understanding the role of technology in a business context and to be able to address business problems with appropriate information technology solutions. Learners will be able to apply the principles of creating computer software by carrying out, under limited supervision, a task of reasonable size to demonstrate an understanding of the knowledge, techniques & skills needed in one or more area of majoring/specialisation that the qualification offers.
A qualifying learner at this level will be a well-rounded IT professional, building on foundational technical skills acquired at NQF level 4, via the National Certificate in IT Technical Development or equivalent. This qualification is expanding the systems development foundation started at NQF level 4 into specialisation fields within systems development, in one or more of the following disciplines:
- Procedural Programming.
- Object Oriented Programming.
- Fourth Generation Language Programming.
- Web site development.
- Multimedia.
- Electronic Commerce.
The qualification is designed to:
- Provide qualified learners with an undergraduate entry into the fields of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Computer Sciences, specialising in the Systems Development area
- Prepare qualified learners for initial employment into the ICT and related industries. Qualified learners will have a solid understanding of computer industry concepts and to able to work in areas of Systems Development with intermediate technical complexity.
- Allow the credits achieved in National Certificates relating to Information Technology at NQF level 4 to be used as prior learning for this qualification, where applicable.
- Allow people with workplace experience in the Systems Development areas covered, to request assessments and get recognition for prior learning.
- Allow the qualification to be acquired in the traditional way of formal study as well as in the workplace, through Learnerships Schemes or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).
- Assist with professionalisation across the Information Technology Sector. It is intended to allow qualified learners to gain membership of registered professional bodies in the ICT industry.
Rationale:
Similar to the National Certificates in IT at NQF level 4, this qualification has been formulated such that it reflects the workplace-based needs of the Information Technology Industry as expressed by its stakeholders. The input has been used to ensure that the qualification provides the learner with accessibility to be employed within the IT Industry. The qualification may be acquired in the traditional way of formal study as well as in the workplace, either through learnerships or by recognition of prior learning (RPL).
Academically this National Certificate is intended to be an entry-level qualification, at the Higher Education band, in the area of Systems Development. The qualification builds on from the National Certificate in Information Technology: Systems Development at NQF level 4, and it also facilitates entry into the Systems Development field from other related fields. It aims to enhance readiness for further study in Information Technology and related fields at the Higher Education level, as well as providing for initial employment in the computer industry.
One of the most important needs for this qualification is to provide for RPL. There are currently no unit standards based registered qualifications for Software Development at the higher education level. However, computer programs are written, installed, maintained and upgraded on a daily basis in a number of different industry sectors. Many areas of training in this field if currently not provided against nationally recognised standards, which this qualification will be addressing.
The qualification may be acquired in the traditional way of formal study as well as in the workplace, through learnerships or RPL. Acquiring the qualification through learnerships or RPL, has the potential of addressing the problems of the past, where newly qualified people getting into the industry struggled to get employment, because they were required to have practical experience. People with workplace experience in the areas covered by this qualification will now also be allowed to request assessment and get recognition for prior learning.
The qualification provides the learner with the flexibility to articulate in the IT environment with a wide variety of specialisation options and to articulate within the Telecommunications, Information Technology and Electronic Industries and other industries where IT is a key component, like the Financial Services or Insurance Industries.
NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Information Technology: Systems Support
SAQA QUAL ID – 48573
Purpose:
In summary, the purpose of this qualification may be stated as:
To develop learners with the requisite competencies against the skills profile for the systems support career path (The overarching aim being to develop a broader base of skilled ICT professionals to underpin economic growth)
The qualification may be acquired in the traditional way of formal study as well as in the workplace, through learnerships. Acquiring the qualification through learnerships has the potential of addressing the problems of the past, where newly qualified people getting into the industry struggled to get employment, because they were required to have practical experience. The workplace experience can now be gained while acquiring the qualification through the various learnership schemes that are planning to use this qualification.
A qualifying learner at this level will be a well-rounded IT professional building on foundational technical skills acquired at NQF level 4, via the National Certificate in IT Technical Support or equivalent. This qualification is expanding the specialisation(s) started at NQF level 4 into the core field of networking and support, with further specialisation(s) into IT Support fields or in any other related vertical or enabled markets.
The qualification is designed to:
- Provide qualified learners with an undergraduate entry into the field of networking/systems support, earning credits towards tertiary offerings in the fields of Computer Studies or Computer Science
- Prepare qualified learners for initial employment in the computer industry.
- Allow the credits achieved in the National Certificates relating to Information Technology at NQF level 4 to be used as prior learning for this qualification.
- Allow many of the unit standards listed in this qualification, to be used in Learnership Schemes in the Information Systems and Technology sector, as well as other sectors where Information Technology is a key requirement.
Research has indicated that in order to qualify for this qualification, learners will need to demonstrate competence in the following:
- Ability to use logical methodology to troubleshoot the common types of hardware and software problems typically encountered in the day-to-day operations of an organisation.
- Ability to understand the role of technology in the business context.
- Ability to create integrated technology-based communication systems for improved business effectiveness.
- Ability to store, manage and retrieve knowledge (data) efficiently and effectively to meet organisational requirements.
- Ability to ensure secure information systems that will serve to protect the business from data loss and breaches of integrity.
- Ability to design and reflect business structure in IT Systems appropriately in order to optimise operating efficiencies, flows of data and resource utilisation within the structure.
- Ability to mobilise technical and technology-based resources to solve business problems in a specified context.
- Ability to perform cost effectively and efficiently in technology-based projects.
- Ability to manage customer relations appropriately.
- Ability to operate effectively within a change, release and configuration process.
- Ability to utilise technology-based research tools and knowledge-base repositories.
- Ability to identify and communicate business opportunities appropriately.
- Ability to install, support and maintain end-user applications
NB – This qualification has been developed within a CONTEXTUAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK ie. electives indicate the context in which the overall learning programme will be designed and assessed. The core components will be the generic base which is expected to be contextualised to meet the unique and specific issues for the ICT sector, and the range of enabled (vertical ) markets.
Finally, this qualification has been developed to assist with professionalisation across the Information Technology Industry. It is intended to allow qualified learners to gain membership of registered professional bodies in the ICT industry.
Rationale:
An increasing dissatisfaction of industry employers with the stated lack of ability of the `paper` certified graduates seeking employment in the field of systems support and networking has precipitated a review of the competencies desired by industry.
Three years of research in the sector has revealed the need for entry level candidates who are capable of applying a range of institutionally acquired skills in the workplace, in the field of systems support, in a manner that adds business value.
The stated requirement is for the formation of a new set of skills and competencies, within the specific focus of networking/systems support, contextualised as appropriate for a wide range of related industry sectors.
NQF Level 5: National Certificate: Supply Chain Management
SAQA QUAL ID – 74149
Purpose:
To provide learners with the competencies required to engage in the processes and inter-relationships across the supply chain so as to create sustainable value for organisations. This qualification is aimed at overcoming the traditional functional approach to operations and management, and at fostering supply chain integration to the advantage of all stakeholders. The National Treasury developed competency profiles for the Public Sector in terms of supply chain management. This qualification meets some of those Public Sector needs and is also suitable for the private sector.
Qualifying learners will be able to:
- Demonstrate an understanding of a supply chain management environment within an organisation.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the influence of performance and risk within a supply chain management environment.
- Contribute to the development of a supply chain strategy and operational plans for the organisation.
- Execute a supply chain strategy for the organisation.
