This investigation covers all public FET colleges which fall under the administration of the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Education Department. There are nine public FET colleges which were established in accordance with the Government‟s Management and Policy Framework for the FET band as outlined in A New Institutional Landscape for Public Further Education and Training
Colleges Reform of South Africa’s Technical Colleges (DoE 2001:3). In KwaZulu-Natal, twenty-four technical colleges were merged into nine FET colleges, each with a number of campuses under its administration. The clustering of technical colleges in KwaZulu-Natal took place in line with the national strategy for restructuring in which the skills centres that were established under the previous government became part of the restructuring exercise.
The restructuring process that was to reduce twenty-four technical colleges and a number of skills centres into nine merged FET colleges was launched in September 2001 by Professor Kadar Asmal, who was the then Minister of Education. The launch set in place a process the purpose of which was to ensure that further education and training institutions became established as viable FET colleges that would be able to fulfil the FET mandate as spelt out in the Education White Paper Four A Programme for the Transformation of Further Education and Training (1998:7).
The merging of technical colleges had seen institutions with diverse backgrounds and administration cultures being clustered together to form one FET college. The current FET colleges which were created from the previous technical colleges, and which form part of this study, are the following
Coastal KZN FET College which covers the southern part of the Durban area. Under its administration are As-Salaam, Durban, Swinton, Ubuhlebogu, Umbumbulu, Umlazi-BB, and Umlazi-V campuses.
Elangeni FET College which covers areas around Pinetown including Hammersdale. Under its administration, there are KwaMashu, Mpumalanga, Ndwedwe, Ntuzuma, Pinetown, Kwadabeka, Nanda and Qadi campuses.
Esayidi FET College on the South Coast of the Province which has the following campuses under its administration: Enyenyezi, Port Shepstone, Gamalakhe, Clysdale, Kokstad and Umzimkhulu campuses.
Majuba FET College on the northern part of the Province. The campuses under its administration are Centre for People Development, IT & Business, Majuba Technology Centre and Newcastle Technology Centre campuses.
Mnambithi FET College on the north western part of the Province, which covers campuses in Ladysmith, Ezakheni and Estcourt.
Mthashana FET College which covers the north eastern part of the Province.
Under its administration are Emandleni, Gqikazi, Maputa, Nquthu and Vryheid campuses.
Thekwini FET College in the central Durban area, with the following campuses under its administration: Asherville, Centec, Melbourne, Springfield, Cato Manor and Umbilo.
Umfolozi FET College on the North Coast of the Province. The campuses under its administration are Richtek, Mandeni, Eshowe and Esikhawini.
Umgungundlovu FET College which is the midland of the Province. Under its administration are Edendale, KZN-Midlands, Msunduzi, Northdale and Plessislaer campuses.
Before the restructuring, these FET Institutions were non-existent. The vocational education of the people of the KwaZulu-Natal Province was previously under the authority of the different Education Departments. The following different ministries of education governed vocational education and training in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal
Department of Education and Culture (House of Assembly) for whites.
Department of Education and Training (DET) for Africans outside of the independent and non-independent homelands.
Department of Education and Culture (House of Representatives) for Coloureds.
Department of Education and Culture (House of Delegates) for Indians.
Department of Education and Culture for the non-independent homeland of KwaZulu-Government.
In terms of the previous Constitution of the Republic of South Africa education for each population group was an own affair and hence the responsibility of the political structure established to serve that particular population group. However, the new Constitution required that a single, non-racial education system be introduced where all schools, including FET colleges, be brought together under one Education Department. The new institutional landscape transformed the previous, racially-governed technical colleges into large, multi-site and non-racial FET colleges. The bringing together of the traditionally separated technical colleges into large, non-racial FET institutions represents the achievement of a changed institutional landscape in which all colleges would be equally resourced and where all the traces of apartheid provision and practice would be removed.
In this study, the researcher chose the FET colleges in the Province of KwaZulu- Natal as his field of study because, unlike most of the provinces in the country, the province of KwaZulu-Natal has different types of colleges under its jurisdiction, which are very distinct in their diversity. The merged colleges were previously managed differently, which points to the fact that college managers,
particularly campus managers, have different managerial backgrounds and experience. During the merging of technical colleges, the managers of the newly merged colleges were recruited from all the previous, different ministries of education. The KwaZulu-Natal Province is therefore a microcosm of the country, representative of other provinces, and reflecting the FET college administrative system as functioning in the whole of South Africa. Thus, a study in the Province of KwaZulu-Natal, with particular reference to diversity management, will hopefully cast more light on the problems surrounding the management and administration of FET colleges in the province as well as in the entire country.