The SAIW has been offering technical training for the past 76 years. In this period, we have produced welding technicians, welding inspectors and NDT technicians of superior quality for our national industry. These scarce skills have transformed the students into world respected managers and leaders. We have all experienced the hardship of the training at the Institute compared to other institutions that offer similar training.
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At SAIW’s annual general meeting, earlier this year, I made a commitment to look into our training courses and exams, in terms of affordability, failure rates, time frames for returning exam results, and the way in which we manage the SAIW’s training offering. This was in response to a number of complaints, which led to an independent investigation. Pass rates, we discovered, have been on a downward trend since 2017, and it was taking far too long to issue exam results.
This prompted us to look at other aspects of the business, and along with the executive director, John Tarboton, we mapped out a recovery plan. By the end of October, I was happy to report the backlog in terms of the examination results had been cleared.
But other issues were raised. With the Institute having shrunk significantly since 2020, the SAIW has become thin in several service areas. This is what led to the shortage of examiners, for example. So a decision was taken to look again at all the aspects of the way the SAIW operates with a view to ensuring future success and sustainability.
The high-cost of training courses is a number one priority, and we looked very hard at ways of reducing that cost. The Executive Director has informed me that there will be a reduction of cost of all SAIW training courses for 2025. Instead of increasing costs in line with inflation at 6%, fees will be reduced substantially. This will transfer a net reduction of course fees of approximately 16% to all students taking SAIW courses next year.
In addition, we are now looking at developing and delivering tailor made training short courses to directly meet company needs: courses that ensure that all the content is directly relevant and useful in the company’s specific workplace.
The investigation highlighted that the executive director was having to focus on both strategy and the day-to-day operations of the business. So the board has decided to look for a general manager to take over operational management. This position has been advertised and we hope to have someone in place by January 2025.
We have also advertised for a properly qualified human resources manager to join the Institute, a role that has always been an added responsibility in the past. We have never really developed the formal mechanisms for properly dealing with staffing issues and development needs.
Across the organisation, we are going to be looking into the experience, competency and qualifications of individual staff members, with a view to restructuring their roles to better meet the needs of our students and SAIW members. Where possible, we will look to redeploy lecturers to their areas of best competence, and we will bring in new competent people to fill any gaps. By doing this, we hope that all staff will be more comfortable and successful in their day-day roles at the SAIW.
We expect that a nuclear new-build programme may be coming. So we are now partnering with NECSA to develop the high-level NDT skills required in the nuclear environment. This really does require a different mindset in terms of the safety, quality and competence levels.
One of the main tasks of the SAIW board is to ensure future sustainability of the organisation. Through this restructuring process, we hope to significantly improve operational efficiencies to enable the SAIW to continue to deliver relevant and high quality services while operating according to the best levels of corporate governance.
Joseph Zinyana, SAIW president
