2003 has certainly been a memorable year for 20-year-old Stephan Herholdt.

Not only did he break two SA records at the European Open Cycling Championships for the disabled in the Czech Republic in September, but he returned home to be nominated Sportsman of the Year at the Boland College where he is studying financial management.

In 2001 Stephan competed at the European championships in Switzerland, last year he excelled at the World Cycling Championships in Germany and is in training for the Para-Olympics next year.

He is upbeat about his success in track and road cycling and attaining fifth place in two events at this year's European championships.

Stephan moved from his Vredenburg home into the student residence at the college last year and says being a student there has changed his life and opened many doors.

The institution is one of six mega, multi-sited recently redeveloped Further Education and Training Colleges (FETCs) in the province, run by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).

A groundbreaking conference titled, Responding to the Needs of the World of Work, will be held on November 13 and 14 to signify the successful merger of 13 technical colleges into six FETCs in the province and to take the transformation of these institutions further.

The WCED with Danish International Development Assistance's (DANIDA) Support to Education and Skills Development (SESD) Programme is hosting the conference at The Medical Research Council Conference Centre, Francie van Zyl Drive, Parow from 9h00 - 16h30 pm on Thursday, November 13 (followed by the launch of the FET marketing strategy from 17h10 to 19h00) and 9h00 - 13h00 on Friday, November 14, followed by lunch till 15h00.

About 200 delegates, mostly local and international vocational training experts, are expected to attend and speakers include the Western Cape Education Minister, André Gaum, FET Director, WCED, Zozo Siyengo, Chief Director, WCED, Penny Vinjevold, and Chief Technical Advisor to the Danish International Development Assistance's (DANIDA) Support to Education and Skills Development (SESD) Programme, Bent Holtzmann.

The conference will provide FET educators, college management, WCED officials, business and Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) with a platform to share insights and explore this crucial and new terrain of post school education and training

The merger has seen 38 college sites in the province placed under six administrations, all at different phases in the process of installing new governance structures and managements.

Three of the six colleges serve the rural and peri-urban areas of the West Coast, South Cape and the Boland, while the other three serve the greater Cape Town metropolitan area.

They offer courses and programmes in response to the specific needs of commerce, industry and the broader community.

Marketing director at the Boland College, Esme Hancke, who has been there since 1982 said: "The merger process started about two years ago and has been very positive. We administer five campuses from a central office at Stellenbosch, including Paarl, Strand, Worcester and Caledon and we found, contrary to expectations, that the standard at all the campuses have improved.

"Now the FETCs are more accessible to potential learners in the Boland area and each campus can focus on specific programmes instead of a wide variety of courses," she said.

Courses are largely vocational by nature and nationally there are more than 2000 programmes on offer.

Colleges also specialise in offering bridging programmes to promote access to higher education.

Sarah Jarvis, an electrical engineering student at the Pinelands satellite campus of Cape Town college, said: "I like studying here. The classes are small, we get individual attention and the lecturers are very approachable and eager to help."

"The merger is a drive to improve efficiency by capitalising on economies of scale, to stop duplication, provide for greater specialisation and offer a one-stop vocational education and training system within each of the six colleges," said marketing strategist, Howard Gabriels.

"In the context of Lifelong Learning, international research has shown that at any one time at least 5% of the entire population should be engaged with vocational further education and training to meaningfully provide for the countries skills base, which is currently 1% in the Western Cape," Gabriels said.