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The story of Motheo FET College

The Motheo Further Education and Training College was formally established by the Department of Education: Free State, on 1 April 2002 as part of the rationalisation of the technical college sector from an original 152 colleges into 50 mega institutions, forming the nucleus of the new Further Education and Training Sector. Motheo FET College was constituted from the merger of the former Bloemfontein, Hillside View and Thaba Nchu technical colleges and the Kagisanong College of Education.

The appointment of Mr. P.S. Maboya as Principal of the college as from 1 October 2003 heralded a new phase in the history of the college.

Bloemfontein College was a state-aided college; Hillside View College and Kagisanong College were state colleges, and The Thaba Nchu College a manpower centre in the former Bophuthatswana. The merger thus brought together four institutions with diverse backgrounds and ethos.

Today the college is one of only 8 public FET colleges in the country with an FTE enrolment in excess of 5,000 and a headcount of over 13,000.

The College operates from three delivery sites, namely the Bloemfontein Campus, situated on the edge of the Bloemfontein CBD, Hillside View Campus situated on the outskirts of the township of Mangaung in Bloemfontein and Thaba Nchu Campus  in Thaba Nchu. The college also runs a number of satellite campuses and projects throughout the Central Free State and Xhariep, Botshabelo,  Koffiefontein, Zastron and Philippolis. The college thus spans diverse catchment areas from urban to peri-urban to rural, from the more affluent communities to the financially disadvantaged. In this manner the college is ideally situated to bring a comprehensive range of learning programmes to the entire Free State.

Each of the three campuses has particular attributes, specialist facilities and expertise that will allow the college to provide a wide range of programmes and services to the community without undue duplication.

The Hillside View Campus boasts sophisticated engineering workshop facilities accredited by the MERSETA, including an automotive spray-painting unit, and offers a selection of programmes in engineering including automotive mechanics, body repair, electrical engineering and cabinet making. This campus has for some years provided extensive training services to the SANDF, Telkom and the automotive industry. It is one of few sites accredited to deliver the traditional automotive trade tests.

 The computer laboratories at both the Bloemfontein and Hillside View sites are equally advanced. It is thus small wonder that the college was chosen as one of the pilot sites for the launch of the international Marconi Project.

 The Bloemfontein Campus is well geared for the presentation of programmes in the hospitality services, management sciences, the humanities, SETA accredited hair dressing and beauty technology.  The growth in the Hospitality Services Department has been considerable and its products are sought after from even outside the Free State.

Despite its rural setting, Thaba Nchu Campus offers programmes in construction sciences, engineering, management sciences and clothing technology, thus providing services directly to the community. This campus is well equipped with modern science laboratories, and facilities for clothing design.

The college prides itself on the high standard of tuition and training offered by a dedicated group of highly trained professional staff, augmented by persons from the commercial and industrial world in part-time capacities.

The college, despite its relative youth as an institution, draws from the rich culture and academic histories of its predecessors and can rightfully boast that it is a vibrant, responsive and innovative institution, ready to face the challenges of the future and eager to respond to the challenges of a modern industrialised nation as regards providing well skilled, thinking and competent graduates.