08 November 2002
	A human asset strategy SKILLS = JOBS = GROWTH By Ethel Hazelhurst

It's hardly surprising that SA's GDP rarely grows faster than 3%/year - and then not for long. Cida director Richard Peycke says World Bank statistics show there is an 89% correlation between the levels of tertiary education in a country and important economic indicators like GDP per capita and labour productivity per capita. According to SA's 1996 census, only about 6% of SA's population over the age of 20 has a post-school educational qualification and not all of those qualifications are in areas needed in the economy. "If the SA economy is to do better, between 12%-15% of the population must acquire post-matric qualifications," says Peycke. SA has lost 1,6m skilled people since 1994, he says. However, costs of tertiary education are generally high. "In SA the average cost to the country to educate a university student is around R35 000-R40 000/year and more than R100 000 for a degree. And then only 15% of students graduate with a degree or a diploma," says Peycke. The figures come from the SA Institute of Race Relations. "So the true cost of producing a graduate could be, in many cases, between R700 000 and R1,3m." When Cida City Campus was established in 2000, on the foundations laid by the NGO, Community & Individual Development Association, its founders looked beyond their own campus to the whole country. "We have to do more than just help a few students, more than just demonstrate we can do something in the educational field. We want to be a model for the country, for the whole developing world." says Peycke. "To achieve that, we have to consider the kind of person who will graduate from Cida. They must have skills: computer skills, skills to conduct a meeting, people skills, teamwork skills. "But we have to go deeper than that. Cida graduates must be caring people. They must be confident in themselves. They must have the right work ethic, the right attitude, the right bearing, the confidence needed to contribute to an organisation's success. They must be prepared to accept responsibility." Cogs in a wheel are no longer needed. Strong economic growth depends on having enough people with initiative, specialised skills, and the ability to think independently. "Leaders of Africa" is what Cida calls them.