There have been some amendments to the skills development element of the BEE codes of good practice that were published on the 31st of May 2019 and are effective from the 1st of December 2019. The compliance target for skills development expenditure on learning programmes for black people have been reduced from 6% to 3.5% of the leviable amount, as well as reducing the scoreboard points from the current 8 points to 6 points.
The amendments also include an introduction of bursaries for black students at higher education institutions, allocating 4 points on the scorecard for meeting the target of 2.5% of the leviable amount. The application of demographic targets will apply to skills development expenditure on bursaries for black students at Higher Education institutions.
The bursary implementation process involves a lot of administration and management to ensure that the correct procedure is followed, and the targets are met. The bursary process includes documents such as bursary agreements that need to be put in place between the sponsoring company, the student and the learning institution. Screening and interviews have to be conducted to ensure that the correct candidates are selected.
We facilitate the bursary implementation process to make sure that responsible bursaries are implemented. We manage the recruiting of the learners according to the demographic targets and we liaise with the learning institution to ensure that the candidates are registered, and the correct documentation is gathered for verification. We make the process seamless by monitoring the project for the full term of the bursary agreement. We collect learner progress reports on behalf of the sponsoring company so they can be kept in the loop with regards to the learner’s progress.
There are a number of benefits that come with sponsoring and receiving a bursary, it’s very easy to lose these benefits if the process and is not managed properly. It is important for the sponsoring company to follow the correct procedure and to use the proper documentation to ensure that they get the BEE points when implementing bursaries for students that need financial support.