INSETA INTERNSHIPS & WBE
INSETA Policy Statement
According to the INSETA Policy Statement, INSETA
will support Internships / Work-based Experience
grants to enable learners to achieve the maximum of
one year’s experience with a view to:
Afford the learner the opportunity of permanent
employment
Afford the learner to gain work experience and
complete a qualification
Afford the learner the opportunity to establish a new
venture on completion
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Internships
Programmes for an unemployed graduate who
needs work experience
Programmes for learners who require work
experience in order to gain professional registration
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Work-Based Experience (WBE)
A programme for learners who require work
experience in order to complete a diploma or
degree (e.g. “technikon” or technical college type
courses), that requires the person to have a certain
amount of work experience in order to achieve the
qualification.
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General Profile of Interns
The Intern must:
Be an unemployed resident of South Africa.
Must have completely or partially qualified through an
FET/HET institution and needs practical work experience in
order to complete the qualification or enter the labour market.
The diploma/degree should comply with the National Skills
Development Strategy (NSDS) requirement of alignment with
the Sectoral Scarce and Critical skills.
Have written endorsement of completion of the theoretical
component of their qualification from their academic institution
in case of WBE
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General Profile of Employers
Be an INSETA stakeholder - levy payer or non-levy
payer
Levies need to be up to date for levy payers
Non-levy payers must have written proof of
exemption from SARS
Have the financial capability to fund the Internship
for the first 3 months
Have physical and human resources to support the
Internship/WBE
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Benefits of taking in Interns (ROI)
Potential increase in client base
Potential increase in sales
Possibility of acquiring and growing new talent
without incurring recruitment costs
Shared expense for development of employees
Extra brain and hands for doing the job
Opportunity to implement social responsibility (WBE)
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Application Process
 Where applicable, i.e. in case of WBE, the Lead Employer
obtains an accredited Training Provider, accredited with
INSETA or any other SETA ETQA
 The Lead Employer submits Internships Grant Application to
INSETA on the prescribed form available on the INSETA
website
 INSETA Learnerships Division reviews the Internships Grant
Application and communicates provisional allocation of funds
to the applicant
 Applicant submits learners documentation to INSETA before
commencement of the Internship/WBE
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Application Process (Continued)
INSETA considers the following in deciding to allocate funding:
 Programme applied for must satisfy Scarce and Critical Skills
 Racial profile of Interns must comply with the 3rd Principle of
NSDS
 Highest qualification of the prospective Interns
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Duration
A WBE will only be considered for a minimum of 1 month to a
maximum of 12 months.
An Internship grant can be considered for a minimum of 6
months to a maximum of 12 months.
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Success factors
The following must be taken into account for
successful implementation of Internships/WBE:
Employer must set out clearly, the profile of the
Interns they want to recruit
The programme outputs must be clear and
achievable
There must be mentors who understand the
objectives of the Internship/WBE
Learners logbooks for which the Interns must take
responsibility, must be kept to track learner progress
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Implementation Models
Some companies are implementing Internships in a
form of a project, with training provider taking care of
training on company products and on-the-job
assessments
MoUs are entered into between INSETA and the
employer and INSETA and the Training Provider
Employer decides on the Programme they would
like the Internship to be based on
Employer defines the profile of Interns, recruits and
interviews them
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Implementation Models
INSETA holds regular meetings with Employers and
Training Providers to track the progress of the
project
Intern logbooks are developed and monitored by the
Training Provider
INSETA pays the employer for Interns’ stipends
INSETA pays Training Provider R1000 per Intern for
admin for the duration of the project
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