The third quarter of the year was an exciting one, much of it focused on staff development and capacity-building, with the highlight being the submission of the three-year Diploma in Applied Natural Resource Management to the Council of Higher Education (CHE) for accreditation. 

While we wait for the formal approval, the SAWC will be offering a consecutive sequence of institutionally accredited short courses, which, on successful completion by the student, will allow progression, via Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT), onto the future Diploma programme. These short courses, offered by the Responsible Resource Management Department, will be a good option for students looking to further their studies, not only onto the three-year Diploma, but also for targeted skills development. These short courses will be starting in January 2023 and we are encouraging learners to consider submitting their applications as soon as possible.

A big congratulations to Senziwe Morale, our Database Administrator, who completed her Education, Training and Development (ETD) Administration course which was fully sponsored by the Education, Training and Development Practices Sector Education and Training Authority (ETDP-SETA). We are so proud of you – well done!

Thanks must go to Dr Cleo Graf and her team for including our interns, Risuna Mashele and Gabaza Nkuna, in the Responsible Resource Use and Wildlife photography courses that are about to kick off. This seminal training organised by Duja Consulting as part of the FirstJob sponsored intern programme, will help our two interns, gain a deeper understanding of what the College seeks to achieve in building capacity to manage our natural resources more judiciously.

Our Registrar, Ashwell Glasson, was invited to present and facilitate training in Countering Illegal Wildlife Trade to the Attorney-General’s Alliance – Africa (AGA-Africa). Here he trained state advocates, attorneys and law enforcement officials on wildlife crime. He also presented his textbook chapter on the Militarization of Conservation for the participants from Ghana, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda and the United States. 

Ashwell has also conducted training of staff in utilising the Talent-Learning Management System (Talent-LMS) to roll out the pilot Conservation Technology and Biology modules from the future Diploma in Applied Natural Resource Management.