This programme aims to develop future generations of Natural Resource Managers with the requisite understanding and practical skills to manage their areas effectively and in cooperation with local communities.
Our Natural Resource Management programme include two accredited year-long courses for protected area managers throughout southern Africa. These are the National Certificate in Natural Resource Management: Terrestrial, and the Advanced Certificate in Nature Conservation: Transfrontier Conservation Management.
Students graduating from these courses will have certified qualifications in Nature Conservation at NQF levels five and six. Our aim is to equip every student with practical skills and a holistic understanding of conservation that they will be able to apply in parks and reserves back home. Our goal is to empower individuals and ensure that their training has a sustainable and far-reaching impact by reaching larger communities and encouraging communities to value and conserve natural resources including our rivers, trees and wildlife.
Protected Area Management remains at the core of our business since the first course of this kind was presented in 1998. To date over 1400 students have graduated from these Natural Resource Management programmes.
We strive to maintain a healthy balance between theory and practice with a strong emphasis on Applied Learning, or ‘learning by doing’. While on campus, students have access to hands-on experience through their field training in the Greater Kruger National Park, and then they enter into the Work Integrated Learning component of the course, during which time they return to their places of work and apply what they have learned during the semester. This effectively bridges the gap between classroom learning and workplace reality by progressively applying what is being learned.
In 2018, the College underwent a revision of the strategic training objectives and the Council of Higher Education restructured its accreditation processes. As a result, what used to be called the Higher Certificate in Nature Conservation: Leadership and Implementation is now the National Certificate in Natural Resource Management: Terrestrial. In the next phase of this restructuring, coming in 2022, this certificate will become the prerequisite course for entry into our Natural Resource Management programme, and the current Advanced Certificate in Nature Conservation: Transfrontier Conservation Management will make way for a new 360-credit National Diploma in Applied Natural Resource Management.
Please note that this qualification is set to be replaced by a three-year Diploma in Applied Natural Resource Management. This is currently in the development and accreditation process.
The Diploma comprises eleven modules developed to address the critical skills needed within the sector. These modules are; Conservation Technology / Biology / Social Ecology I & II / Sustainable Development I & II / Resource Protection / Conservation Business Administration I & II / Natural Resource Management I & II
The first two years of the Diploma will take students through the theory (online) and certain practical activities. The third year will comprise a very applied practical year which will see the students coming to the College to participate in conservation projects/longitudinal studies set up by subject matter experts. These projects/studies are aimed at addressing some of the most critical conservation challenges being faced today.
