National Skills Fund (NSF)

The National Skills Fund (NSF) is a public entity that was established by government in 1999 and reports to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

The NSF is a critical national skills development resource that contributes to the national skills development priorities. Informed by the government’s skills priorities, the NSF’s funding focus and skills development implementation portfolio is two-pronged: a significant allocation of the NSF’s annual- and medium-term budget is towards education and training initiatives such as bursaries and scholarships, learnership and skills programmes, and workplace-based learning; its funding is also aimed at improving the post-school, education and training system, with a focus on capacity building, investing in infrastructure, research and innovation.