Northlink TVET College

Northlink College is a public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college serving Cape Town’s northern suburbs. It is one of 50 public TVET colleges in South Africa and trains students for work in the trades, engineering, business, health, hospitality and information technology.

Registered name

Northlink TVET College

Type

Public TVET college

Fields funded

NSFAS-funded NCV, artisan trade and QCTO occupational programmes

Website

northlink.co.za

Email

assistonline@northlink.co.za

Phone

021 970 9090

Four colleges linked into one

The college was created in 2002, when four northern-suburbs institutions were merged: Wingfield Technical College, Tygerberg College, Protea College and Bellville Technical College. In 2005 Northlink bought Belhar College, a private institution. The name reflects that history: “north” for where the college sits in the metro, and “link” for the joining of the old colleges and the bridge the college aims to build between school and work.

Northlink says it now teaches more than 20,000 students a year across more than 70 courses. Its milestones include being the first public further education and training college in the country to offer learnerships and skills training (2002), introducing the National Certificate (Vocational) in 2007, and a record intake of more than 10,000 students in 2012.

Seven campuses, each with its own focus

Most programmes are taught at a single campus, so the campus a student attends follows from the course they choose:

• Belhar (Proton Street): electrical, plumbing, bricklaying and carpentry trades, plus solar photovoltaic training
• Bellville (Sackson Street, Bellville South): motor and diesel mechanics, boilermaking, welding, panel beating and the automotive and fabrication NCV streams
• Goodwood: early childhood development and the online learning centre
• Parow (Connaught Road, Parow Valley): hairdressing, beauty therapy, and the Primary Health and Safety in Society NCV programmes
• Protea (80 Voortrekker Road, Bellville): business-oriented NCV programmes in finance, office administration, hospitality and tourism
• Tygerberg (Rothschild Boulevard, Panorama): IT, cyber security, internet of things, fitness, sport and performing arts
• Wingfield (SAS Navy Base, Goodwood): fitting and turning, mechanical fitting, millwrighting and CNC machining

A centre for artisan training

Northlink hosts three Centres of Specialisation awarded by the Department of Higher Education and Training. The national programme puts extra resources into selected colleges so that they can train artisans in partnership with employers. Northlink’s first, for Fitter and Turner, opened at Wingfield in 2019; the Electrician centre followed at Belhar in November 2020; and the Boilermaker centre opened at Bellville on 6 May 2021.

Alongside apprenticeships, the college runs trade testing at Belhar, Bellville and Wingfield for people who already work in a trade, including recognition of prior learning for several trades, and competency-based modular training that certifies workers module by module.

How students fund their studies

Most of Northlink’s full-time students can look to NSFAS. The college’s programme brochure marks its NCV programmes, apprenticeship trades and most of its newer QCTO occupational certificates as NSFAS-funded, while short skills courses and a few specialist certificates, such as sport management, performing arts and the international beauty therapy diploma, are self-funded.

Northlink does not process NSFAS applications itself: students apply directly to NSFAS, and the college’s financial aid office handles any college-administered bursaries. Registration fees, material fees and upfront deposits for self-funded courses are not refundable.

Applying to Northlink

Applications are made online through the Student Profiler on the college website, which starts with career guidance and a literacy and numeracy placement assessment before the course application itself. For the 2027 intake, courses, entry requirements and the 30 October 2026 closing date, read our Northlink College online application guide.