OVERVIEW: Northlink College was established in 2002, following the merger of four colleges in the northern suburbs of the greater Cape Town metropole.  The colleges were: Wingfield Technical College (three campuses: Wingfield, Goodwood and Table Bay), Protea College, Tygerberg College and Parow) and Bellville Technical College. In 2005 Northlink bought Belhar College, a private institution.

The name is a combination of “North”, reflecting the geographical positioning of the institution in Cape Town, and “link”, which describes the initial linking of the former colleges but, more importantly, the critical link between school education and the world of work.

One of Northlink College’s strengths – innovation in meeting skills needs – has been expressed in a number of ways. For instance, Northlink was the first to develop a Simulated Enterprise (SE) in 1999. This is a mock company.  Northlink’s first SE was created on the Parow campus following the donation of furniture from Sanlam. This created a workplace mirroring that of a courier company with Skynet WorldWide Express as the mentor. In 2006, with a grant from the Western Cape government’s Ikapa Ilihlumayo Development Fund, Northlink launched a soft drink SE. 

Other firsts include the establishment, in 2000 of the Northlink Golf School that offers three programmes namely an academic programme, the Golf School of Excellence and the PGA Club Professional Golfing Diploma. The objectives are to prepare top players to play professional golf and train golf coaches. In 2004, three students won the World Student Golf Championship. 

Northlink has three business units:  Hair and Cosmetology, the Clothing Factory and a Restaurant and Conference Centre. Northlink was also the first college in the Western Cape and the second college in South Africa to implement the Integrated Tertiary Software Administration (ITS) System during 2005.

HISTORY: Northlink College has achieved a great deal during the last five years towards its post merger progression.  As set out in its vision the management and staff are committed to the necessary transformation on all the different levels and terrains to be a leading provider of Education and Training Excellence.

Some of the results were:-

• Northlink is one of the Public FET colleges with the highest number of Learnerships and skills learners in the country.
• In 2005 Northlink was the only college nationally that started to develop a total Quality Manage­ment System to emphasize our commitment to “Quality Educa­tion” in our mission.
• The inauguration of a state-of-the-art SE facility at Parow Campus took place in 2006.
•  During 2007 Northlink focused on the implementation of the National Certificate (Vocational) level 2 programmes and the recapitalisation process.
• A further significance of 2007 was the implementation of the FET Colleges Act with specific reference to the Transfer of Staff from the Western Cape Education Department to the College Council as the new employer.
• A sophisticated and well equipped Fitting and Machining Centre of Excellence at Wingfield Campus was inaugurated in 2008.
• The Bellville Campus development, with the financial support of the WCED, continues towards completion and will serve as a model of a typical FET facility located in a residential area with excellent training workshops and highly skilled lecturers.
• Northlink is the only public FET College in South Africa that has its own International Language School, established in 2000.

COMMUNITIES SERVED: Community involvement includes the ABET Centres, SAPS (2 projects), municipalities (job placements), Whalemark Museum (serve on the board of Advisors; training of prospective employees), Tehillah project (community centres for Abused people & rehab for drugs, orphanage, etc), Tygerberg Hospital (terminally ill children; fundraising), Hair Care (weekly service at Old Age Homes), Projects (Cup 4 cancer, casual day in aid of people with disabilities, Shavathon), Sport coaching at 42 schools, kinder kinetics (motor movement) clinics at Kleine Einstein Créche and Parow North Primary as well as Northlink’s own clinic, situated at the Tygerberg Campus, which is to the disposal of local kids.

The Drama Department works with children form disadvantaged communities, (Cravenby, Ravensmead and Uitsig) on a weekly basis.  The learners are bussed to Northlink when they are trained and taken to shows at Artscape, Baxter and any other venues whenever possible.  They also partook in workshops presented by De Appel Theater, The Hague, The Netherlands and in December 2008 workshops given by University of Amsterdam.  Northlink Drama takes trouble to have learners of the community benefit from the visitation by performing and lecturing artists from other institutions, both internationally and nationally.