Artisan Training InstituteATI

Artisan Training Institute, usually shortened to ATI, is a private technical training provider for engineering artisan trades. It states that it is accredited by the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations as a skills development provider and a trade test centre, on the recommendation of the National Artisan Moderation Body, and that it holds ISO 9001 certification. The company is registered as 2000/009529/07 and says its training operation started in 2008.

Teaching is in person and hands-on, in workshops built to look like real work sites. Learners move through the practical part of a trade in phases at a campus, then complete workplace experience with an employer before writing the trade test. The electrician trade, for example, is described as four campus phases adding up to 39 weeks plus 18 months in the workplace. Most learners arrive through an apprenticeship or learnership arranged with a company, and the institution says it trains more than 2 000 apprentices a year. People who have worked in a trade for years without a formal qualification can be assessed through recognition of prior learning and then apply for a trade test.

There are four campuses: the original one in Roodepoort in Gauteng, one in Beaconsfield in Kimberley which was the De Beers Technical Training Centre from 1973 and joined ATI in June 2019, one in Kuruman in the Northern Cape, and one on Oribi Gorge Road outside Port Shepstone in KwaZulu-Natal. Residential accommodation is offered at Roodepoort, Kimberley and Port Shepstone, and lunch is included in the training price.

The trades on offer are automotive motor mechanic, boilermaker, diesel mechanic, electrician, fitter and turner, forklift mechanic, heavy equipment mechanic, instrument mechanician, mechanical fitter, metal machinist, millwright, rigger, sheet metal worker, tractor mechanic, transportation electrician and welder. Qualified artisans can also take short courses of one to ten days in welding, hydraulics, rigging, electronics and similar topics, which start on any Monday subject to space. Companies can commission tailor-made courses, on site or at Roodepoort.

The minimum entry level published for the electrician trade is an NQF level 1 qualification with Mathematics and Science, and a trade test requires at least an N2 certificate in the relevant subjects, a technical Grade 11 with Mathematics and Science, or an equivalent. Training is charged by the week and invoiced monthly, with a 50% deposit from new customers. ATI manages donor-funded places for corporate clients rather than offering its own bursaries, and points self-funding students to Capitec and Nedbank education loans.