Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA)

The Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA) is one of South Africa's statutory Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), operating under the Department of Higher Education and Training and formed from the merger of the former POSLEC SETA (police, private security, legal and correctional services) and DIDTETA (diplomacy, intelligence, defence and trade). Its function is to administer the skills development levies paid by employers across the safety and security sector — including police, defence, correctional services, private security and the justice system — and to direct that funding toward the training and education the sector needs.

SASSETA funds bursaries as part of its statutory skills-development mandate rather than as corporate CSR: its Discretionary Grants Unemployed Bursary programme targets unemployed South Africans aged 18 to 35 from households earning no more than R600,000 a year, aiming to reduce the financial barriers keeping young people out of tertiary study in law, STEM, veterinary science and other high-demand fields linked to the sector. Funding can reach up to R80,000, including tuition, prescribed books, a laptop and, in some cases, accommodation.

Because this is a discretionary grant for unemployed applicants rather than an internal staff bursary, publicly available information does not describe a work-back obligation to SASSETA itself after graduation; the stated goal is to help recipients enter the broader job market rather than to bind them to the SETA as an employer.