FAQs

This is very much a personal choice, but the following may help you in your choice.

If you have recently entered the tanning industry and want a very basic knowledge of what happens in a tannery, or if you are an administrative person working in the leather industry, then the short course Introduction to the Leather Industry, is a good starting point.

If you are working in a particular section of a tannery i.e. the dyehouse, and it is your intention to become a specialist in the dyehouse, then we suggest that you concentrate only on the dyehouse courses. If you are a newcomer to the dyehouse and don’t have a good school background, then we suggest that you start at the Basic Level. If you have some experience working in the dyehouse and have a reasonably good school education, then you could start at the Intermediate Level. Direct entry into the Advanced Level courses is not allowed without having first completed the Intermediate Level course in the particular area of specialization. If you pass the Basic Level course, then you would continue the next year with the Intermediate Level course, and the following year with the Advanced Level course. You don’t of course have to carry on studying the next year if you do not want to. If you pass a course, you will get a certificate for it i.e. you do not have to study for two or three years to get a qualification. If you study for two or three years concentrating on the dyehouse technology, you should have a good grasp of what happens in the dyehouse by the end of your studies.

If you do not want to become a specialist, but would prefer to get an overall knowledge of the tannery processes, then you would first need to decide at which level you are going to start, and then enrol for the Tanning course, then the Dyehouse course, and then the Finishing course.

If you wish to have a detailed knowledge of all tanning process stages, and become a very knowledgeable leather technician, then we recommend you consider the Advanced Certificate in Leather Technology course.

Yes you can, but you must be able to cope with the workload. If you are working, we recommend that you not try and do too much as your studies will interfere with your work and family life.

You may not enrol directly on an Advanced Level course without first having successfully completed the Intermediate Level course in that particular area of specialization. For example, if you want to enrol on the Advanced Tanning course, you will first have to successfully complete the Intermediate Tanning course.

The Basic, Intermediate and Advanced Level courses are all one year courses. The Advanced Certificate course is a two year course but because it consists of six modules, students can take a longer time to complete the course i.e. you can study only one or two modules per year and therefore take three or four years to complete the course.

All of the courses are part-time courses. Students can thus continue to work while they are studying.

This will depend on the level of course for which you are enrolled. The Basic Level courses do not require more than a few hours per week of study. The Advanced Level courses will require approximately 10 –15 hours of study per week but this will depend on each student’s experience and educational background.

All courses are run on the basis of distance education. There are no practical courses at ISTT.

Yes. Each course has a three hour examination. All examinations are written at the end of November.

Most examinations are written at the company where you work. If you are a private student, you will need to arrange an examination venue and invigilator that is acceptable to ISTT, and confirm arrangements with ISTT prior to writing the examination. The examination will be written under strict examination conditions.

The first thing that you need to do is to decide which course you are going to do. Once you have decided, you need to fill in the registration form (obtainable from ISTT) and send this to ISTT together with the course fees. Once ISTT has received payment for the course, the training material will be sent to you.

You can contact ISTT for a registration form.

The academic year starts in January / February each year, but students can still register in March or April. They will, however, need to work harder as their first assignment is due towards the end of May.

ISTT was an accredited training provider with the South African Qualifications Authority. This accreditation has since lapsed due to changes in the way accreditation is now carried out by Government. ISTT has applied to have its accreditation renewed. All courses are externally examined by international leather experts.

Yes. If you successfully complete all aspects of the course, you will receive a certificate from ISTT, with your name, ID number and course mark shown on the certificate.