JET Education Services (JET) is an independent, non-profit organisation that works with government, the private sector, international development agencies and education institutions to improve the quality of education and the relationship between education, skills development and the world of work. JET’s mission is to impact education policy and implementation in South Africa and Africa through rethinking current education systems and engaging in evidence-based research.

JET has an integrated suite of services, under the JET Value Chain’s three links: Research, Implementation and Monitoring and Evaluation. Each link can stand alone and together they create a chain of knowledge in which one activity informs the other. "The Joint Education Trust, the forebear of JET Education Services, was set up in 1992 by a remarkable partnership of leaders from South Africa’s corporate world, major political parties, the trade unions and representative organisations of black business. At the time, South Africa was on the cusp of a new democratic era and this was a groundbreaking initiative, pioneered by business visionary Mr Mike Rosholt, who won the commitment of 14 leading South African companies to provide R500 million towards solving one of the greatest challenges that the new democracy would face – the restructuring of the country’s education system, then rife with the inequalities imposed by the apartheid government.

Twenty eight years later, JET Education Services is a highly reputable organisation that has made an important contribution to the transformation of the education and training system in South Africa. Over the years, JET has reinvented itself to keep pace with changing times, transforming from a Trust to a self-sustaining NGO that focuses on delivering educational research, implementation and monitoring and evaluation projects for a variety of clients, including government, multinational agencies and the corporate social investment sector. Our vision today is to be Africa’s leading educational think-do tank.

JET uses its agility in a proactive and innovative manner to develop new solutions in education that can be implemented over time by the large and less agile public system, keeping the transformational agenda at the core of what JET is and does. JET understands the imperative to work “before government” more than ever, as the hoped-for transformation from South Africa’s painful past is much slower than any of us expected. The education system is still in dire need of quality improvement and finding the right levers through evidence-based research is more important than ever before. There is a clear need for greater collaboration between like-minded PBOs, post-school education and training institutions, national and provincial government departments, and international agencies. The co-creation approach with funders and clients is embraced by JET. Whilst being firmly committed to our founding vision of improving education for the disadvantaged sections of the South African population, we have expanded our reach to include international work, particularly on the African continent.