The Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande this week released the ministerial statement on higher education funding for 2009/10 to 2011/12.
In terms of the funding framework, the Minister is required to release an annual statement setting out a forecast of the grant totals for the public higher education system over the next three years. The statement is designed to give stability to the funding framework and to allow financial planning of individual higher education institutions.
Data from the higher education management information system (HEMIS) is used in the calculation of the distribution of funds in line with the principles set out in the funding framework. In terms of the provisional medium term expenditure framework (MTEF) allocation for higher education, the budget is set to grow progressively over the next three years from R15,3 billion in the 2008/09 year to R21,3 billion in the 2011/12 year. These figures are tentative and subject to confirmation in the budget presentation.
Provision has been made for earmarked allocations of R39 million for 2010/11 and R41 million for 2011/12 for the National Institutes for Higher Education (NIHE) in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape where exploratory work is being conducted on establishing new universities. Minister Nzimande is committed to reducing the percentage of students who are not subsidised as a consequence of over-enrolment by universities. Forward projections of enrolments suggest that the student total in this category for the higher education system for the 2012/13 financial year will probably be one percent compared to the proportion of 12 percent in the 2007/08 year.
A ministerial task team has recommended that the current policy on the calculation and distribution of teaching development grants be discontinued. The main recommendations of the task team are:
* The minister should be able to set the annual amount available for teaching development as a fixed proportion of the total MTEF allocation for teaching outputs. The minister, under current policies, is not able to determine in advance the annual amounts to be used for teaching development
* All institutions should be eligible for teaching development funding, and not just those whose performance falls below national output norms
* The first of a cycle of teaching development grants should be paid to institutions only after plans have been submitted to and approved by the department. Institutions should account for their expenditure of these funds through annual progress reports.
These and various other recommendations of the task team have been adapted to a new draft policy, which the minister wishes to implement in 2011/12. The minister will seek the advice of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) before taking a final decision on the implementation of this new policy. Features of the proposed new teaching development policy are:
* 80 percent of the MTEF budget for teaching outputs would be distributed on the basis of the actual teaching outputs (or graduates) produced by universities. The balance of 20 percent would be used for teaching development grants
* The distribution of the funds available would be based on the share each institution has of the degree credit total of the higher education system. This is to ensure that all institutions are eligible for teaching development funds.
It is envisaged that teaching development grants would continue to be earmarked funds which must be used for purposes designated by the minister. The minister’s new requirement would be that these funds must be used in targeted ways to improve the success and graduation rates of disadvantaged students. Institutions would have to do the following:
* They would have to identify those programmes in which the graduation rates of disadvantaged students are significantly lower than those of advantaged students. They would have also to identify the “killer” courses within those programmes, for example: those which are failed by large proportions of disadvantaged students
* They would have to submit plans indicating what interventions they could make to improve success rates in these courses. These plans would have to be accompanied by expenditure budgets
* Annual progress reports would have to have to be submitted. These would have to describe the outcomes of the implementation of the plans, including indications of changes that have occurred in success rates.
With regard to research development grants, a ministerial task team has recommended that the current policy on the calculation and distribution of grants be discontinued from the 2011/12 financial year. The main features of the proposed new research policy, on which the minister will also seek advice from the CHE, include that 80 percent of the MTEF budget for research outputs would be distributed on the basis of the actual research outputs produced by universities. The balance of 20 percent would be used for research development grants. It is also proposed that all universities would be eligible for research development grants.
Minister Nzimande is committed to advancing transformation in higher education and therefore believes that a new funding framework is necessary to ensure higher access and success rates particularly for black African and disadvantaged students, and improved quality of teaching and research.
A departmental technical working group will therefore undertake a review of the funding framework next year. A recent article in the Sunday Independent erroneously stated that the CHE would submit a report on the funding formula to the minister by the end of this year. The departmental review will in fact only begin in 2010 with a view to phasing in the new framework in 2011. It is the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) review that will be submitted to the minister by the end of 2009.
The minister, having noted the pressure on student accommodation at higher education institutions, will appoint a second departmental working group to investigate the state of student housing. The study will include the need for additional student housing, time frames for meeting these needs and ways in which these expansions could be financed.
The full ministerial statement on higher education funding is available on our website: http://www.education.gov.za/
Contact:
Ranjeni Munusamy
Tel: 012 312 5555
Fax: 012 323 5618
Cell: 082 898 6082
E-mail: munusamy.r@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Higher Education
9 December 2009
Source: Department of Education (http://www.education.gov.za/)
