Committee outlines key education action areas for Department
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training has identified at least six key areas that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) needs to deal with in order to address two pertinent challenges, insufficient student funding and limited access to tertiary education.
Earlier today, the Committee was briefed by DHET on the enrolment and registration processes for the 2015 academic year. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) also briefed the Committee on the allocation of funds for students. The meeting was attended by, among others, Minister Blade Nzimande, Deputy Minister Mduduzi Manana and NSFAS CEO Msulwa Daca.
Committee Chairperson Mrs Yvonne Phosa said: “While we agree that there has been some progress made with regards to both student access and funding at tertiary institutions regardless of the challenges that have confronted the department, we are saying that this is a new year and we need to make further progress. We must commend the department on the increase of funds for higher education and training. But the budget is still insufficient.”
Mrs Phosa said among the areas that needed the department to take immediate action on were increasing the NSFAS funding from the current R9.5 billion allocation for 2015, exercising control over the university fees, investigating cost drivers at institutions of higher learning, monitoring infrastructure development at universities and improving student enrolment processes and systems.
“The department has to have some level of control over the university fees. The fee structures of some universities are a stumbling block as the more fees grow the more students cannot access higher education opportunities. Furthermore, we would like the department to speedily look at the cost drivers at universities because these are what lead to the high fees.
“We would also like to have the department closely monitoring infrastructure development at universities. There needs to be infrastructure expansion so that universities can take more students in the coming years and such students have to be accommodated at university residences,” she said.
Mrs Phosa further said there was a need for NSFAS to have an effective fundraising strategy and also called for the timely payment of funds from the department to NSFAS and from the financial aid scheme to the institutions.
“We would like to have NSFAS providing us with their fundraising strategy because we will use it as a measuring tool to monitor this area and to determine progress as far as fundraising is concerned.”
Mrs Phosa concluded: “All these gaps need to be closed and we trust that the department will find a way so that we can have smooth running of the higher education system.”
The PowerPoint presentations below provide an overview of what was tabled by both the department and NSFAS:
For media enquiries or interviews with the Chairperson, please contact:
Elijah Moholola
Tel: 021 403 2311
Cell: 081 509 1889
Email: emoholola@parliament.gov.za
