Minister Nzimande budgets more money for Higher Education
Minister of Higher Education, Blade Nzimande, on Wednesday tabled a R31.5
billion budget for the 2012/13 financial year in Parliament. This represents an
increase of R3.3 billion (11.7%) on the 2011/12 allocation. An additional R9.6
billion goes to the Sector Education and Training Authorities and the National
Skills Fund (NSF).
“Universities will this year receive R20.9 billion while R4.8 billion is
allocated to the Further Education and Training Colleges (FET) Conditional
Grant. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will receive R5
billion during the 2012/13 financial year for loans and bursaries in the
University and FET Sectors”, said the Minister.
An amount of R3.8 billion has been allocated for infrastructure development at
universities, including R1.6 billion set aside specifically for historically
disadvantaged institutions.
According to the Minister, R450 million will go towards expanding university
infrastructure capacity for teacher education for the 2012 and 2013 financial
cycle.
The Minister allocated R499 million to all universities for teaching
development grants “to assist in improving graduate outputs and R194 million
for foundation programmes to improve the success rates of students from
disadvantaged educational backgrounds”.
Minister
Nzimande's Budget Speech
