Tensions simmer over enrolments
Student organisations have threatened to protest against an apparent decrease in admissions
The South African Students Congress (Sasco) has warned that students will revolt if the department of higher education and training reduces the first-year intake at the country’s 26 universities next year.
According to a document titled 2017 Readiness of Universities and TVET [technical and vocational education and training] Colleges, the projected enrolment target for firstyear university students has been set at 196391, 16000 fewer than the 212 472 projected for this year.
Student numbers at the country’s 50 TVET colleges will be capped at 710 535 until the end of 2019, according to the document, which was recently discussed in Parliament. The enrolment target at the colleges was initially set at 829000 for next year.
Sasco said it foresaw a “serious problem” if the department presses ahead with its plans. “If the department is not going to take the students that we are assisting with registration, they must just expect the worst out of us,” said Sasco deputy president Tsakani Shiviti.
“We foresee a serious problem if the department wants to reduce the intake of first years. You are saying that people who must be studying must now take the route of becoming criminals because we are taking away their rights to learn.”
The department, in the document, urged universities to manage their enrolments, especially that of firstyear students, according to the targets laid down in their enrolment plans. “Over-enrolment must be avoided,” it said.
The total university population is projected to increase by only 5169 from 1 035 931 this year to 1 041 100 next year.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande will continue to meet leaders of student representative councils and other student organisations leading up to next year’s registration period to encourage dialogue and stability in the system.
“The higher education system is still reliant on student fees to provide affordable and quality education, and will continue to be until such time as a new policy position is adopted at a political level,” the document said.
The department has already advised colleges that next year’s 829 000 enrolment target will not be reached and this year’s enrolment of 710535 will have to be maintained next year.
Targets after 2017 “will not increase if additional funding is not available”, the document stated.
Of the 710 535 students at colleges, 45 787 are funded by the Sector Education and Training Authorities, the National Skills Fund and others. Of the remaining 664 748 students, only 429638 are fully funded according to TVET funding norms.
The department plans to write off 75% to 80% of the R1.25-billion student debt owed to the colleges.
Shiviti said Sasco had not been consulted by the department about reducing student numbers, and she urged it to increase the student intake instead. “They need to come up with a proper strategy of taking in students.”
South African Union of Students (SAUS) president Avela Mjajubana said the union would also object to any plans to cut first-year enrolment at universities.
“We have said that no deserving student should be denied access to an institution of higher learning and we stick by that.”
Mjajubana said the SAUS would monitor registrations at universities to ensure there was no reduction in the first-year intake.
Ahmed Bawa, chief executive of Universities South Africa, a body representing vice-chancellors, said the first-year intake depended, among other things, on variables such as how much financial aid was available.
“The bottom line is that there is an enrolment plan, which has been developed over the last five years. Each university has an enrolment plan. So it’s not an attempt to cut down on numbers.”
He added that he would like to get a better understanding of how the department arrived at its enrolment figures, and Mjajubana said the SAUS would ask the registrars of universities to explain their enrolment plans for next year when they met on December 8.