Higher education in crisis, says Nzimande
INSTABILITY is fast eroding the public higher education system‚ with applications to private institutions reaching an all-time high‚ parents sending their children overseas to study and academics turning down appointments at South African institutions.
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said in Pretoria yesterday that applications to private higher education institutions had shot up this year‚ significantly more than at any other time‚ due to public sector instability.
He said the cost of damage to universities’ infrastructure during the wave of #FeesMustFall protests had reached R7-billion.
“Some parents‚ rich parents‚ are beginning to send their children overseas,” he said.
“Some of the academics who have accepted appointments in South African universities are turning them down now because they see the system has been very unstable.” Nzimande lamented further that some governments of other African countries that had been sending their students to South Africa were now diverting them to other countries.
He called it a pity, as the country’s public higher education sector had a good continental and global reputation.
“We must transform but not destroy our public education system‚” he cautioned.
Nzimande said the instability was a huge concern to him because Africa was dominated by private universities‚ some good and very expensive‚ which made them inaccessible to the poor and working class.
“Then you have flyby-nights‚ where the poor go‚ with poor degrees‚ which means they do not get employed anywhere‚” he said.
He pleaded with student leaders who were genuinely concerned about the public higher education system to ensure that there was no harm to the system, as it would be disastrous to the children of the poor and the working class.