R300m for UKZN business school

EFF against proposal

THE Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Student Command at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has threatened to stop plans to move the Westville-based Graduate School of Business and Leadership to one of Durban’s most expensive areas, uMhlanga.

Sandile Ntuli, the EFF Student Command’s Secretary General, was reacting to news that the university’s council approved the project, which will cost about R300 million.

Ntuli said they were not supporting the move and planned to make the university management address the issues relating to fees, accessibility and the benefit of moving the business school.

The proposed relocation comes at a time when the students are opposing UKZN’s eight percent fee increase for 2017.

UKZN was among several universities that announced an eight percent increase in student fees for 2017.

After nearly 12 years of planning and discussions among university council members, UKZN yesterday confirmed that the council had finally approved the project.

Lesiba Seshoka, the executive director of Corporate Relations at UKZN, said the flagship project received official council approval last week. He said the university would now start engaging with potential investors to raise funds and start planning. The project is expected to be completed in four to five years.

Ntuli expressed concerns that the move would limit opportunities for poor students who were battling financially.

“The country needs to make free education a reality. The majority of black students are unable to have access to education because they cannot afford to. Moving the business school to an area such as uMhlanga would further exclude the poor and black students, especially those from out of town,” he said.

Further, he felt the move to such an exclusive area would have an impact on student fees.

Since the start of the #FeesMustFall protests, he said, students had been calling for the private business community to make free education a reality, but no one had come forward to assist.

“If the university is confident it would be able to fund-raise about R300 million to move the school to uMhlanga, the university should also be able to fund-raise towards assisting its students instead of investing on building a new structure,” said Ntuli.

Seshoka supported the move, saying it was as necessary as most of the school’s registered students were working professionals. He said this would benefit students who travelled from other cities to attend lectures as the airport was in close proximity.

He said the school was currently in a building designed for music students and forced to share it with other school faculties.

“This (the business school) is a bold initiative, world-class and highly competitive, especially in executive education,” he said.

For the project to succeed, the university said it was relying on assistance from the private business community for funding.

Although the university’s management revealed that the process of fundraising through the UKZN Foundation was yet to begin, Seshoka said that capital expenditure would be made through fundraising campaigns with KZN-based and national corporates.

Seshoka said the move would help attract a broader spectrum of funders to invest in teaching and learning in the province.

He said it was anticipated that with the expansion of short courses offered, the school would serve as an income generator for the university.

“We believe that the move would strengthen the university’s status as a leading institution of higher learning on the African continent, and make it easily accessible to students from outside the province, “he said.

Former Student Representative Council (SRC) member, Senzo Ngidi, said he was present at the council meetings last year and had raised concerns about the relocation.

“The last time I checked our issues were not yet addressed. We were still waiting for further consultation on the matter.

“During the council meetings we attended, we did not have a problem with the relocation, but we wanted certain issues to be ironed out, “he said.

The current SRC president, Noxolo Bhengu, said the new incoming members were not briefed about the project and would not be able to comment.

The move would place the school in close proximity to the Gibson Institute of Business Science (Gibs), the only business school to be ranked as one of the top providers

of exclusive education programmes in Africa and in South Africa, according to the Annual UK Financial Times.

That institution is expected to be open in the same area of uMhlanga by 2018. In October, Gibs, which offers internatinally accredited qualifications and manufacturingbased education, signed a memorandum of understanding with Toyota.

The partnership is set to provide students and local firms with core MBA courses and post-graduate qualifications.

Once ranked as one of the top five business schools in the country, UKZN’s business school dropped several places over the years.

According to the findings of the Professional Management Review of all accredited business schools in 2013, UKZN’s business school was ranked twelfth, eighth in 2012 and fifth in 2001.

As business school rankings are important and useful marketing tools to recruit top students, the PMR called for a decision to be made on whether the business school should be made an independent entity for it to be competitive, or continue to be treated like other university departments.