Committee supports Department of Higher Education and Training’s budget vote

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, Science and Technology, Mr Philly Mapulane, supported the adoption of the Department of Higher Education and Training’s budget vote in a National Assembly plenary session. The budget includes over R45 billion for student support, writes Mava Lukani.

The departments of Higher Education and Training and of Science and Technology appeared before the committee recently to present their annual performance plans and budgets for the 2021/22 financial year. After engaging with those plans and budgets, the committee adopted them.

In supporting the adoption of the budget debate vote in a NA mini-plenary session recently, Mr Mapulane said notwithstanding the budget reductions, the committee is hoping that the South African economy will bounce back and return to health. “We call on all who will be responsible for the implementation of this budget vote to do more with less and innovation is encouraged.”

While recognising the ongoing debates that are part of the transformation of the university landscape, Mr Mapulane announced during the budget debate that the committee will be

convening a Colloquium on Institutional Autonomy and Public Accountability on 28 May this year to further contribute towards the refinement of “ours and that of the sector’s understanding and application of these concepts”.

The department’s budget allocation for the 2021/22 financial year amounts to R115.5 billion, including skills levies. The department’s voted funds amount to R97.7 billion, shared amongst the six budget programmes. The bulk of the budget of the voted funds, which represents 86.06%, is apportioned to Programme 3: University Education, subsidies to universities, and allocation to the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to support access to education through student funding, as well infrastructure efficiency grants.

Delivering his Budget Vote, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Dr Blade Nzimande, said his department will dedicate efforts in the 2021/22 financial year to address gender-based violence (GBV), with an allocation of R5 million towards GBV. The department, through Programme 2: Planning, Policy and Strategy, will report on the implementation of the GBV Framework by the sector.

On financial support to students, Minister Nzimande said NSFAS’s approved budget for 2020/21 is R41.5 billion, which excludes the approved R6.4 billion additional budget.

Following the shortfall experienced by NSFAS, Dr Nzimande said:

“We reprioritised our departmental budget to ensure that all deserving and qualifying students are able to receive funding for the 2021 academic year from NSFAS. Irrespective of these challenges, NSFAS funding has increased more than five-fold in six years, from R5.9 billion in 2014 to R34.7 billion in 2020. In the current financial year, NSFAS funding is expected to reach over R43 billion, a further increase of nearly R10 billion in just two years.”

In support of the expansion of access to the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) system, the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) will award bursaries to PhD students and will pipeline postgraduate students. The DSI will also be placing graduates and students in DSI-funded work preparation programmes in science, engineering, technology and innovation institutions in support of the initiatives towards ensuring the responsiveness of the PSET system.