Hearings on varsity fees begin

THE FIRST round of public hearings into the Fees Commission starts today, with Wits University being the first of South Africa’s tertiary institutions to present its submission.

The university is one of more than 180 stakeholders to make a submission to the commission of inquiry into the feasibility of fee-free higher education and training in the country.

Professor Hlonipha Mokoena, the chairman of the panel that compiled Wits’s submission, said a new hybrid model was required to outperform the present crisis.

“This envisages a multi-faceted approach in which the government [as the main custodian of higher education], the private sector and university revenues [fees, donor funds and endowments] all contribute in various ways to the general wellbeing and sustainability of the higher education sector,” Mokoena said.

The University of Pretoria and the North West University will present their submissions at the commission tomorrow and on Friday, respectively.

The first hearing comes ahead of a meeting between Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande and university vice-chancellors tomorrow.

Nzimande is expected to receive a copy then of the Council of Higher Education report and recommendations regarding tertiary fees for the 2017 academic year.