Varsities want Zuma meeting over free education plan
THE COUNTRY’S public universities want to meet with President Jacob Zuma over his “surprise” announcement of free education, just two days after they made public the fee increase agreement for next year.
Professor Ahmed Bawa, chief executive of Universities South Africa, a membership organisation representing the country’s public universities yesterday said he was disappointed that there had been no discussion and consultation with the sector.
Bawa was reacting to Zuma’s announcement on Friday that the government would introduce fully subsidised free higher education and training for poor and working-class undergraduate students, starting in 2018 with students in their first year of study.
Students categorised as poor and working class would be defined as those with a combined annual income of up to R350 000 and would be funded and supported through government grants, not loans.
The provision of fully subsidised free education and training will be extended to all current and future poor and working-class South African students at all public TVET colleges starting in 2018 and phased in over a period of five years.
All poor and workingclass South African students enrolled at public TVET colleges will be funded through grants not loans.
The Presidency announced there would be no tuition fee increment for students from households earning up to R600 000 a year.
It was also announced that the government would increase subsidies to universities from 0.68% to 1% of GDP over the next five years as recommended by Judge Jonathan Heher’s commission of inquiry into higher education and training.
Zuma said National Student Financial Aid Scheme packages already allocated to existing NSFAS students in their further years of study would be converted from loans to 100% grants, effective immediately.
Bawa praised the move from a loan to a grant system, and raising the cap for the definition of poor students, which would allow 90% of the youth access to higher education.
“That is excellent and we are really pleased about the commitment to fund TVET and hope that that can get them to perform at a much better level,” said Bawa.
But, like the vice-chancellors at the country’s 26 public higher education institutions that Universities South Africa represents who “have been calling nonstop”, Bawa was “puzzled and confused” by the announcement.
“We are asking for a meeting to look at the details and we’d like that to happen in the next week because the 2018 academic year is just a few weeks away,” said Bawa.
As far as he was aware, the agreement the university organisation announced on Thursday still stands.
“The university sector decides this autonomously, but the number matches the higher education price index (HEPI), which is calculated every year. After those talks were, concluded there was no statement from the state about the fee situation for 2018, and then this announcement was made in a somewhat suspicious manner. If this statement was released as a political ploy, it is grossly irresponsible,” he said.
Bawa said he was concerned about the scheme’s sustainability, saying it would cause problems if money was thrown at it in the first year or two, only for there to be no funds available to continue.
The Banking Association of South Africa (Basa) said the announcement was vague and lacked substance.
“While embracing the idea of supporting the poor, we must ask what will this do to South Africa’s budget deficit and overall debt burden announced by the minister of finance two months ago. A number of questions come to mind,” Basa managing director Cas Coovadia said.
“What will be the total additional funding required to meet this commitment?
“How will the funds be raised?
“How much more borrowing will be required?
“This is unfortunately a way of fooling South Africans by adopting unaffordable populist policies in the name of the poor without the ability or even the political will to deliver,” he added.