Pretoria - Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa says university fees must be more responsive to the economic and social needs of the country.
“Access to higher education should be a right, not a privilege. Student fees need to be affordable to allow for greater access for the poor, working class and even middle class families,” Deputy President Ramaphosa said on Thursday.
He was speaking at the opening of the Higher Education Transformation Summit at Inkosi Albert Luthuli ICC in Durban.
The summit, which is underway until Saturday, is focused on language policy in institutions of higher learning, the transformation of institutional cultures in universities and the decolonisation of university curricula.
The Deputy President’s comments come as students at the University of the Witwatersrand are protesting against an increase in fees.
Deputy President Ramaphosa said historically disadvantaged universities, which are often located in poor, rural areas, mainly serve needy students who are ill-prepared for higher education studies.
“These students are mostly dependent on NSFAS [National Student Financial Aid Scheme] funding to access higher education. However, the increase in the NSFAS budget has been negated by student fee increases that have, in some instances, been higher than inflation.”
Government has increased funding for the scheme from R3 billion in 2009 to R10 billion this year.
The Deputy President said accessible, quality higher education is critical to economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy.
“It is a driver of social development and social cohesion. It is a requirement for prosperity and greater equality.”
He also called the institutional culture of universities to be transformed.
“Higher education must be transformed and it must be transformational. It must contribute to building a fundamentally different society.”
Deputy President Ramaphosa also raised concern on the low number of African students in higher education. The 2011 census showed that Africans account for 79% of the population in the country, yet their gross participation rate in higher education is less than 15%.
The low participation rate of the majority of South Africans is untenable - both from a social justice perspective and in terms of meeting the demands of the 21st century and the needs of the economy, the Deputy President said.
“Higher levels of funding and the expansion of the capacity of the higher education system will be needed in future to ensure that higher levels of participation of African and coloured students are achieved.”
In line with the NDP, South Africa also needs to produce more than 100 doctoral graduates per million per year by 2030. That implies an increase from 1 420 in 2010 to well over 5 000 a year. - SAnews.gov.za
