Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande is establishing a steering committee that will consist of representatives from the tertiary sector in efforts to curb any potential chaotic scenes during registration for the 2024 academic year.
The terms of reference of the committee have already been finalised, according to Nzimande.
A total of about 1.1 million students are anticipated at universities in 2024, with at least 210 000 being new and first-time entry enrolment in the sector.
At least 23 universities received 4 446 436 applications.
Only nine universities will allow late applications and walk-ins.
“A lot of work has been done to prepare for the start of the year. A meeting with registrars to discuss readiness of universities to start the academic year will be held on January 5, 2024. A further meeting with security managers to discuss plans of universities and TVET to deal with threats that may arise during registration will be held virtually on January 4. The department is currently monitoring the universities’ approved enrolment plans but is awaiting National Treasury letters on budget cuts which are likely to reduce enrolment of NSFAS students in 2024.
“Due to this matter, I am yet to issue a letter to say how much each university will receive due to the possibility of the budget cuts and its extent to the sector,” said Nzimande.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) reported that the communicated budget cut of R2 billion will result in a shortfall of R749.2 million at TVETs and the university shortfall was projected to be R1.1bn in the current financial period.
Nzimande said all universities have confirmed that they will complete the 2023 academic year in 2023 as planned.
The minister tabled the department’s state of readiness for the next academic year, where he also mentioned that the student funding model has been tabled before the Cabinet and finally approved.
It will provide funding to students known as the “missing middle”, students who do not meet the eligibility criteria to receive the NSFAS bursary and their parents or caregivers do not earn enough to fund their education.
“The implementation plan has been drafted to cover continuous engagement with NSFAS, stakeholder engagement, communication strategy and further engagement with the private sector. We have raised R3.8bn and our figures tell us the money will go a long way in addressing the missing middle.
“ The student should be on a mixed system of a loan and a bursary. My preference, let me say this again, I think Postbank should be the one to handle the loan systems for the missing middle,” he added.
Higher Education director-general Nkosinathi Sishi said a monitoring tool will be developed to assess registration, readiness for teaching and learning, student academic support, management and stakeholder relations, plans for funding new and returning students, status of institutional finances and challenge.
Cape Times