Government not keen on allowing private universities

Government is not keen on allowing private universities on a full-blown scale‚ Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has said. The minister told the fees commission sitting in Centurion‚ Tshwane‚ that private universities posed a serious threat to the public education sector, writes Sipho Mabena for Times Live.

Nzimande said allowing private universities would result in an increase in the cost of higher education‚ academics being poached from the public sector as well as the loss of the financial contribution of wealthy students to the public higher education sector.

The minister said the demand for financial support for the poor in the public education sector was huge‚ saying it would be unjust to fund students in private institutions but said this was a matter that required further consideration. He said what could be done was to fund students enrolled in private institutions for programmes that were not available in public institutions and classified as critical skills.
Full report on the Times Live site