100 days in the job – What should the minister be doing?

Some of South Africa’s top vice-chancellors and sector leaders have outlined the most pressing challenges facing the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Dr Blade Nzimande who last week marked 100 days in office in a period marked by national outrage over the violent murders of two female students and the death of a third from suspected food poisoning.

“There are many issues facing higher education. Among these, the key issue is that of bringing stability to the system through ensuring strong policy stability, a consolidation of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) bursary system, and a solution to the student accommodation challenge,” according to Professor Ahmed Bawa, chief executive of Universities South Africa (USAf), the body representing university heads.

Bawa told University World News that issues of institutional governance remain a challenge and the DHET along with USAf and universities had a role to play in improving governance, especially the functioning of certain university councils.

“Even though there is chronic underfunding of higher education generally, the lack of funding for research and postgraduate education has reached crisis proportions and needs to be addressed through systemic interventions,” he said.

Nzimande, who held the higher education and training portfolio from 2014 to 2017 and was reappointed to a new cabinet portfolio which combined two previous posts – higher education, and science and technology – has kept a relatively low profile in his three months at the helm.

University of the Witwatersrand Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Habib said there are four key challenges facing higher education: differentiation, financing the fees of the missing middle, governance and driving postgraduate studies in the face of massive cuts in both research funds and postgraduate scholarships, partly because government is trying to finance #FeesMustFall, in the process undermining long-term research sustainability. “This is a huge challenge and we need to address it urgently,” he warned.

Hard choices

“We all believe that we should be differentiated but nobody makes the hard choices … they don’t make the hard decisions required that enable such differentiation. That’s a huge challenge. We need the courage to acknowledge that we need to differentiate, that this differentiation is going to involve different mandates and different universities, and we need to find an appropriate way to resource it.”

Habib said resource flows were concentrated towards the very institutions where governance was weakest. “There are huge consequences: it means that your resources do not get spent in appropriate ways that enhance education. It is something that we should be worried about – that the governance processes at many higher education institutions are being weakened,” he said.

Professor Dan Kgwadi, vice-chancellor of North-West University, said Nzimande must address the need for coordination between statutory, professional and regulatory bodies to ensure effective delivery and implementation of programmes.

He said maintaining the funding model for poor students, ensuring that university programmes respond to the pressing needs of society, strengthening relationships between universities, technical colleges and industry, and addressing the social problems experienced by staff and students were some of the challenges in Nzimande’s in-box.

Student accommodation

Vice-Chancellor of the Central University of Technology in the Free State, Professor Henk de Jager, said since fee-free funding is well-established and most teething problems of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme have been resolved, the next major challenge facing the higher education sector is the need for more student accommodation.

De Jager said transformation at all levels within universities should remain a high priority. Other priorities included closer collaboration between higher education and science and technology, enhancing the TVET (technical and vocational education and training) sector, tackling gender-based violence and safety on campuses, and addressing the growth of higher education aligned with the targets in the National Development Plan.

Stellenbosch University Vice-Chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers said the lifeblood of all public universities is their funding. “The financial sustainability of universities has been under pressure for a number of years now. Concerns facing many universities relate in part to the security of funding for universities through the subsidy we receive from the state, especially as it pertains to postgraduate education and infrastructure development.

“Universities are also very concerned that there should be stability relating to financial aid for students. We have welcomed the extension of this funding since last year to broaden access, but there is uncertainty about the sustainability of this higher level of funding,” he said.

State funding

De Villiers raised concerns that other sources of state funding – specifically from the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP) – had been significantly diminished, with dire consequences for universities.

“This will undoubtedly impact on the postgraduate pipeline by reducing the number of masters and doctoral students who are financially supported while they study to obtain these advanced qualifications.”

He said the state must provide incentives to the private sector to assist higher education institutions because it had become difficult to attract donor funding after the increase in state funding to students. “Universities still need support for research and social impact. Besides, not all students who need financial support get it from the state, and those who do get it, still experience shortfalls,” he said.

Can he deliver?

While many of the country’s 26 public university vice-chancellors were reluctant to share their views on whether or not Nzimande can deliver, Habib was more candid.

“Nzimande has both strengths and weaknesses. His strength is that he understands higher education. Having a minister that understands higher education is important. Of the people in the ANC, he and [former minister] Naledi Pandor fully understand higher education,” he said.

But it will not be plain sailing for Nzimande. “He has a legitimacy crisis. A number of student leaders do not like him, and that may very well complicate his management of the portfolio. I think that is a challenge he has to address, but do I think he’s smart enough to do it? Yes, I do! He’s smart enough to do it,” said Habib.