Struggling university is planning a 62% tuition hike

The University of Eswatini (UNESWA) is planning to raise fees by 62%, but questions have emerged over what category of students will be affected and who was consulted ahead of the increase.

Speaking to University World News, Zakhele Seyama, the president of the student representative council, confirmed that the student body was not consulted, but downplayed the significance of their exclusion from the decision-making process: “We don’t have any problem [with not being consulted] since it is an issue for [the] government and the university,” he said.

Seyama explained that the fee increment will mostly affect the government as it pays fees, via scholarships, for many of the students at UNESWA.

Local media, however, reported that the fee increment will affect both government-sponsored and self-financed students

Self-funded students are those who do not receive scholarships because they did not apply, did not meet the criteria or who failed a course after receiving the scholarship, in which case they have to resume paying their fees.

The planned fee hike

According to the Eswatini Observer, UNESWA plans to increase fees to E26,000 (about US$1,470), a 62% jump from the current fee level. The institution is reportedly awaiting approval from the government so it can go ahead with the hike that is expected to affect new students. Current students will likely continue paying the same fees as before.

Seyama said that, currently, the government is paying E1,300 per course for each student, a situation he described as fraudulent, since the fees for each course are pegged at E2,000 by the university. E2,000, according to Seyama, is the amount self-financed students pay for each course.

“[The] university is saying: ‘Let the government match the price we are paying as [self-financed] students’,” Seyama said.

Benchmark fees

Associate Professor Thulane Vilane, a lecturer at UNESWA and the acting secretary general of the Association of Lecturers, Academic and Administrative Personnel, welcomed a fee increment on one condition – that it is benchmarked against fees for universities in the region.

“Increasing the tuition fees, benchmarked with regional institutions of higher learning and the quality of the programmes offered, is good,” he said.

Vilane, however, was quick to point out that increasing fees is not the solution to UNESWA’s financial woes. He suggested a revamp of the institution’s entire funding model, not just the fee structure. “UNESWA needs a complete metamorphosis in all her operations as a matter of urgency,” he added.

Asked if students will afford to pay fees if they are raised, Vilane said the government should sponsor the education of students. “UNESWA is a public institution funded by the taxpayers,” said Vilane. “Students should be given government scholarships.” He said students can afford the proposed tuition fees with government support.

While the government pays fees for many students at UNESWA, a large group of students finance their own education.

Figures from 2023 indicate that the government supports about 4,330 students at UNESWA. This number was increased to that figure in 2023 after the government added 1,000 students at UNESWA to its scholarship programme.

UNESWA has a total student population of about 9,000, according to some sources, meaning the government likely sponsors only half of the students at UNESWA

UNESWA’s financial woes

UNESWA’s fee increment proposal comes after years of financial troubles for the institution. Dr Bonginkhosi Dlamini, an MP, told University World News in an earlier interview that the institution has been operating at a loss for 10 years.

UNESWA’s troubles came to a head last year when the institution had to be closed after a service provider disconnected water. But this was not the first time a service provider had discontinued its services to the institution because it owed money. Electricity and telephone service providers have also been known to disconnect their services from the institution because of unpaid bills.

Many of the institution’s financial woes have reportedly emanated from the government’s failure to pay fees for students that study under its sponsorship, resulting in the university’s being forced to operate with inadequate income – an aspect that University World News has previously reported on.