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South Africa: Higher Education Receives an Additional R246m
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BuaNews (Tshwane)
16 May 2008
Posted to the web 16 May 2008
Gabi Khumalo
Cape Town
The higher education sector has received an additional R246 910 million to improve access and quality to education for the 2008/09 financial year.
Presenting her budget on Thursday, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said one of the ways the department sought to give practical expression to the objective of a better life, was to pursue greater access, transformation and quality in the higher education system.
"It has within it the possibility of a significant contribution to our national development goals and to the human capital expansion that South Africa must achieve in the next ten years," said Minister Pandor.
She said The National Plan for Higher Education made a number of important proposals that have become a key platform for fundamentally restructuring higher education in South Africa.
"The plan seeks to expand enrolment by setting a target of a 20 percent participation rate by 2015.
"It proposed a shift in the balance of enrolments to a ratio of 40:30, 30 percent in the humanities, business and commerce, science, engineering and technology respectively over the period 2001 to 2010," said the minister.
The plan further proposed that the challenge of equity of outcomes should be addressed by matching the increased access of blacks and women with increased success in key disciplines as well as in post graduate programmes.
The plan noted with concern the fact that African students made up the majority of drop outs and failing students, she said.
An amount of R123 billion was allocated to the education sector, both national and provinces.
Minister Pandor said properly delivered and effectively implemented education, changed lives and communities for the better.
"We have promised our people a better life, the road to that better life begins with education," she said.
The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was allocated R11 198 million.
Minister Pandor said that since 2004, NSFAS had received an additional allocation of R2 126 billion adding that thousands of poor students had benefited from the funding.
"Student funding has been an important part of the transformation initiated in 1994, the NSFAS fund has grown to R1.5 billion in 2008 and graduates who have benefited from the scheme now make a considerable contribution to the fund in repayment," said Minister Pandor.
Amounts of R54 million and R27 million have been allocated for the 2007/08 and 2008/09 financial years respectively for the preparation of National Curriculum Statement Further Education Training (FET) examinations.
An amount of R350 million has been allocated for Adult Literacy, R29 million allocated to Integrated Quality Management System, and R50 million has been allocated to Systemic Evaluation.
The National School Nutrition Programme conditional grant to provincial departments has increased by R430 165 million and the HIV and AIDS grant increased by R10 209 million to cater for an inflation adjustment.
FET college sector has been allocated a conditional grant of R795 million.
The purpose of this conditional grant is to recapitalise the 50 public FET colleges to improve their capacity to contribute to skills development training in the country.
This will include reskilling staff to offer responsive programmes, upgrading physical infrastructure of colleges and providing relevant equipment to support programme delivery and enhance skills development.
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Support for the expansion of Grade R and Early Childhood Development received R11 million and R12 million respectivey and Umalusi has been allocated R8 115 million.
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