Higher Education and Training Minister, Dr Nobuhle Nkabane, has encouraged institutions of higher learning to provide land on campus to build student accommodation facilities in a bid to make it easier to manage the standard of student accommodation and safety.
"It is our collective responsibility to make sure that we create a safe and conducive environment for students, so that the university can produce the necessary labour force that must shape the economy of our country, which will lead to a capable, ethical and developmental State," Nkabane said.
Nkabane made the call when she unveiled a 200-bed student accommodation facility at the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) eMalahleni campus on Monday.
The project was funded by the Department of Higher Education and Training through the department's infrastructure and efficiency grants of R110 million, as well R8.298 million from TUT.
The building, which will be used to accommodate students from the 2025 academic year, is the first phase of the project that will accommodate 200 female students.
Nkabane said student accommodation was one of the main challenges facing the higher education sector and had a direct effect on the performance of students and the quality of graduates produced each year.
"The victims of this challenge, in the main, are the historically disadvantaged students who cannot afford expensive accommodation that is conducive to learning. The issue of accommodation also directly addresses the challenges of student safety, which we are concerned about as a sector," Nkabane said.
She announced that TUT was part of the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme Phase 2, which is aimed at building an additional 3 500 beds across the TUT campuses for the period 2024/25 to 2026/27.
The Student Housing Infrastructure Programme aims to help universities to develop their infrastructure to address student accommodation challenges.
During Phase 2, the eMahlaleni Campus will benefit from 500 bed spaces.
"The department, together with the National Treasury's Budget Facility for Infrastructure, has already allocated R788.382 million, comprising the department's IEG [Infrastructure and Efficiency Grant] contribution of R450.5 million and National Treasury's BFI [Budget Facility for Infrastructure] of R337.882 million with the remaining required budget of approximately R235 million to be augmented by debt financing from the DBSA [Development Bank of Southern Africa]," Nkabane said.
The Minister warned that the department would not tolerate delays in the transformation agenda.
"We will monitor all the projects and make sure that they are completed within the specified timeframes, and we will harshly deal with corrupt counter-revolutionary tendencies. We challenge all the students to jealousy guard and protect our infrastructure," the Minister said.
The unveiling of student accommodation was followed by a visit to the Nkangala Technical Vocational Education and Training College's Middleburg campus, in partnership with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
The college has five campuses around the Nkangala District and purchased the Top of the World Training Centre in 2015.
The college invested in the centre after government developed a National Development Plan (NDP) in 2012, which mandated that the country must produce 30 000 artisans annually.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
The centre was purchased having only three accreditations, both training centre and trade test centre, including boilermaker, mechanical fitter, and electrician.
"The centre later acquired welder accreditation, and all the accreditations were on legacy. The centre now has six accreditations on New Occupational Programmes: fitter and turner, millwright, mechanical fitter, boilermaker, welder, and electrician.
"The new accreditations will increase capacity from 60 trainees of apprenticeship to 90. The centre is used to train and test artisans, can accommodate 90 apprenticeships and 90 Artisan Recognition of Prior Learning, and 400 NCV [National Certificate Vocational] students. The centre has produced more than 1 300 artisans to date," the Minister said.
