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As things stand at this time, South Africa's tertiary education institutions stand on the brink of disaster. The Government cannot budge because of the enormous financial implications of free tertiary education. The student movements won't budge on principle. So we face a terrifying impasse that might lead to the indefinite closure of world-renowned institutions that will have far-reaching implications for the country, for our students, for our school pupils.
There is, however, an option that can both prevent national bankruptcy and provide free university education for those that want it. The fundamental idea is to use our very own Unisa as the vehicle for free tertiary education. The University would need to be significantly expanded to accommodate an expected inrush of students, and steps would need to be taken to improve the administration which currently has a bad reputation for inefficiency and incompetence. Clearly, it would also need to expand its presence on the ground, setting up in towns and cities not currently serviced.
What would this cost? From the Unisa 2015 Annual Report, their expenses are R6.2bn and they receive R2.3bn state subsidy. If one were to treble the size of Unisa, the expenses would be roughly R18bn per annum, and another R16bn subsidy would be required annually.
This is significantly less than the R60bn-level figure being spoken of currently.
Since the education would be free, it would not be necessary to continue with the NSFAS scheme, which churns out thousands of young people who have to start off their lives with a crippling debt burden. The NSFAS received R8.8bn per their 2014/2015 annual report. Direct that to the Unisa funding and you reduce the additional funding required by free tertiary education to R8bn approximately. That level of funding is possible through the Treasury.
Although student movements would probably object to this, the concept outlined does not require the overburdened taxpayer to fund food and accommodation of students, just as free secondary schools do not.
We could manage this, South Africa
There is, however, an option that can both prevent national bankruptcy and provide free university education for those that want it. The fundamental idea is to use our very own Unisa as the vehicle for free tertiary education. The University would need to be significantly expanded to accommodate an expected inrush of students, and steps would need to be taken to improve the administration which currently has a bad reputation for inefficiency and incompetence. Clearly, it would also need to expand its presence on the ground, setting up in towns and cities not currently serviced.
What would this cost? From the Unisa 2015 Annual Report, their expenses are R6.2bn and they receive R2.3bn state subsidy. If one were to treble the size of Unisa, the expenses would be roughly R18bn per annum, and another R16bn subsidy would be required annually.
This is significantly less than the R60bn-level figure being spoken of currently.
Since the education would be free, it would not be necessary to continue with the NSFAS scheme, which churns out thousands of young people who have to start off their lives with a crippling debt burden. The NSFAS received R8.8bn per their 2014/2015 annual report. Direct that to the Unisa funding and you reduce the additional funding required by free tertiary education to R8bn approximately. That level of funding is possible through the Treasury.
Although student movements would probably object to this, the concept outlined does not require the overburdened taxpayer to fund food and accommodation of students, just as free secondary schools do not.
We could manage this, South Africa
