Some university vice-chancellors are fuming about a recommendation by the Council on Higher Education to the minister of higher education, Blade Nzimande, that tuition fees be increased by 6.3% next year. A body representing them, Universities South Africa (USAf), has warned of dire consequences if higher education institutions are not given a minimum 8% increase — that anything below 8% “is likely to compromise the health of as many as 17 universities”.
What this means, in USAf’s credible argument, is that the quality of academic programmes, including teaching, will suffer. To cut costs, universities will be forced to cut back on their salaries budget — their biggest cost driver — by retrenching staff, including academics. It will be equally catastrophic if the government announces a 0% fee increase for the second consecutive year in 2017 and does not, in the same breath, cover the funding shortfall to universities (as it did this year by dishing out R1.9-billion towards the R2.3-billion shortfall).
All the indications are that a 0% fee hike is on the cards following last weekend’s resolution by the ANC’s national executive committee to freeze fee increases for next year. This comes in the wake of threats by the South African Students’ Congress to shut down universities if there are increases.
Despite government subsidies to universities declining in real terms over the years, most have managed to stay afloat. Our universities, quite a few of which are research-intensive, have world-class facilities and provide a top-notch education. They are also in huge demand by students from the rest of Africa and, indeed, other parts of the world. A stakeholder body is set to examine funding options in a bid to secure the 8% increase that vice-chancellors are asking for. We cannot afford to have universities’ academic programmes disrupted year after year.
The Rhodes University vice-chancellor Sizwe Mabizela and Sol Plaatje University vice-chancellor Professor Yunus Ballim have pointed out that misguided populism and half-reasoned radicalism will not take us anywhere. We agree with them: more than ever, we need cool, sober, creative and progressive thinking to help us fix our education system.