As tertiary education cuts loom, University of the North lecturers feud and Wits’s June Sinclair departs
Disadvantaged students could continue to be left out, report Joshua Amupadhi and Stuart Hess
Thousands of school-leavers hoping to further their studies next year could find themselves on the streets following the government’s drastic cut in bursaries.
A string of universities and technikons contacted by the Mail & Guardian said they would have to slash enrolment numbers, following the funding plans revealed by the Ministry of Education last week.
And despite claims by ‘white’ universities and technikons that they would bear the brunt of the cutbacks, every ‘black’ institution contacted by the M&G said they also faced swingeing cuts.
The plans, which the ministry insists are preliminary, include cutting subsidies ‘ the sector’s primary income source ‘ and bursaries provided under the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.
The ministry remained tightlipped this week on the cuts and the planned allocation from its ‘redress fund’ ‘ thought to be worth about R250-million ‘ for disadvantaged institutions. However, Acting Director General Dr Ihron Rensburg said the redress fund may target buildings, equipment and academic development, depending on an audit within tertiary education institutions.
Deputy Director General John Samuels said a fundraising committee set up by Education Minister Sibusiso Bengu was hard at work to obtain money to maintain or increase the level of financial aid.
But institutions warned the funding plans would leave them little option other than to cut first-year admissions, severely denting government attempts to widen tertiary education.
The warnings accompanied the official release this week of minister Bengu’s Education Green Paper ‘ based on recommendations from the National Commission on Higher Education, which aims to give disadvantaged students an opportunity to further their studies.
Acting Vice-Chancellor for ML Sultan Technikon, Professor Christopher Cresswell, said the cuts contradicted the commission’s recommendations.
‘These severe cuts will affect our plans to take more students from disadvantaged backgrounds,’ he said. ‘How can we enrol more students if we know there is no money to pay for their studies?’
The ministry’s proposed funding for ML Sultan would halve the institution’s financial aid scheme to R3-million, and cut its general subsidy 12% to R7-million.
The University of the North, facing a 7% subsidy cut, said its enrolments would also decrease. A representative said the university, built for 4500 students but with 16000 enrolled, had a backlog of at least R657-million which needed to be spent on facilities.
Technikon Natal’s financial aid scheme will be cut to R4,7-million from R7-million, while the general subsidy will fall 9% to R82-million.
The University of the Western Cape, where students went on a rampage this year to demand a scrapping of debt and higher credit for food, faces a R27-million subsidy cut, ‘R7-million sliced from its financial aid scheme. The university said in a statement the proposal represented a ‘severe blow … we hope that the government will do everything possible to avoid cutting assistance and subsidy allocations to disadvantaged institutions, as the expectation of these institutions is an increase in the state allocation.’
The University of the North-West faces a 34% cut in its government grant, while Transkei said it was facing a 21% cut. Vice-Chancellor Alfred Moleah hinted that the only way to cover the shortfall may be to increase fees. But such action would lead to friction on campus, he said.
Many institutions said fees were already at painfully high levels, and further increases were unlikely to outstrip inflation. The main option in lowering costs would be reducing student enrolment and cutting staff.
Other universities hit include Wits, Pretoria, Rhodes, Durban-Westville, Potchefstroom, Natal, Free State and Stellenbosch. The latter faces a R24,8-million drop in subsidy, which would prevent it from issuing bursaries to new students next year.
‘If the present cuts in the state subsidy are going to become the norm, universities will face serious financial crises,’ Vice-rector for operations Professor Christo Viljoen said: ‘The survival of some institutions could be jeopardised.’
Deputy Director General Samuels said a new funding formula, still in the process of formulation, ‘will go a long way in alleviating the pressure on historically disadvantaged institutions’.