Andy Duffy
Universities and technikons are bracing for the worst as they await news of how the government plans to spend its money on campuses next year.
Several institutions warned this week that they expect a cut in their government funding, and are already making plans to axe staff, scrap courses, and hike student fees.
Such moves could trigger a fresh round of the protests that disrupted campuses across the country earlier this year. Some principals also warn that their cash- strapped institutions may find themselves unable to accommodate thousands of would-be students.
The Department of Education, which over the next few days will be briefing institutions individually about their 1998 subsidies, remains resolutely optimistic, saying it hopes cuts can be avoided. But newly appointed deputy director general for higher education, Nasima Badsha, says funding at best will remain at current levels. The main obstacle to more funding is the belt-tightening forced by the ambitious targets of the state’s Growth, Employment and Redistribution strategy (Gear).
“In the current climate I’m not optimistic about any increase,” Badsha says. “Maybe we can maintain at current levels. We wouldn’t like to see a drop.”
Government subsidies are the major funding source for tertiary education, with the rest drawn from student fees and the private sector. The total subsidy this year stood at R4,88-billion – an average funding level of 65,6% (a percentage of the total subsidy due under a long-running funding formula). Many universities and technikons have drawn up budgets and cost-cutting plans on the assumption that the funding level will be cut to 60% for 1998.
“Most of them would dearly like to see funding maintained at current levels,” says Jos Grobbelaar of the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors Association. “But there is a fear funds will drop. There will be greater and greater pressure on campuses and it will be totally impossible to meet demand.”
Wits University is cutting staff through natural attrition but does not rule out retrenchments. It is also reviewing courses. “The bottom line is that there comes a time when you have to analyse whether you can afford to keep a course that is nice to have,” a representative says.
Stellenbosch is hoping for the same level of subsidy as last year, but is budgeting for 60%. “Any decline in subsidy must be balanced by an increase in student fees,” operations vice-rector Christo Viljoen says. “This could ultimately put university study, because of high student fees, beyond the means of the average South African.”
Stellenbosch is two years into a four-year job-cutting programme, focussed mainly on non-teaching staff. The university is also planning to share library facilities, laboratory equipment and part-time teaching staff with other Western Cape tertiary institutions. The University of the Western Cape, saddled with a R50-million student debt, is increasing fees by 10%. But most of its efforts will focus on cutting staff costs, which account for 70% of its spending.
The University of the North is basing its 1998 budget on its current subsidy level. But vice-chancellor Njabulo Ndebele says the campus is considering reducing its faculty, overhauling its curriculum and farming out non-core operations. “We’re all responding to creative uncertainty,” he adds.
The current funding formula is due to be replaced in 1999 with a new mechanism outlined in the higher education White Paper. It will include a formula component which broadens the classification of courses, and an “earmark” component, rewarding institutions for projects that open up tertiary education to the previously disadvantaged.
Future funding will hinge on a national higher education plan, where government will attempt to tie institutions to its own targets on courses and student numbers.
The department is to set up a new section in January, under chief director Ahmed Essop, to drive the national plan. The first step will be an exhaustive campus audit.
But institutions, already unnerved by the powers granted the government in the White Paper, are worried about more encroachment on their turf. There are fears that those that stray from the national plan will find their funds cut.