Minister of Education Kader Asmal tells David Robbins why he believes tertiary education is going through a malaise, not a crisis
‘I’m going to shock you,” says Minister of Education Kader Asmal, “by saying that I don’t think there’s a crisis in South Africa’s third-level education sector. It’s certainly not in a state of terminal decline, not like certain African systems elsewhere on the continent.
“The past is like an albatross around the neck of higher education. I would even be prepared to say the sector has a fundamental malaise that requires a significant intervention. Rather than being paralysed by this, though, we should be asking where are the good things in the existing system and then building on them.”
At the heart of the problems facing the sector, he says, is the distorting legacy of the apartheid past. “Nevertheless I believe we have the framework legislation in place to establish a worthwhile and relevant education system. Obviously, the third-level institutions have a crucial role to play, particularly in terms of their capacity to relate to the needs of the economy. That’s why the rational use of resources in this sector is so critical.
“There are two traps along this path of rational use into which I refuse to fall. The first is set by those who say our universities in particular are failing us. They aren’t. The idea that transformation equals revolutionary upheaval is wrong.
“What we are doing is going through an often agonising reappraisal of institutional roles in our new democratic situation. The second trap is to be tempted to believe those people within the sector who seem determined to dress up self-interest, whether in the historically disadvantaged universities [HDUs] or historically white universities [HWUs], in the guise of noble ideals.
“The case for third-level education hasn’t always been self-evident. There was an emerging view not so long ago that too much was being spent. Another view said too little was being spent, and that large cash injections should be made at certain institutions. At the moment, 14% of the total education budget is devoted to the tertiary level. That’s probably about right. But the key question is: are we getting real social and economic value for this expenditure?
“That is why I speak of a rational use of the sector as a whole. Rationalisation will not mean the closure of institutions, not even large-scale mergers. Rather, it will depend on a new set of questions being asked at institutional level, the main one being: where are this institution’s areas of most logical development?”
In everything he says, the minister appears to reject the simplistic divisions between the HDUs and HWUs.
“Some of the HDUs have submitted excellent three-year rolling plans which map out the future in a realistic way. Other plans have appeared extremely skeletal. One of the most obvious differences which separates these two categories of institution is that the HWUs have over the years developed superb middle-level management expertise; and everyone knows that if middle management works, the institution works. What apartheid never allowed was a similar development in the HDUs.
“Some people are saying that our so- called HDUs are in total crisis. I don’t necessarily agree. There are cases of severe financial problems, certainly, and there are cases of financial investigation. Some institutions are running overdrafts to the level of 65% of their annual budgets. This is totally unacceptable; and I must emphasise that nobody is going to bail out these institutions.
“What we have done, however, is to work with them, and also to suggest amendments to the Higher Education Act which will allow the ministry to appoint interim administrators at institutions in financial trouble.
“But I don’t agree with the idea of total crisis. There isn’t a disaster just around the corner. To the contrary, there are huge opportunities. By dealing candidly with the consequences of apartheid, we can get to the root of the administrative and educational problems involved. What we want is value for money, in other words real quality. Incidentally, there are some within the higher education sector who use the term, quality, as a buzzword. It’s sometimes used to protect the status quo, and obviously we can’t go along with that either.”
Asmal insists that an “integrated” tertiary education sector should be the goal. Institutions should co-operate with each other, particularly at a regional level, to reduce unnecessary programme duplication and to build academic and administrative capacity. This means that all universities should not be trying to do the same thing, as had been necessary under apartheid.
“This brings us back,” he says, “to the central question which individual institutions should be asking themselves: where can we most usefully develop to ensure a niche in our region and in the sector as a whole?”