Grahamstown | Wednesday
FORT Hare University on Tuesday rejected any possibility of merging with Rhodes University or the University of Transkei’s medical school, but said it intended retaining its independence and institutional character, culture and identity.
Rhodes also indicated that it would prefer to see itself and Fort Hare develop as two strong institutions with ”separate focus areas” rather than as a single merged institution.
However, Rhodes indicated that if Unitra was to close down, it would be willing to ”assist in the retention of a financially and educationally viable medical school in the Eastern Cape”.
The two institutions were responding to the National Working Group’s (NWG) report on the restructuring of higher education institutions.
In its recommendations to Education Minister Kader Asmal, the NWG proposed that Fort Hare, Rhodes and Unitra’s medical school merge to form a single institution with a strong institutional base in East London.
It proposes the ”discontinuation” of all Unitra’s programmes outside of the medical school.
Fort Hare vice-chancellor Professor Derrick Swartz said the university had already had a commitment from Asmal that they would ”jointly look into ways of creating a framework for a more viable Fort Hare which retained its identity and autonomy”.
”This is surely the most responsible route to take.”
Swartz emphasised that the report ”has no more value than a set of recommendations” and did not constitute decisions.
”There is no chance of Fort Hare losing its identity and status as an independent university but we shall also be open to exploring ways, additional to our present efforts, of making sure that we can grow into a prosperous and viable university over the coming years.”
Rhodes vice-chancellor Dr David Woods also hinted at a preference not to merge the three institutions. But he said the NWG report was a ”sound, reasonable and well thought-out” report that looked critically at how to resolve the weaknesses of the current system.
Meanwhile, the University of Port Elizabeth said it fully understood and appreciated the recommendations on the restructuring of higher education in South Africa.
”It should be stressed that the report contains the recommendations of the National Working Group and not the decisions of the Minister of Education.
”The Minister still has to respond to the report after taking advice from the Council on Higher Education (CHE) as he is legally obliged to in terms of the Higher Education Act,” UPE representative Susan Smit said on Tuesday.
Structural reconfiguration of the higher education sector on its own does not guarantee quality, Professor Njabulo Ndebele, chairman of the SA Universities Vice-Chancellors Association (SAUVCA), said earlier on Tuesday.
”The real work is the identification of the intellectual enterprise, that is the research agenda, the commitment to teaching and learning and relevant curricula that constitute the core challenges if we are to produce successful graduates for the economy and society.”
SAUVCA said in a statement that it would hold a special meeting where its 21 member universities would consider the proposals of a national working group on higher education.
The group’s report, released by Education Minister Kader Asmal on Monday, includes recommendations that the number of higher education institutions be reduced from 36 to 21 through mergers.
Asmal will give his response on the report to Cabinet next month.
If the proposals are accepted, the University of Transkei (Unitra) will cease to exist, although its faculty of medicine will be merged with the Fort Hare and Rhodes universities.
SAUVCA described the working group’s recommendations as bold, decisive and far-reaching.
It added: ”Any successful restructuring exercise in higher education has to align the rationalisation agenda with a renewed, national commitment to a relevant, quality-driven system.
”We will use the resources of the sector to provide responsible advice before the minister takes his final recommendations to Cabinet in the next few weeks.”
A Unitra representative earlier said the university senate would meet to discuss its response to the proposals. – Sapa
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