The proposal to merge higher education institutions is problematic for many reasons: it is unlikely to make the higher education sector more cost-effective and efficient, it is likely to create a host of new problems and it will diminish the variety of higher-education institutions when the opposite is needed.
If we are to cater for the vast range of students in South Africa, we need a greater diversity of types of higher education institutions. In addition to universities, the United States has two kinds of institutions: liberal arts colleges and community colleges. Liberal arts colleges specialise in high-quality undergraduate degrees. The lecturers are committed teachers rather than academics who can’t wait to get teaching out of the way so they can get back to research. Although they do not offer PhDs, liberal arts colleges are not regarded as inferior to universities. Many students who plan post-graduate studies choose to do the first degree at a liberal arts college because of the high-quality teaching.
In an American community college, the only admission requirement is to be 18 years old. Community colleges offer classes morning, noon and night to accommodate people who work. They offer everything from remedial programmes such as literacy classes to two-year vocational programmes such as journalism or photography.
We should recognise that the diverse skills, needs and backgrounds of our students require a diversity of types of higher-education institutions. No one type of institution should be perceived as inferior or superior to another each one can be excellent at what it does. Instead of merging technikons and universities, we should maintain the two since they serve very different needs.
Secondly, we should allow market forces and quality assurance mechanisms a greater role in determining which institutions grow and which fold. Each should have the freedom and responsibility to choose its own focus, but the onus should be on the institution to produce the goods.
The funding formula will be critical in ensuring accountability. The majority of the funding should be tied to output, whether that output takes the form of foundation certificates or PhDs. Quality assurance mechanisms will be essential to ensure that students are not short-changed. Institutions that fail to produce will go bankrupt and close.
Furthermore, by moving from one type of institution to another over time, students from very disadvantaged backgrounds will have increased opportunities to attain the highest educational levels available. Prof D Grayson, Unisa