Cabinet has approved a plan for the transformation of higher education that will leave no institution untouched, Education Minister Kader Asmal said on Wednesday.
However, details of the policy would only be announced at a press conference on Thursday. Briefing the media in Cape Town after the fortnightly Cabinet meeting, he said the emphasis of the process should not be on merger proposals, but on ”renewal and transformation”.
”Once you have the full details you will see it is a radical restructuring of higher education… and no institution will be left untouched,” Asmal said.
Government communications head Joel Netshitenzhe said the final plan ”differs somewhat” from what was proposed by the task team on higher education regarding the merging of higher education institutions.
The task team proposed various changes to the education landscape, including dissolving historically black universities or merging them with traditionally white institutions.
It suggested a series of mergers that could cut the number of technikons and universities from 36 to 21. The universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Pretoria, Natal, the Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University, however, were left largely unaffected.
The proposals have met with fierce resistance from some universities, as well as from within the ruling party. Asmal said the national working committee of the ANC had approved the plan, while the Congress of SA Trade Unions had also given it the go-ahead.
But, he acknowledged that people had ”institutional loyalties” and could be opposed to specific changes. The restructuring process should take about four to five years to complete.
The minister said government would in future play a far greater role in higher education institutions.
”What we are trying to do here is restructure higher education, and to restructure there has to be a greater role for the department.”
The new policy involved a new culture and values of learning, and looked at ways of improving access to universities and technikons for those previously sidelined.
It also proposed more focus on training for young university and technikons lecturers.
”We need to revitalise the teaching element of these institutions.”
Asmal added that he had met representatives of all universities last week and they had agreed to set up a work team to look at the content and approach of the faculties of education. – Sapa