Less than a fifth of all pupils who passed the senior certificate examination in 2001 studied at technikons and universities in 2002, the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) said on Monday.
”Only 14% of learners who wrote the senior certificate examination (grade 12) in 2001 enrolled in higher education institutions in 2002,” the HSRC said in a statement.
The figures came from an HSRC study called Settling for Less: Student Aspirations and Higher Education Realities.
The study was the second phase in the student choice behaviour project which previously found that 60% of pupils wanted to enter higher education the year after they passed grade 12, while ”74% aspired to do so within three years of the survey
date”.
The second phase of the study found that 13% of students were repeating grade 12.
Another 14% were employed, while 26% were unemployed.
The remaining 47% were studying in some form or other. This included the 14% in higher education.
”Of those learners entering higher education, 31% registered for programmes in the humanities, 32% for business and commerce, and 37% for science, engineering and technology,” the HSRC said.
The study broke this down to find that:
17 percent of students were enrolled in the natural and mathematical sciences;
14% were in engineering and other applied sciences;
five percent were in the health sciences;
32% were in business and commerce;
three percent were studying education;
19% were enrolled in social sciences and applied humanities; and
nine percent were found in humanities.
The study found that blacks and coloureds were under-represented in all seven programme areas in relation to their representation in the population of 15 to 24-year-olds.
On the other hand, Indians/Asians and whites were over-represented in all seven areas.
In addition, the study found ”in relation to their representation in the general population, black African and coloured students were under-represented in the first-year intake”.
Project leader Michael Cosser said: ”Racial equity is therefore far from having been achieved in the first-year intake of learners who were in Grade 12 the previous year”.
For both men and women, the most popular field of study was business and commerce.
Men favoured engineering second, while women chose social sciences and applied humanities.
Cosser said: ”Only a year after the publication of the National Plan for Higher Education (NPHE)… there has already been a shift in first-year enrolments, African students no longer being ‘clustered’ in the humanities — as the NPHE claims — but in business and commerce.”
The study found more ”black Africans enrolled in business and commerce than in any other field, followed by the social sciences.
”For whites, however, the social sciences was the most heavily subscribed field.
”Fewer black Africans, coloureds, and Indians/Asians enrolled in education than in any other field; but the health sciences was the least subscribed field for whites.”
In contrast ”many more whites (1 207) enrolled in education programmes than did black Africans (552), coloureds (108) or Indians/Asians (80)”.
Although the first phase of the study found nearly two-thirds of pupils would prefer to study at technikon rather than university, the latest study showed 56% of students enrolled in universities and 44% in technikons.
Women were better represented in higher education than men, although males did better in grade 12, where 64% of males passed in 2001 compared to 60% of women. – Sapa