Apartheid made higher education a very scarce resource. So with the dawning of our democratic dispensation in 1994, it was clear to policy makers that there was a need for private higher education institutions (PHEIs) to continue existing alongside public institutions in order to diversify educational offerings in the higher education sector. PHEIs have thus widened the range of options and alternatives for students wishing to enter higher education.
The years that followed have seen a significant increase in the number of private providers. Although an improvement of quality has not always paralleled the growth in the sector, the development is still positive because of the potential of private providers to offer students new skills and values needed to support the human resource needs for South Africa’s young democracy.
The complex regulatory framework that was introduced was a new phenomenon for the private sector and one that was seen as overbearing. But because of these regulations, the past decade has produced better private providers whose quality has been evaluated by subject specialists and higher education experts. A growing number of PHEIs are strong educational ventures as they place quality at the centre of their planning.
These are positive developments in private higher education. But it would not be a true picture if I did not also point out the challenges still facing the sector. One important one is the extent to which private providers adequately address the expectation on them to meet the skills demands of the labour market.
One of the needs of South African society is for the rural areas to have access to higher education. Private providers might have to consider playing this role as well. But of the 58 providers studied by the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), about 93% of the private providers are located in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. The Free State, Eastern Cape and the North-West share the remaining 7%, and no private providers are located in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the Northern Cape.
The location of private providers in the city centres is understandable as it makes them accessible in terms of transport. Urban areas and CBDs arguably have people who can afford fees. Private providers, which don’t get state subsidies, rely on fee payments for their survival. Although the existence of private providers ensures the expansion of access to higher education, access is limited to urban areas and CBDs.
Another issue is the relationships between private providers and the needs of the labour market, which has significance for the relevance of the programmes provided and future employability. The CHE/HEQC found that 94% of the 58 private providers studied have no structured relationships with relevant industry, and because of this problem, it became difficult for most private providers to find places for experiential learning. Because of this, students graduate from private institutions without the necessary skills that are needed by the labour market.
The CHE/HEQC Report also reveals that 57% of the private providers have no Advisory Committees in place. These are committees consisting of industry representatives and established academics to advise institutions on aligning their curricula with industry needs and developments. If such structures are still not in place, then the relevance of their qualifications remains questionable.
The CHE/HEQC Report cites other challenges facing the sector, namely:
– lack of expertise in programme design leading to programmes which are pitched at inappropriate levels, that don’t articulate within the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and whose content is overrated;
– lack of expertise on assessment;
– inadequate academic staff qualifications and experience which leads to a lack of academic leadership. What makes this even more problematic is that there are usually no staff development policies and practices;
– inadequate infrastructure and facilities — few computers, poorly stocked libraries or no libraries at all;
– satellite campuses that are of inferior quality compared to the main institution;
– absence of quality assurance policies;
The NQF aims to ensure a single coordinated higher education system where there is a portability of credits from one institution to another. It is therefore important that private providers attend to these challenges in order to achieve these goals.
We must agree that the process of having a robust, private higher education sector will take many years, but sometime in the future we must end up with a private higher education we will all be proud of. Private providers that are not meeting minimum standards for higher education must be weeded out of the system if this sector is going to improve its credibility.
It is important that the next decade of freedom in South Africa is characterised by government and other regulatory bodies enacting policies that will foster the qualitative development of the sector and promote long-term cooperation between public and private institutions. After all, the private sector has been established and will remain.
Theo Bhengu is a manager responsible for the accreditation of private providers in the HEQC.