Introduction

From all accounts it seems that the New Department of Higher Education and Training (DoHET) is starting to think about their portfolio as “post school education and training” as opposed to “higher education and training”. This is probably a natural result of FET Colleges and Skills Development being moved to the Department of Higher Education and Training. This is a very positive move. Our Minister now regard his scope of operations to include post school education as a whole, including public and private higher education and training, skills development, occupational education and training and vocational education and training.

Private Providers of ETD

The CHE published their Higher Education Monitor No. 8 report in October 2009. This report covers the state of higher education in South Africa from 2004 to 2007. For the first time the report reviews the higher education sector as a whole, including public and private providers. The CHE report states that the rapid increase in demand for higher–level skills in the country, and for tertiary education from individual learners means that the private sector can no longer be ignored. The report also stresses the limited capacity of public higher education to meet the demands for higher education.

The ability to include the private sector providers into a report like this is however restricted by the unavailability of statistics from the private providers. This is an obvious problem in the system, as the extent and contribution to higher education of the sector cannot be determined. I hope that APPETD, the Alliance for Private Providers of ETD will be able to solve this problem. The CHE states the following in their report:

The potential for expanding the private (provider) sector needs to be explored as well as the extent to which these institutions can contribute to the public good. More comprehensive data research into the sector is the starting point for a better understanding of these issues.

Funding and costs of study

Cost of study is often a barrier to access. The National Student Financial Scheme (NSFAS) adds the registration fee to the average cost of tuition and residence accommodation. The NSFAS is a success story in South Africa and provides funding for capable students who might otherwise be excluded from higher education as a result of poverty.

The report also states that private providers are catering mostly for affluent students that can pay for their own tuition. It is difficult to see any alternative for private institutions, as their learners do not have access to the NSFAS. The reason behind this is not clear, as these learners are no different from any other students. This leaves the Private providers little choice than to recover both the tuition and registration fees from the learners or their parents. Besides, one must bear in mind that private providers do not get any subsidy. To the contrary, they actually pay tax into the fiscus and do not cost the state anything.

FET Colleges are also heavily subsidised, and most of their learners also get bursaries to study vocational qualifications. Occupational learners are funded by the SETAs to some extent, or are sponsored by their employers.

Conclusion

The CHE is correct in asking for more information and research into the role played by the present 130 private providers. We are all aware that the public institutions have reached their capacity and cannot take in more learners. Yet, there is a surplus of students who wants to do higher education and a need for those skills. More students could make use of accredited and registered private providers if they could get access to the NSFAS, thus growing private provisioning without making bigger dents into the fiscus.

Minister Nzimande was correct in saying that matric failure is not the end of the world. Young people must also consider the trades, vocational and other occupational fields of study. Higher education should be the tip of the educational pyramid in post school education. It is not by any means supposed to be the catch all for all school leavers.