South African Higher Education and Training Budget

The Minister of Higher Education and Training , Blade Nzimande recently presented the department’s budget vote in parliament.

He announced that  the Department of Higher Education and Training have ring-fenced R450 million for the 2012/13 to 2013/14 funding cycle to expand university infrastructure capacity for teacher education and plan to continue with this in the next funding cycle.

Mr Nzimande also noted a significant increase in full-time equivalent enrolments in initial teacher education progarmmes from 35 937 in 2009 to 41 292 in 20 120, a 15 % increase.The number of new teachers that graduated showed an increase from 6 976 in 2009 to 7 973 in 2010, an increase of 14%. He added that specific attention is given to the development of Foundation Phase teachers, and especially African language mother-tongue speakers.

He also announced that R499 million has been allocated to all universities for teaching development grants to assist in improving graduate outputs and R194 million for foundation programmes to improve the success rates of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Programmes will also be initiated this year to support the academic and professional development of lecturers at universities.

An additional amount of R177 million has been allocated for research development at 15 of the 23 universities to develop research capability of university staff.

R850 miiion has been set aside for the period 2012/13 to 2013/14 for universities to build and refurbish student residences. with the majority being allocated to historically black institutions.

Over the next two year, R3,8 billion has been allocated for universities’ overall infrastructure development of which R1,6 billion has been set aside specifically for the historically disadvantaged universities.

The information for this article was obtained from an article compiled by the Government Communication and Information System, and can be obtained from 7th Space by Clicking Here!   

South African government to re-open former Teacher Training Colleges

In a bid to produce more teachers in South Africa the government’s Higher Education and Training Department is planning to open three former teacher training colleges next year, Mr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training recently announced in his departments budget vote in parliament. The colleges are the Ndebele College Campus in Mpumalanga for foundation phase teacher education, and one former teacher training college each in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape.

 To read more go to the article at 7th Space Interactive by Clicking Here!

R15 billion set aside for Further Education and Training Colleges

South African Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has set aside R15-billion to increase the number of students attending South Africa’s Further Education and Training Colleges. This is part of a plan to improve the quality of education at FET colleges so that they become the tertiary institutions of choice. The plan also includes an agreement with retired accountants to step in as CFOs at these institutions.

Nzimande wants the  FET student population to grow from the current 400 000 to 4 million by 2030.

To read more go to the article on East Coast Radio Newswatch by Clicking Here!

South Africa plans to open 2 new universities

Mr Blade Nzimande, South African Minister of Higher Education and Training, recently announced that two new universities are expected to open in South Africa, one in the Mpumalanga province and the other in the Northern Cape Province. Two task teams investigated the appropriate models for these new universities and recommended possible sites to be seats of these universities. Mr Nzimande will announce the seat of learning of each new institution in three months time. The government plans to have the first intake of these tow new universities at the start of 2014.

To read more go to Sapa’s article at Sowetan Live by Clicking Here!