Blade Nzimande calls for expansion of access to tertiary education

Access to formal education and training institutions is constrained and needs to be expanded Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said recently.

Enrolments at Further Education and Training (FET) colleges in particular needed to increase if South Africa was to come close to meeting the need for mid-level skills and the demand from youth for increased training opportunities

While mindful of the need to maintain and improve the quality of education and training boldness is needed in expanding enrolments, and thus opportunities, while not compromising quality, he said at the National Skills Summit in Pretoria, recently.

This speech follows on the heel of another speech  delivered by him at the FET college summit in Johannesburg, where he called for some amendments and additions in the curriculum of Further Education and Training (FET) colleges to absorb the country’s desolate youth into its workforce and address the high unemployment rate in South Africa.

To read more go to the Sapa article on Times Live by Clicking Here!

OR read the article by Loni Prinsloo in Creamer Media’s Engineering News by Clicking Here!

South African government to overhaul funding of research

Sue Blaine recently wrote in Business Day about the South African government’s plans to change the way it funds higher education research, and the possibility of an increase in research funding in 2011.

The Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated R1,8bn to research “outputs” for 2010-11 and recently put R1,6bn into infrastructure improvements in higher education, with a special focus on science, engineering, technology and education, according to acting deputy director-general, Kirti Menon.

Minister Blade Nzimande is also seeking advice from the Council on Higher Education about the possibility that the 80% higher education budget for research outputs be distributed on the basis of the actual research outputs produced by universities. The balance of 20% would be used for research development grants.

To read Sue Blaine original article on allAfrica.com Click Here!

Blade Nzimande announces immediate priorities for Department of Higher Education and Training

Dr Blade Nzimande, South African Higher Education and Training Minister recently announced some immediate priorities of the Department of Higher Education and Training. Speaking on post-school options for the Matric Class of 2009, he reiterrated that the next few months will see progress to many of the goals that has been set for the Department.

Some immediate priorities that Nzimande highlighted is support for the South African Deputy-president in the establishment of the HRD-SA Council, the strengthening of the National Skills Authority and paying particular attention to issues such as improving access and success rates in universities and colleges, developing the post-school funding system, advancing access to and quality of the College sector, redefining the SETA landscape and addressing efficiency challenges in the National Skills Fund.

He also announced that a higher education summit will be held in April where the challenge of transformation in higher education will be confronted. At the summit the the role of universities in interacting with and strengthening of other sectors of the system, especially colleges, will also be discussed.

Nzimande will also meet with the Chairs of Councils of the 23 South African universities to discuss the Soudien report on racial and other discrimination at higher education institutions.

The South African Government is committed to strengthen the country’s skills and human resource base, and as part of this commitment the Department of Higher Education and Training intend to broaden access to post-school education over time, Nzimande said. He indicated that the shape of the South African post-secondary system is not appropriately balanced between universities and colleges. Whilst access to universities must increase, enrolment in colleges should double in the next five years.  

For Universities, expansion of the system will be preceded by the careful prior development of capacity as part of the Department’s enrolment planning process with the sector: Enrolments must be matched to available resources, physical, human and financial. The average annual growth rate in head count student enrolments between 2005 (the base year for the enrolment planning process) and 2008 was 2.8%, compared to the target rate of 2.0% set in October 2007 by the Ministry of Education. The data available shows that student enrolments surged above these averages between 2007 and 2008. The head count student enrolment total rose from 761 000 in 2007 to 799 000 in 2008; an increase of 38 000 or 5%. The Full-Time Equivalent enrolled total, which is an indicator of the student load carried by the higher education system, rose from 519 000 in 2007 to 540 000 in 2008; an increase of 21 000 or 4%. Enrolments in Science and Technology majors grew at a rate of only 1.1% pa, between 2005 and 2008; compared to the target rate of 2.9% pa. The Department is awaiting the enrolment data for 2009, but understand that a further surge in headcount was experienced in many Universities. Work has begun on the second Cycle of System and Institutional Enrolment Planning.

He emphasized that increase in access, particularly of the poor and the working class, must be accompanied by increases in graduation rates, and success rates at all levels of study. Success is related to institutional investment in improving teaching and learning, and in student support and the social and living conditions of students.

To read Dr Blade Nzimande’s full speech Click Here!

What is transformation in Higher Education? Nzimande

Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training addressed the issue of transformation of South African universities at the occasion of the University of the Free State public management memorial lecture, held on 3 September 2009. To read a transcript of his speech, published on PoliticsWeb Click Here!

Some Challenges Facing the South Africa Higher Education System

The South African Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande delivered a lecture on the Challenges facing South African Higher Education on 14 August 2009 at the 250th seminar of the University of Johannesburg’s Faculty of Humanities.

For a transcript of the lecture on PoliticsWeb Click Here!

Minister Nzimande suggests changes to the current South African education system

The Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande recently suggested that the current matric exemption system should be revised. He said the exemption rate of 18% of South African matriculants was too low to accept as a reflection of  their abilities. “It is not true that that all students who do not get exemptions cannot succeed in higher education”, he said at a briefing ahead of the education budget debate. According to Nzimande ways and means will have to be found to identify those who have potential even if they did not get an exemption.

The Higher Education Review Committee is looking at the possibility of introducing university entrance exams to give students who failed in getting exemption another chance at studying at higher education institutions.

Universities have complained that matriculants lack the necessary academic skill to cope with higher learning. According to Nzimande the universities will have to take responsibility in helping them adjust.

Nzimande also mooted the possibility of increasing the time needed to finish a standard degree from three to four years. If this is applied it could lead to the abolishment of honours degrees, and students with a degree could then proceed directly to masters, as is the case in many other countries.

To read more go to the News24 article “Nzimande moots educational changes” by Clicking Here!

Resistance against transformation at universities will not be tolerated anymore says Minister Blade Nzimande

The government is not going to tolerate resistance against transformation at universities anymore, Minister of Higher Education and Training Dr Blade Nzimande said on Wednesday 10 June 2009. 

He referred to The Report of the Ministerial Committee on Transformation and Social Cohesion and the Elimination of Discrimination in Public Higher Education Institutions, and said he had considered and accepted the report and its major findings, and found it deeply disturbing.  “While the report commends institutions for initiatives on change, the report unfortunately states that discrimination, in particular with regard to racism and sexism, is still pervasive in our institutions”, Dr Nzimande said.

Admitting that there is no doubt that significant policy development has indeed occurred towards transformation, the next important step will be to make those policies work.

Nzimande said further that he expects co-operation from Higher Education South Africa (HESA) and he will soon be meeting with them to consider a number of issues. These included developing a transformation compact between institutions and the department. He wants them to consider that vice-chancellors be held responsible for transformation and that this be included in their performance management contracts. The extend to which the curriculum has been transformed to play a role in the socialisation of students with regards to values in the Constitution and broader participation in society, should also be considered

He singled out the The University of the Free State as the institution where racism was the worst, and expressed hope that the University of Stellenbosch will decide, without intervention, to stop using Afrikaans to exclude some students.

Nzimande also announced that the government plans to form a new monitoring- and oversight body to complement the work of the Council on Higher Education (CHE), to keep an eye on transformation issues at universities in South Africa. This oversight body will be based in the Higher Education and Training Department, and details regarding its composition, structure, and brief will be released in the near future. He emphasized that the new body will not be involved in witch-hunts, but that universities will have to be held accountable. The allocation of financial assistance could be used for example, to ensure that universities use these funds for “pressing issues”.

Nzimande stressed that universities should have academic freedom and autonomy, but this should not be an impediment on the way to transformation.

To read more on this go to the article on Politicsweb by Clicking Here!

To read the Afrikaans article by Pieter du Toit on this in Beeld Newspaper Click Here!

Blade Nzimande appointed as Minister of Higher Education and Training

Dr Bonginkosi Emmanuel “Blade” Nzimande (born April 14, 1958), General Secretary of the South African Communist Party since 1998,  has been appointed as Minister of Higher Education and Training by the new President elect of South Africa, Jacob Zuma.  He has a doctorate degree in philosophy specialising in sociology. For more information on him on Wikipedia Click Here!