Deputy Speaker, I wish to thank the hon member, and I wish to assure him that, yes, by the way, we are monitoring this very closely and we are learning lessons.
Initially, even before we started, we looked closely at the central application system already operating for years now in KwaZulu-Natal. All their universities are linked. They have been doing central applications and they have now even included some of the FET colleges.
One of the challenges - and I won't be able to mention all of them - always occurs whenever the new academic year starts for the students who have to register. That was one of the major contributing factors to the disaster at the University of Johannesburg. Even those students who were told that they had been accepted flocked in physically once the registration process started. We found that they wanted to go because, in some instances, there was a fear that, now that the process had started with another group of students, they might actually lose their spaces and so on. So, the more we tighten this system, the better.
By the way, I forgot to say to hon Bhanga that the full-blown central applications system will not be in place for 2014; it will be for the beginning of the 2015 academic year, as I had said before. Thank you. Particulars regarding effectiveness of Central Applications Clearing House
74. Mr Z S Makhubele (ANC) asked the Minister of Higher Education and Training:
(a) Is he satisfied that the Central Applications Clearing House (CACH) serves the intended purpose and (b) to what extent was it accessible to applicants from rural areas? 445E