UKZN, UWC & UFH on their state of affairs; NSFAS on disbursement of funding and allowances to students at UKZN, UWC and UFH

Higher Education, Science and Innovation

03 March 2020
Chairperson: Mr M Mapulane (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Committee was briefed by the management and SRC of the UKZN, UFH and UWC on the challenges they encountered that resulted in protest situations. The Committee also met to be briefed by the NSFAS on the disbursement of funds to institutions.

The Committee heard that student unrest in the three universities had to do with clearance, registration, satisfying an annual family income of R350 000 and accommodation.

At the UKZN, the management required that students coming from families with an annual family income of R350 000 had to pay registration fees and 15 percent of their debt before admission to the university would be granted. The SRC demanded that the students not pay anything. The university management insisted that the demands by the SRC could pose a financial risk. Due to the management and SRC’s failure to reach an agreement on this and other issues including academic exclusion, the university descended into a state of turmoil. The SRC insisted that the turmoil has to do with the management's unwillingness to engage the SRC. The Committee advised the management and the UKZN to work together on student governance issues. The Committee also advised students not to destroy property.

At the UFH, the Committee heard that there are serious financial constraints. This has to do with the fact that in the past three years the University has been over-enrolling students, exceeding the targets agreed with the Department of Higher Education and Training which resulted in the loss of their subsidy. In addition, for the past 3 years the university has not been applying financial exclusion. The decision by the university to start applying financial exclusion on specific categories of students has been resisted by the SRC which demands the registration of all students. The SRC’s mantra is “register one, register all”. The Committee advised the management to approach issues with an open mind and reach a resolution.

At the UWC, the Committee heard that the issue of accommodation has been a longstanding one. The enrolment growth at the university does not match the infrastructural growth. Nonetheless, the management at the UWC has come up with solutions to address the problems. The university acquired land on which the construction of student accommodation is underway. The university has also leased private accommodation. The SRC complained that progress in terms of accommodation is slow. The Committee was pleased to hear that the management has been delivering promises for the past five years. Moreover, the private accommodation outsourced by the university is expensive. The Committee advised the management to take advantage of the Student Housing Infrastructure Program (SHIP) provided by the DHET since its problems were largely centred on accommodation. The Committee also heard that the UWC has some issues around clearance and registration.

The Committee was disappointed to hear that gender-based violence (GBV) was a serious issue at all three universities. The Committee advised that students refrain from GBV and asked what the management was doing to deal with this.

The Committee heard that the NSFAS had issues with upfront payments to universities in order to mitigate cash flow problems. In order to facilitate the transference of allowances to students, the NSFAS will switch to direct payments as this will remove all cell phone activated accounts and involvement of third-party resources in the disbursement chain.

Meeting report

Briefing by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)

Professor Nana Poku, the Vice Chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), made a few opening remarks and passed on the presentation to other delegates.

Ms Nontuthuko Mbhele, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), briefed the Committee on the background to the student protests at the UKZN, the current state of affairs and the plans for the University.

The student protests had to with the University requirement that student’s whose annual family was below the income threshold of R350 000 had to pay registration fees and 15 percent of their debt before admission to their studies. The SRC had demanded that there should be no payment. This stance put the University at financial risk. With regard to students funded by the NSFAS and those who had historic debt, the University was formulating policies to assist these students.

The second area of conflict that resulted in protests had to do with the students’ demand for student accommodation. The university management found it premature to provide additional student accommodation before the end of the registration process on 6 March 2020.

The third area of conflict had to do with the UKZN’s policy on academic exclusion. To ensure the credibility and worth of the UKZN, the University Senate had a duty to students, the government and future employees to exclude failing students. In the current academic period, this university has excluded 31 students.

Due to the disruptions, the university has lost about 8½ teaching days.

Briefing by the UKZN Student Representative Council (SRC)

The SRC President, Mr Sifiso Simelane, informed the Committee that perhaps all interested stakeholders in the Higher education industry need to diarise that at the beginning of each academic year there will be student protests. The protests had to do with the failure by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) to deliver its academic freedom concessions as promised. This is evidenced by the university’s academic policies. The management’s denial to register students coming from families with an annual family income of R350 000 is not welcomed by the SRC. The same holds with regard to the university’s academic exclusion policy. The SRC feels that student’s left with 64 credits to complete their degrees should not be excluded.

The management is also reluctant to deal with problems with student accommodation. Over 2000 students need accommodation.

Mr Simelane said that there is also a sense of arrogance from the management when it comes to engaging the SRC on student problems.

The SRC condemns the destruction of property by students and calls on the law enforcement agencies to bring those responsible to book.

Briefing by the University of Fort Hare (UFH)

Mr Sakhela Buhlungu, the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the UFH, made opening remarks and informed the Committee that the presentation was going to touch on registration and enrolment 2020, teaching and learning, student accommodation and recent deaths of students in the universities.

On registration and enrolment Mr Buhlungu said that for the past three years the University has been over-enrolling students, exceeding the targets agreed with the Department of Higher Education and Training resulting in the loss of its subsidy. In addition, for the past three years the UFH has not been applying financial exclusion which has placed financial constraints on the university due to accumulating historic debt. For this reason, the UFH management changed their approached and decided to start applying financial exclusion to certain categories of students. The students have demanded a ‘register one and register all’ approach which will place the UFH at serious financial risk. The university gets much of its income from students’ fees.

On teaching and learning, the students in the East London campus lost seven learning days, and the students in the Alice campus lost eight learning days.

On student accommodation, 4632 beds have been allocated in 2020 out of a current available stock of 5192. This is 60, 5% of current student registrations in Alice. An additional 366 beds will become available in March as the next block of the Alice Student Village Phase 2 is handed over. Water supply and waste water treatment in Alice is a concern, but the UFH has received R130 million from DHET to address this. 2761 leased beds have been allocated in 2020 out of a current available stock of 3001. This is 46% of current registrations in East London.

On recent deaths of students in universities, two students were stabbed to death at the beginning of the academic year. In 2019, 12 students’ deaths were reported in comparison to 2018 during which 16 students’ deaths were reported. The university is also grappling with gender-based violence. In response to these problems, the University has capacitated its Student Counselling Unit. Currently, the position for manager is vacant.

Briefing by the UFH SRC

Mr James Nqabeni, the SRC Premier, informed the Committee of student challenges with registration, poor educational facilities, academic exclusion, student killings and student accommodation.

On registration challenges, these were exacerbated by the VC’s reluctance to engage the SRC and resolve issues. The VC deferred meetings several times. The UFH did not sit in on important Committee meetings. In the meetings that the SRC managed to have with the university management, the SRC proposed that students entering the system for the first time be allowed to register without paying the registration fees. Self-funded students that are performing well and post graduate students should be allowed to register.

On academic exclusion, students that were excluded were only informed of their exclusion on the day of registration.

On student accommodation, the accommodation offered by the university does not meet the DHET standards. The quality of accommodation also does not cater for students with disabilities.

On poor education facilities, the university theatre rooms are substandard. Some students are forced to attend lectures standing.

On the recent killings of students, this has to do with poor security services by the UFH. Added to this are poor recreational facilities forcing students to go out and have fun in unsafe spaces outside campus.

Overall, the Administrator and Vice Chancellor’s contracts of employment should be terminated with immediate effect.

Briefing by the University of the Western Cape (UWC)

Professor Vivienne Lawarck, the Deputy Vice Chancellor UWC, informed the Committee that the academic calendar at UWC was interrupted by student protests centred on registration clearance and accommodation.

Mr Larry Pokpas, the Institutional Planner and Executive Assistant to the VC UWC, informed the Committee that the university enrolled 93 percent of its overall enrolment target of 24 830 students. The university projects a continued increase in its enrolment and this does not match the infrastructure growth in terms of student accommodation.

Ms Pamela Dube, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Student Development and Support UWC, informed the Committee that the university currently have 10 residences and three long term lease residences. Due to an increase in demand for accommodation year by year the available accommodation is not sufficient. For the available accommodation first year students always take priority. The university has sourced private service providers to address the issue of accommodation. It is also involved in a project that will be completed in 2022. Upon completion the project will provide 2700 beds.

The university lost South Point accommodation which accommodated a large number of students. The university has made alternative arrangements to accommodate qualifying students. There are students that do not qualify for accommodation due to poor academic performance.

Mr Manie Regal, Executive Director, Finance and Services: UWC informed the Committee that logistics purposes with regard to land acquisition delayed the university projects designed to address accommodation issues.

Briefing by the UWC SRC

Ms Sasha-Lee Douglas, the SRC President UWC, informed the Committee that due to the management's arrogance and refusal to engage, problems around accommodation, clearance and registration were not resolved. As a result, the students resorted to shutting down the campus, which the university management responded to by hiring a private security company to abuse students. The shutdown finally ended after the management and SRC agreed on a list of concessions and resolutions (See presentation).

On student accommodation, this has been an ongoing issue for years now and the UWC’s response is not satisfactory. The university has increased bed space by 90. The prices are also exorbitant. The university provides private accommodation at an exorbitant price in crime ridden areas.

There has been a rise in gender-based violence at the university and the SRC has organised a number of demonstrations and marches in respect to this.

On the NSFAS, the management is refusing to give the NSFAS students with historical debt their academic transcripts. This is contrary to the arrangement that the Minister had with the South African Union of Students (SAUS). Moreover, the NSFAS students who reside in private accommodation, who have historical debt, according to the UWC, will not receive their entire accommodation allowance for 2020. Students have informed the Student Representative Council that according to the UWC Financial aid, one semester of their accommodation allowance will be redirected towards clearing the historical debt of the student.

Finally, the university set a meeting with the NSFAS and the SRC was not invited. For this reason, the SRC resolved to go against whatever arrangements the management had with the NSFAS.

Briefing by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)

Dr Randall Carolissen, Administrator: NSFAS, informed the Committee that NSFAS has met with the management of UFH, UKZN and UWC to attempt to resolve issues.

NSFAS has processed all applications. Unsuccessful applications were either due to insufficient documents and failure to meet the prescribed requirements.

Appreciating the hardship of students and cash flow requirements that Institutions must forego, NSFAS issued upfront payments. NSFAS paid an additional upfront payment to Universities to also assist with Accommodation and Travel allowances estimated on previous year registration information received to the value of R677, 452,877.00 on the 28 February 2020.

A total amount of R355, 123,753.00 for 2020 has been paid as an upfront payment to the University of KwaZulu-Natal for 2020. The payments made include an amount of R60, 240,068.00 paid on the 28 February 2020 to aid the Institution in disbursing Accommodation and Travel Allowances to students.

A total amount of R81, 319,537.00 for 2020 has been paid as an upfront payment to the University of the Western Cape for 2020. A total of 9,610 applications were received during the 2020 Application Period and after removing all duplicate applications 8,904 unique applications remained for processing.  Based on the applications processed, 7,298 applications have been approved for funding with 1,023 applications being in the non-qualifying category.

A total amount of R134, 541,758.00 for 2020 has been paid as an upfront payment to the University of Fort Hare for 2020. The payments made include an amount of R25, 312,312.00 paid on the 28 February 2020 to aid the Institution in disbursing Accommodation and Travel Allowances to students.

In February 2019 Minister Pandor approved R1 billion for Historic Debt of students incurred as a result of the loan system prior to 2018.Students were required to sign an acknowledgment of debt in cases where the capped loan amount was insufficient to cover costs.

To facilitate the transference of allowances to students, the NSFAS will switch to direct payments of students. This will remove all cell phone activated accounts and involvement of third-party resources in the disbursement chain.

Discussion

Mr W Letsie (ANC) commented that after having listened to all presentations from the universities present, it is clear that there is an entity of sorts between university management and students. The problems created by the Annual Family Income threshold of R350 000 in relation to the NSFAS and students largely stems from the inability of students university management and NSFAS to engage each other with an open mind. The system that the universities use eliminates qualifying students from being funded, and subsequently creates serious problems.

There is a need to have serious discussions on the matter of institutional autonomy as raised by the UKZN student representative council SRC President, Sifiso Simelane. The fact that universities are taking time to provide NSFAS with data to release allowances to registered students meant that during the striking period students did not have books to study at home. They solely depend on lecture notes which they were not receiving. The university creates unnecessary disputes due its failure to effectively communicate to students the rationale behind academic and financial exclusion. The SRC believes that open communication are key to resolving the tension.

The university management also intentionally excludes students by making erratic financial demands that reflect a lack of clear understanding of the majority of its students’ financial background. Moreover, the university intentionally exclude students by imposing differential treatment among students satisfying the “Annual Family Income Threshold” of R350 000.

The universities should build capacity on internal security rather than spend exorbitant amounts of money hiring private security. There has been a suggestion from management: What about using the money we are spending on private securities to clear historical debt?

Ms J Mananiso (ANC) stated that from the presentations she has noted that university officials are good at identifying problems and not coming up with solutions to address these.

In order to effectively apply consequent management, there is need for a clear management profile. Who are the officials responsible for the management of debt and infrastructure within universities? The presentations were lacking in respect to the actions taken by the university management and student leadership following the destruction of property by students. It is a cause for concern that the management of UKZN is altering the policy pertaining to the requirements that students need to satisfy to qualify for NSFAS. What right do these officials have to go against the original policy? Policies are there to be implemented until reviewed by the government or otherwise. The dialogue on gender-based violence (GBV) often receives reactive and not responsive reactions. The presentations did not speak of plans to tackle GBV. UFH should inform the Committee when the position of manager in its Student Counselling Unit (SCU) will be filled.

The present universities spoke of plans with time spans ranging between 12 and 18 months. The universities need to create short-term, medium-term and long-term plans in order to enhance oversight by the Committee.

The delegates from NSFAS should provide the Committee with a date that it will finally deal with funding issues with regard to T-VET colleges.

The recurring protests in universities were concerning and demanded universities to at least conduct research on how to deal with these. Has this been done?

Dr W Boshoff (FF+) stated that the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology (DHEST) was dealing with a situation that every socialist state finds itself in after a while, which is being subsequently held responsible for basically everything. The state can also assume responsibility for everything to the point of eliminating the role of the private sector. The state cannot provide everything, including Higher Education.

The Chairperson remarked that South Africa is not a socialist but a developmental one.

Ms N Mkhatswa (ANC) stated that the SA government is not averse to the role of the private sector is addressing social problems. The president invited has cried out on multiple times to the private sector to get involved in addressing the ills in South Africa’s communities/societies.

Ms D Sibiya (ANC) stated that the university management is arrogant and should refrain from such an attitude to resolve pressing issues and avoid protests. Students should also learn to resolve problems through engaging the management rather than destroying property. There is a communication gap between students and management and the gap should be filled with a sense of urgency.

Ms N Mkhatswa (ANC) reminded the delegates that the various universities they represent are universities for those communities that have been previously marginalised or disadvantaged with respect to education stalemate. On that note, it is the mandate of the delegates to ensure that the universities are functional and serving their purpose to undo the injustices of the past. There is a sense of arrogance from the management’s side; Members of the Committee are constantly directly messaged by the student leadership complaining about vice chancellors and management refusing to schedule meetings.

There is an urgent need to bridge the gap between institutional autonomy and academic freedom. The South African Union of Students (SAUS) spoke to the President and DHSET and made various concessions aimed at academic freedom. The university management has proved to be reluctant to implement these which are unacceptable. The DHEST and the university management need to improve communication with each other. The same applies to university management and the SRC. The university management should look at the SRC as a core part of its governance structure.

The management from UKZN should provide further clarification on the Annual Family Threshold of R350 000. In addition, the UKZN management, together with the management from the UFH, should explain why the protests in their respective universities went on for too long. Why were we not able to sit earlier? Who did not want to meet earlier? The SRC president from UWC previously made it clear that students do not want to protest but university management is reluctant to meet and resolve matters.

The presence of the police and private security in universities is there to protect the universities. The management from UFH should explain the video with student getting assaulted by the police and private security that appeared on social media. Is this a recent video or it’s an old one?

The management and SRC should explain to the Committee what measures were put in place to ensure that students are able to catch up with the academic calendar. The management should put measures in place to ensure that those students who get into the system are able to succeed in the system.

The NSFAS should explain the existing challenges. What measure has it put in place to ensure a seamless registration process?

Mr B Yabo (ANC) stated the fact that the universities present were having teething problems related to the Student Funding Scheme and this was a cause for concern. The system was designed to deal with student funding is not a new system and hence should not create problems. Where is the problem? The problem is with poor communication between the NSFAS and the university management. The payment process of transferring money to university management and then students also creates delays due to technological disparities among institutions. On that note, the decision by the NSFAS to eliminate the “middleman” is one that can be gladly welcomed.

It is important that students demilitarise protests. Be that as it may, the decision by universities to get private and state security heavily involved in the protests prompts students to gear up for war. This is in accordance with the Latin adage “si vis pacem, para bellum”. On that note, there is an appeal to both parties to refrain from using violence to resolve problems. The university management is also advised to engage with the SRC ahead of time to avoid protests at the beginning of each academic year. It is also important to note that, in respect of matters of accommodation, there are private stakeholders that instigate students to disrupt university proceedings in order to benefit financially. If this does not stop, we will bring down the Higher education system.

Mr B Nodada (DA) recommended that the Committee put it across to universities that it is its constitutional mandate to maintain oversight in public entities that are funded by the government. There is a sense of hostility from university management when it comes to the Committee trying to execute this mandate. The purpose of the oversight is to ensure that Committee Members get first hand understanding of the problems in universities in order to deal with these effectively.

There is a lack of coordination, poor communication and a sense of arrogance among the various stakeholders in the Higher education system which creates the problems the Committee is currently faced with.

A total amount of R900 million was allocated to NSFAS. NSFAS should tell the Committee how much of this money has not been spent to clear students’ debt.

The university management should tell the Committee what the arrangement on dealing with student debt, with the Minister of Higher Education and SAUS, was?

What internal plans do universities have to deal with students’ historical debt? Universities cannot solely depend on government mechanisms.

It is important to bring together NSFAS, DHET and student leadership to develop clear guidelines on how to deal with student debt.

It is important that student leadership attend all university meetings dealing with academic and financial exclusion to avoid crying foul and causing protests at a later stage. University management must also ensure that they consult with students before making decisions on academic and financial exclusion.

It is crucial that the government start getting value for the money it puts into education. According to statistics South Africa, 62 percent of students finish matric, 42 percent are enrolled in universities, and about 4.2 percent complete their studies. This was a cause for concern. The university management should put in place mechanisms to ensure that students succeed.

The Minister, in coordination with the DHET and universities, must try to engage the Departments of Public Works and Human Settlement to get assistance on the issue of accommodation. These departments can perhaps provide isolated buildings for renovation.

The SRC should discourage the destruction of property in universities. The leadership from UKZN should tell the Committee what actions it has taken to bring to book those students responsible for the destruction of property.

The Chairperson asked if the Committees that did not sit on the University of Fort Hare board were still in existence or if they had collapsed. The university management should explain why the Committees did not sit. The protests at UFH went on for too long. The university administrator should furnish an explanation of his role in dealing with the protests. The UKZN should provide the Committee with data on those students who were not allowed to register because of the Annual Family Income Threshold of R350 000. The UWC should tell the Committee what it has been doing to deal with the issue of accommodation which is its biggest problem. Is the university not participating in the DHET programme to build 300 000 beds in various universities over a period of 10 years? The UWC could benefit a lot from this.

Responses

UFH

Mr Loyiso Nongxa, the Administrator of the UFH, replied that he assumes the role of counsel at the UFH. It is important that the counsel tries not to get itself involved in management issues. On that note, he was not involved in the management of the university of Fort Hare. His job is to counsel the management and hold them accountable for mismanagement. Mr Nonga said he submits quarterly reports to the Minister which he was not sure were made available to the Committee.

In response to Mr Nodada, Mr Nongxa said that there is a need for clarity if it is the Committee itself or Committee individuals that played the role of oversight in universities. He drew attention to the Committees manual in the paragraph that states that when the Committee is performing its role on oversight it should refrain from encroaching on the jurisdiction of provincial and local representatives. This was the law despite the fact that this has become termed as “institutional autonomy”.

Mr Buhlungu stated that the management takes all issues raised by the Committee seriously. On the matter of management refusing to engage students, he replied that this was not entirely correct. The student leadership was also at fault. Be that as it may, both parties will work on improving their processes of engagement. He reiterated that the issue of financial constraints is a serious and concerning issue.

UKZN

On the matter of the Annual Family Income Threshold of R350 000, Ms Mbhele replied that the university has approximately 14 714 students that fall under this category and do not have funding. She stated the reasons for this include the fact that the students entered the higher education system before 2018 and continue to be funded under the annual family income threshold of R122 000; do not meet the academic progression requirements stated by NSFAS; are studying for qualifications that are not approved by the NSFAS and; do not apply for NSFAS funding. These are the students that are unfunded and are currently accumulating historic debt.

The historic debt relief provided by DHST through NSFAS only applied to students that fall under the pre-2018 NSFAS rules. Students that fall under the post-2018 NSFAS rules are not eligible.

The University acted on the Minister’s pronouncements on registration of students with historic debt. The pronouncements only applied to students that are funded by NFSAS. On financial clearance for NSFAS funded students, there were difficulties in respect to returning students due to historic debt. First year students and students funded by NSFAS 2020 were successfully cleared for registration.

The Chairperson requested that the delegates provide additional data on the issues they raised. He further requested that the universities extend the registration process.

On academic exclusion, Mr Poku stated that only 31 students were excluded in 2020. Moreover, over 97 percent of students have been registered and there is no need to extend the registration period.

The Chairperson replied that the remaining 3 percent was significant and required the university to extend the registration period.

UWC

Mr Pokpas replied that the university did not deliver false promises to students and other interested stakeholders on the issue of accommodation. The UWC acquired land between 2016 and 2017 to build 2700 beds. The acquisition process for the land was time consuming. In addition, the land acquired was swapped for another piece of land as it was isolated from the campus. The swopping process took long. Moreover, the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) took long to provide the UWC with the loans prescribed by the Student Housing Infrastructure Program (SHIP), which created delays in delivering student accommodation.

Professor Lawack added that UWC went bankrupt in 2003 and 2004 and hence is not better resourced to deal with historic debt in comparison to other universities.

The SRC is actively involved in the university’s re-admission processes. It is detrimental to the students themselves to have them in the university system for 8 years for a programme that is supposed to last for 3 years.

NSFAS

Dr Carolissen stated that the Public Finance Management Act does not prescribe for upfront payments. NSFAS provisions upfront payments to universities out of the recognition that it is dealing with poor students and that some universities will have cash flow crisis. The R5 billion that has been paid upfront is only for registered students not undergraduate students.

Students that register late should not expect the same treatment that is given to students that register early. The same goes to students who submit documents late.

The money that NSFAS currently has available for this year is not only for student funding this year but to teach students out of the system next year.

NSFAS has received all registration data from all TVET colleges and is in the process of dealing with payments.

DHET

Dr Diane Parker, DDG: University Education, DHET, stated that the DHET has R34 billion to fund students. This might appear to be enough but it does not accommodate every student. For that reason, the NSFAS took the decision that some students should continue to be funded under the old NSFAS rules. On historic debt, the NSFAS cleared approximately 55 000 students.

The management is stuck between ensuring the sustainability of universities and advancing the interests of students.

The Chairperson made closing remarks.

The meeting was adjourned.

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