Chairperson, hon Minister, Dr Nzimande; Deputy Minister, Prof Mkhize; officials in the department, hon members and guests, in this academic year our registration period was defined by a swamping of institutions by prospective students who sought opportunities in universities, especially comprehensive universities and universities of technology. This situation was precipitated by the exponential growth of successful matriculants, who sought entry into the postschool education and training system. We are well aware that the current institutional landscape simply cannot cope with the growing numbers of successful matriculants being produced in our school system. This stark reality is compounded by a weak further education and training sector in terms of infrastructure and competent human capital. To attract students, there is an urgent need for intervening in terms of skills improvement and quality assurance in this sector.
Our bold vision, articulated in the Green Paper on the Post-School Education and Training System, for enrolment expansion in both the higher education and FET sector requires an injection of massive resources for the upgrading and expansion of existing infrastructure. We need a strong collaboration and investment by industry into the vocational sector in order to resolve the acute shortage of critical and scarce skills in the economy. This point cannot be overemphasised.
There is a need for curriculum development that will encapsulate aspects of the green economy.
Our institutions of higher learning must heed our stance on the non- financial exclusion of indigent, well-performing students and of ensuring that we do not have exorbitant fees that will subvert our vision for the progressive allocation of free education in our country.
We acknowledge the growing investment in NSFAS, which will go a long way to expand access to higher education by the poor. I would like to urge universities and NSFAS to reconsider the practice of refunding surplus amounts to NSFAS recipients in the light of the scarcity of resources.
The department must prioritise the project that deals with the development of the next generation of academics to guarantee the necessary supply of human capital for our universities, particularly in light of the envisaged two universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape. We must disappoint the outspoken catalysts of discord, who claim that our government will not deliver on this promise, by expediting our earnest efforts in this regard.
We are profoundly concerned about the negligible production of domestic black doctoral graduates. This underrepresentation will perpetuate the historical social inequities that have always characterised the higher- education terrain. We therefore require targeted recruitment of black South African students from disadvantaged social strata. The state must clearly explore doctoral study incentives that will attract and retain students in this category. This should include an urgent review of the salary disparities between lecturers, researchers and the apex managerial band in order to curb the brain drain in our institutions.
The interinstitutional collaboration on high-level research projects and the facilitation of articulation among universities and between universities and colleges must be urgently addressed. The imperative of quality assurance should not serve as a pretext for gate-keeping by some professional bodies in crucial career lines in our country.
We welcome the reopening of colleges, as announced by the Minister. In this context, we would like to call upon universities to strengthen linkages with the FET sector in the quest for a seamless system that is highly articulated. We are encouraged by the increasing effort and visibility of the Setas in terms of funding initiatives in the postschool education and training system and urge that more be done in this area.
The budget speech demonstrates that the state is committed to ensuring that greater resources are available for education. These efforts need to be reinforced by students. The Student Representative Councils and student political formations in particular must join us in promoting learning and excellence in our institutions to guarantee value for the huge investments made in education.
We will not tolerate corruption, incompetence and alarming mediocrity in institutional governance and management at all levels. We will elevate transparency and greater accountability in all institutions that account to this committee. We welcome and support this budget and we will give the necessary support that the Minister and the department require from the committee. That includes supporting all our institutions towards the realisation of a single, coherent, differentiated and highly articulated postschool education and training system.
The portfolio committee constitutes a diverse but strong political polity and we support this Budget Vote. [Applause.]