The full report is available at: The Restructuring of the Higher Education System in South Africa. I have taken the liberty of quoting a few snippets below: Concerning distance education programs: The NWG shares the concerns raised in the National Plan for Higher Education regarding the proliferation of distance education programmes that are offered by a growing number of traditionally residential institutions, often in partnership with the private sector. The NWG is concerned that this proliferation apparently seems to be motivated by financial gain. The NWG believes that it should not be allowed to continue in its present form. Aside from concerns relating to the quality and relevance of such programmes, it is also clear that they may be impacting on the sustainability both of the new dedicated distance education institution (the Open Learning University of South Africa), as well as residential institutions in regions where these programmes are offered. However, in line with the National Plan, the NWG is of the view that a total restriction of any form of distance education programmes at residential institutions may be counter-productive given the role that the developments in information and communications technology could play, through the use of resource materials, in enhancing the quality of teaching, including student support, at residential institutions. Moreover, such programmes through targeting non-traditional students could be instrumental in increasing the participation rate and in providing for the needs of students who would otherwise be denied access to higher education. The NWG therefore agrees with the proposals in the National Plan that the approval of any distance education programme at residential institutions should be subject to a set of criteria, including whether it falls within the institution’s mission and capacity, whether it addresses regional and national needs, and whether it meets quality assurance criteria of the Higher Education Quality Council (HEQC). In this way, poor quality programmes or those that impact on other residential institutions in particular or the dedicated distance education institution in general could be regulated without jeopardising those programmes that are of high quality and contribute to agreed national and regional needs. About U. Port Elizabeth (and a “private organization” that I suspect is Azaliah): The University of Port Elizabeth had nearly 7 000 contact students and over 15 000 distance students in 2000. In 2000, all of these distance students were following courses in education, and most were dealt with administratively by a private organisation in Gauteng acting as the university’s agent. It furthermore appears that the permanent and full-time staff of the University of Port Elizabeth have not been involved in any direct way in the teaching of these students. The NWG is deeply concerned about this arrangement because of the implications it has for quality standards and because of the unusual pressure it places on state subsidy. It supports provisions in the National Plan for Higher Education that distance education at contact institutions should be well regulated and closely monitored. The NWG believes that an institution such as the University of Port Elizabeth should concentrate on contact education programs in its seat of operation, and should not dilute its human and other resources in educational engagements in far away places. … … Only the new merged distance education institution should be permitted to offer distance education programmes in this region. About the University of Pretoria: … This is the largest higher education contact institution in the country with a head count enrolment of about 59 000 students in 2000. 29 000 of these students were registered for contact education programmes and 30 000 for distance education programmes, mainly in education and education management. Nearly all the distance students were registered with the university in terms of a partnership agreement with a private higher education provider. … … The NWG is concerned about the extent to which the Pretoria University's very large distance education enrolments have contributed to its apparently favourable equity profile. There also seems to be a question mark over the quality of over-subscribed distance education programmes offered by an institution geared for contact education. The university’s distance education programmes should be regulated in terms of the policy guidelines of the National Plan for Higher Education. Clearly, the present situation is unsatisfactory and untenable. … … The recent distance education developments at the University of Pretoria and at Pretoria Technikon should be reviewed and where appropriate discontinued. About University of Zululand: … The NWG therefore proposes that the University of Zululand should be transformed from an institution performing traditional university tasks to an institution whose primary functions are to offer technological skills-training and work-force preparation programmes. The refocusing of the University of Zululand’s mission should be encouraged and monitored over the next 5 years and, at the end of this period, the progress that has been made should be assessed, together with the sustainability and productivity of the institution at that time. … … It is clear that for the University of Zululand to shift its focus to offering more certificate and diploma qualifications the current academic staff would need to be re-skilled and re-trained. Major staff development programmes would have to be put in place to address this need. … … The University of Zululand should refocus its mission and become a comprehensive institution offering technikon-type programmes as well as a limited number of relevant university-type programmes, with its future growth being in the technikon programme area, and with major involvement in the Richards Bay region. … About universities in the North West province (including Potchefstroom): … The head count student enrolment total in the 2000 academic year at the three institutions was 27 500, which amounts to 4% of the total enrolments in South Africa. About 22 000 of these students were enrolled in contact education programmes, and 5 500 in distance education programmes offered by the University of Potchefstroom. … … The student enrolment total of the University of Potchefstroom has grown over the past 5 years primarily because of its move into distance education. Its distance head count enrolment total grew from 1 800 in 1998 to 5 200 in 2000. Its contact enrolment total over the same period grew from 11 600 in 1998 to 13 700 in 1999, and then fell to 13 000 in 2000. … In terms of available data, the University of Potchefstroom has both institutional strengths that should be nourished and weaknesses that present a challenge for new initiatives. It depends for its future viability and growth potential to a certain extent on its distance education and telematic programmes. Both its distance education/telematic programmes and its Vaal Triangle campus are, however, vulnerable, being exposed to increasingly fierce competition in the recruitment of students on the one hand and to curtailment (with respect to distance education programmes) in terms of policy provisions in the National Plan on the other. …
Education Minister Asmal says merger proposal report is only advisory and will form "the backdrop" to his own recommendations.
Thanks, Gert; this is encouraging. I hope his recommendations are friendlier to non-"OLUSA" distance learning programs. Cheers,
Article in the Sunday Independent: Asmal to unveil plan for higher education. A snippet: Kader Asmal, the minister of education, will announce his decisions on the restructuring of the higher education system this week. The anxiously-awaited announcement will have far-reaching implications for South Africa's higher education landscape. The fate of South Africa's universities and technikons, and their staff, is at stake. ... Asmal is expected to spell out the costs of the mergers and the time frames in which the mergers will be implemented.
Sad It is sad that the South African government is loaded with uneducated morons but now they are trying to prove it.
Well, Asmal himself can hardly be called uneducated. He has a BA from Unisa, LLB and LLM from University of London, and an MA from University of Dublin. He was admitted as a Barrister in London (Lincoln’s Inn) and Ireland (King's Inn). He taught Law at Trinity College Dublin for 27 years. He was ultimately Dean of Arts at Trinity College Dublin, before returning to South Africa about a dozen years ago.
So Asmal is a UNISA alum? Maybe he'll at least reject the new "OLUSA" name, then. (Open University of South Africa I don't mind, but Open Learning University of South Africa sounds pretty dreadful to my ears.) Cheers,
I'm going to reserve judgment until I see what Asmal actually does; I wager there's only about a 30% chance he'll go against the grain and actually do what I hope he'll do, but we'll have to wait and see. Cheers,
UNIZUL I asked the head of the English Dept at UNIZUL (Dr Hooper) about the merger and any affect it might have upon my studies there. This was her reply, "...as things stand our university has elected to 'stand alone', with the proviso that it will develop a technikon component (that may have farreaching implications for its university status in the long run - perhaps); but the final decision is made by Council. Council also seems to be on the 'stand alone' side of things, and the chairman has had a chat with the minister of education who seemed to go along with it too. The official announcement will be made on Thursday, is it ... Either way, if you work with our department, our department would retain responsibility for you. I think I'm pretty safe to say that." clint
It could take SA ten years to recover from these overambitious and badly conceived mergers, program terminations and university reorganizations. A tremendous amount of administrative and institutional instability will result. There are clearly educational problems that need to be addressed. But wouldn't it make more sense to do that by building on the established strengths of the university system, rather than by redesigning everything from the top down? This scheme will badly disorganize the very administrators who will simultaneously be expected to make the plan work. That could be a prescription for failure, in my opinion. I don't like it, and I wouldn't personally apply to a South African DL program until things stabilize, which could take years.
University of Zululand It sounds as if the plan is to turn the University of Zululand into something akin to an American community college or a British FE college. It is arguable of course that the poor population of SA is more in need of practical skills training than Ph.D.s in theology. But that's true across the country, not just in Zululand. Is this kind of change planned for all the historically black universities in SA, or is it a fate reserved for Zululand alone? That sounds sinister. If the powers aren't satified that Zululand has humbled itself with suitable dispatch, they leave open the option of closing it. (That's the implication I see in the word "sustainability".) That's positively ridiculous. Does anyone really believe that you can take an English professor or a theologian and retrain him into being a college level computer and information systems professor in five years? They will obviously need to hire new staff trained in the new vocational subjects. And there will be wholesale firings of current staff. Bottom line: The Zulus should not have opposed the ANC during the 1980's. Now they are being punished by having their university taken away from them.
As UNISA (or is it OLUSA?) is the main DL provider in this deal I think this concern is probably magnified. The difficulties in navigating the UNISA bureaucracy are legendary. The stories of students waiting months for replies to emails, dissertation chapters languishing on Professors desks while the authors chew their nails and pull their hair (perhaps a slight exageration, but only slight) are not uncommon. To imagine that this already difficult system might be further slowed by a major reorganization would certainly make one take a long second look at all available alternatives. Jack
Cabinet sends Asmal's plan back to blackboard. Snippets: The cabinet has delayed releasing Education Minister Kader Asmal's long-awaited recommendations for restructuring universities and technikons. ... Asmal denied that his recommendations had run into trouble with the cabinet. "The cabinet had a long discussion and a very good one," he said, adding that it lasted two-and-a-half hours. ... The cabinet said it was "in broad agreement with the thrust of the proposals". But the sticking point appears to be deciding which institutions will go to the chopping block. A statement said rationalisation needed to be considered in "relation to the broader transformation agenda" before a final decision in a few weeks time. The recommendations would merge formally disadvantaged universities, which are tens of millions of rands in debt, with world-class universities to cut costs and raise standards. The phrase "formally disadvantaged" should obviously be "formerly disadvantaged," but it's an interesting slip because these universities were, of course, formally disadvantaged during the apartheid era.
State May Give Black Universities a Reprieve. Snippet: The cabinet's decision effectively threatens to undo the work of the national working group. In its report titled "The Restructuring of the Higher Education System in SA", Macozoma's team recommended that tertiary institutions be reduced from 36 to 21, with all "bush college" institutions either dissolving or merging into others, while the "ivy league" remains largely untouched. Asmal apparently endorsed the team's broad recommendations. Being sent back means when Asmal and his top bureaucrats return to the cabinet in the next three to four weeks, they will be grilled on more or less the same questions that black institutions have been raising all along.
Lack of Say in Restructuring - Academics. This one's a little out of order, since it's from Tuesday before the Cabinet meeting mentioned above.
Education proposals 'require more work'. Snippet: ANC MP Randall van den Heever pointed out that Asmal's presentation to the Cabinet yesterday amounted to the end of the current process. A new process would start after the Cabinet's decision was made known, with a three-month period to be set aside for comment by roleplayers and the public. Committee chairman Shepherd Mayatula (ANC) said it would therefore make sense for the academics to come and address MPs again soon after that.
