UFS vice-chancellor says higher education funding model not working

Staff Reporter

University of the Free State (UFS) rector and vice-chancellor Professor Francis Petersen says South Africa’s funding model for higher education is not working and it urgently needs to be remodelled in order to cover students more comprehensively.

He told a virtual media briefing on Monday that a more sustainable student financial model was needed in order to ensure stability at universities and other institutions of higher learning because the state-funded National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was failing.

“We can’t have every year . . . disruptions at higher education institutions,” said Petersen.

“. . . you can’t have somebody that academically qualifies but has no money to study and is not given an opportunity to study. It’s not fair either.”

“For me that sustainable student financial model is surely not what we have in the NSFAS,” he added.

The media briefing followed disruptions at the UFS last week by students protesting against financial and academic exclusion.

The protests culminated in a national shutdown of all public universities in the country today following a call by student bodies.

Petersen said the current funding system was failing students as many deserving students are struggling to pursue their studies because they cannot afford the fees.

“We can’t have students – I read it this morning – with seven distinctions and they haven’t got funding to study mining engineering . . . that for me is inexcusable,” he said.

A recent announcement by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande that the government had money to fund first-year students who qualified for NSFAS is believed to have caused panic among students, leading to the spontaneous protests at different universities.

Cabinet has since approved R5.6 billion to fund first-year students under NSFAS.

Petersen said in a bid to meet some of the key demands by students, the UFS had made several concessions expected to cost the institution about R500 million.

Some of the concessions made by the university were that NSFAS students with outstanding debt but with approved funding for 2021 could register without having to pay anything.

Non-NSFAS students with outstanding debt of less than R20 000 could register provisionally and come up with a payment plan which they should fulfil before the end of the registration period towards the end of April.

Final-year non-funded students owing the university less than R25 000 may also register provisionally.

“The concessions will cost the university about half-a-billion rand,” said Petersen.

“The concessions were implemented from the 11th of March. As the executive management, we are committed to ensuring stability on all our campuses.

“Our focus is primarily make sure that we get the online registration of first-year students completed.”

The vice-chancellor said over 90 percent of returning undergraduate students have already registered and about 43 percent of first-year students that could register without the support of NSFAS had done so by the end of last week.

The UFS is set to enrol 8 222 first-year students, an increase of 1.3 percent on last year’s intake.

“Now that we got NSFAS students being supported, I’m pretty sure that the number of first-year students will increase,” he said.

The registration of first-year students has been extended to March 19.

The university’s first semester of 2021 is expected to follow a blended model which includes online and face-to-face teaching.

Just about 35 of the students will be allowed on campus.

The UFS will implement a permit system so that only those taking face-to-face classes or doing practicals are on campus.

Petersen said national treasury and the government need to look at higher education differently and view it as an expenditure rather than an investment where you expect to get some form of return.

He warned that if the higher education funding issues are not addressed properly, politicians could ride on the wave of instability to further their political points, a situation he described as bad for either the higher education sector or South Africa in general.

“To politicians, don’t try to exploit the instability for political gains. It’s everyone’s duty to address the situation,” said Petersen.