South Africa’s Newly Appointed Deputy Directors-General To Bring Stability In Higher Education

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Technology has commended the appointment of three new Deputy Directors-General (DDGs), saying it will ensure stability at senior management level in the department.

Committee chairperson, Philly Mapulane, said the committee had noted that the positions of the three DDGs had been vacant for a long time, and their filling will see the achievement of the commitments and the vision of the department.

The department appeared before the committee virtually recently to present its revised strategic plan for 2020-2024 and its annual performance plan for the 2021/22 financial year.

The committee said that due to the constrained fiscus and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s economy, the department had to make difficult choices in order to ensure that the commitments made by the government for the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector are realised.

Some of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) targets had to be adjusted down due to budget shortfall, mainly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Community Education and Training (CET) programmes.

Head count enrolment for the TVET and CET colleges has been adjusted down and capped at 620 000 and 388 782, respectively.

Mapulane added that the committee was concerned that university enrolments will continue to grow, and the current inverted pyramid will not be changed.

He said reducing the budget of colleges in the midst of high youth unemployment and the three million youth that are not in education, employment and training is very concerning.

The committee in the meantime, commended the department for introducing skills that are fit for purpose in the TVET and CET colleges, saying these interventions will go a long way in addressing the local economic skills needs.

Mapulane said interventions to support the establishment of disability units at TVET colleges is very progressive as this will ensure access of students with disabilities to education and training.

The committee also commended the interventions made by the department to support the Presidential Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan by ensuring that the relevant skills to grow the economy are offered at PSET institutions.

The committee bemoaned the budget cuts within the department’s budget over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.

The budget is projected to decrease by R20.8 billion over the MTEF. The department’s budget in the 2021/22 MTEF period, when inflation adjusted, will decrease.

Of great concern to the committee is the risk that student funding continues to grow at the expense of university subsidies, and if this trend is maintained, student funding will overtake the subsidies to universities.