Minister Pandor must provide clarity on UNISA’s undertaking to admit 25 000 extra students this year
14 January 2019
As part of a concession to protesting students, UNISA announced this week that it will accept 25 000 additional students this year. This is the equivalent of the total First Year admissions to Wits, UCT, UJ and Stellenbosch combined.
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) fully supports students’ rights to access higher education, we question how exactly UNISA will fund and be capacitated for the additional students and whether the Department of Higher Education and Training will provide UNISA with proper support.
The DA calls on Minister of Higher Education, Naledi Pandor, to explain how UNISA has been permitted to take in the additional students in spite of strict agreements between her Department and Universities as to the number of students they may admit, and to reassure the public that both NSFAS and the University will be provided with additional funding to cover these costs.
While the NSFAS money might be found, as it has in the past, there is every probability that the University and the Ministry intends for this massive increase to take place without major additional resources.