Speech by Belinda Bozzoli MP, DA Shadow Minister of Higher education and Training, in the debate on the Higher Education and Training Budget vote, Parliament, 21 April 2016

The DA’s holistic approach to Higher Education

After R300 million worth of damage to Universities, the philistine destruction of precious cultural artefacts, the further development of a culture of violence, sexual bullying and impunity on campuses, marches on Parliament and the Union Buildings and a sense of horror on the part of the President that he himself might actually be politically damaged by these things – heaven forbid –, we finally see an increase in the Higher Education budget.

After insisting that it could never be done, Treasury has found an above-inflation extra R7.2bn funding for the sector.

But this will not resolve the fundamental crisis in Higher Education. The increase is mainly for past backlogs in student funding rather than anything forward-looking. And a deformed budget is now emerging because of ANC short-termism.

In fact under ANC rule we are witnessing the beginning of a dangerous decline in the higher education sector as a whole.  As one Vice-Chancellor has said to me: “’If things carry on like this for another year, our best people are going to start leaving this University”.

Minister Nzimande, this moment will be remembered, in ten years’ time, as the moment when Universities stood on the brink of decay but you and your catastrophic government failed to step in and rescue them.

We all acknowledge that since 1994, the number of students in Universities has doubled. But it was this government:

- that reduced the real amount Universities had to spend on each student by 20%;   

- that failed to think through how half a million new students would be paid for;

- that removed the subsidy for infrastructure;  

- that let the numbers of students per lecturer grow from 38 to 55, while knowing that the academic needs of students had increased exponentially;

- that made it impossible for Universities to grow their staff numbers and employ a new young cohort of lecturers from diverse backgrounds to staff the Universities for the 21st century.

The system is reeling as a result.

In the light of these 20 years of neglect, the budget increase we see today is nothing more than an ad hoc, partial, expensive fix to a much bigger educational and political disaster.

It will not prevent further above-inflation fee increases;

It will not help those students who will receive support, but far below the true cost of study, let alone those who are not being supported at all

It will not help Universities pay for the language clinics, bridging courses and tutors needed to assist the 60% of NSFAS students who otherwise will fail or drop out.

And it will not provide funds for staff numbers to grow so that young academic staff begin to see a future for themselves in academe.

So we have a short-term, shallow, defensive fix for a long-term, deep seated problem which requires vision and imagination. These qualities appear to be in short supply in the ANC.

And unless something drastically different is done, we will see #FeesMustFall2017 later this year.

We know now that the ANC is prepared to steal, lie and violate the constitution. But what we don’t often talk about is that it has an additional problem - a colossal blind spot.

The ANC doesn’t understand the broader needs of key institutions in society.

Institutions are the building blocks of development. Without strong institutions you can forget growth, stability and steady investment. But not to the ANC.  Not only does the ANC capture and corrupt institutions. It also recklessly destroys them through neglect.

All they see are short-term demands of their supporters, particularly before an election. The long term needs of proper development are not high on their list. So:

If it’s electricity – they will rightly expand access, but without any concern for whether or not Eskom has the capacity to deliver it.

If it’s housing, they will rightly build more homes, but without any concern for the actual quality of the building, or the corruption in the lists.

And if it’s Higher Education, they will rightly make it available to larger numbers of people. But without any concern for how it will be paid for, or the effects of this expansion upon the institutions that have to manage the bigger numbers.

The ANC government is irresponsible.

It may take fifty years to develop a resilient educational institution and herculean efforts to keep it going at a level of excellence. I know, as I have been in a senior management position in a University myself.  But the ANC takes this all for granted. They seem to have no clue about what makes and breaks an institution. They assume institutions can withstand infinite new demands without additional resources, or care and attention.

The ANC is notorious for doing this, steadily, over decades, until the institutions collapse under the strain. The Post Office – collapsed; Eskom – perpetually on the brink of collapse; numerous Municipalities – collapsed. PRASA – collapsed. We know these institutions collapse because of corruption or capture.  But they also collapse because the people who care about them are driven out by despair, underfunding or hostility. They are no longer looked after. This is what is happening to Universities today.

The DA in power could never allow this to happen. We would not allow a situation where poor students are unable to pay for their studies; where staff numbers stagnate; where infrastructure decays; where libraries can no longer be maintained; where fees have to be increased to make up for lost funding; where academics leave; where research declines because teaching demands are so huge.  And where being a Vice-Chancellor is so unpleasant that only the mediocre will take on the job.

Our policies commit to reversing this process.  Over a five to ten-year period

We will fundamentally revamp NSFAS 

We will use its core R12bn to leverage extensive additional funds through a public-private partnership.

We will expand its loan capacity to include the missing middle.

We will gradually increase the annual amount given or loaned to each student so that their full costs of study are covered.

We will start a process of restoring University subsidies to their 1994 levels so that staff numbers can again increase, quality will improve, diversifying the profile of staff can begin in earnest, and the best minds can be attracted to teach at our institutions. 

We will make sure that Universities are funded well enough so that fee increases can be kept at inflation levels. 

And we will ensure that University infrastructure is maintained and developed as a matter of course.

We believe in a total, holistic approach to Higher Education, not a partial, self-interested approach. We want the sector as a whole to improve. We care about our students and the institutions which educate them.

We want to bring the kind of quality and stability our country needs for true development to take place.

We have powers to amend this budget. We are going to use our powers to propose two immediate amendments. One will provide new, forward-looking funding to NSFAS so that students who receive loans are able to cover far more of their costs. The other will restore the funds intended for historically disadvantaged Universities that were raided to help pay for the no fee increase last year; and to support poor students in earning their degrees.

We can find the money. And we will find the money for a more holistic approach to Higher Education.

The DA rejects this budget as it stands.