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The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes today’s release of the Green Paper for Post-School Education and Training by Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande.

We will engage with the plans set out in the Green Paper and make a submission in due course. We encourage all education and training providers to do the same, and make their contribution to the future of our country’s academic and skills development.

The DA applauds many of the sentiments and goals of the Green Paper, some of which we have been calling for. These include:

A plan to raise university enrolments from the current 900,000 students (a 16% participation rate) to 1,500,000 students by 2030 (a 23% participation rate).
Significant planned expansion of the Further Education and Training (FET) college sector and the adult education sector, which will dramatically increase the number of places available for students. This is a welcome approach, as there is at present too little capacity in our higher education and training system, especially at the FET college level.
Improving the quality of public FET colleges and increasing funding for research and innovation, so as to make South Africa more competitive in knowledge industries. The future of our economy will rest more and more on these highly skilled sectors.

Effective implementation is key to the success of these proposals. Proper systems of accountability must be established to help make these goals a reality. In addition, the Minister must provide comprehensive details on how these plans will be funded.

The DA believes that South Africa needs an expanded and higher-quality post-school education and training system. This is essential if we are to achieve a higher rate of economic growth to stimulate job creation and lift people out of poverty. We welcome the fact that the Green Paper makes a range of proposals that can help to make this vision a reality.