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Parliament, 17 September 2009 - Parliament is exploring the
possibility to establish universities in the two provinces that still
have none, says the Chairperson of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on
Higher Education and Training, Marius Fransman.

South Africa has 23 universities but since the new dispensation and new
provincial borders, the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga still do not have
their own universities.

The Portfolio Committee will engage the provincial education
departments and other stake holders in these areas to explore the skills
needs and how best to phase in a university for each province.
Fransman says: "With the establishment of a new Department of Higher
Education and Training it has become a priority for the committee as
part of its oversight role to revisit this long outstanding issue and to
investigate it once more.

"We see it as part of President Jacob Zuma's call to capacitate
provinces to meet the needs of rural areas. Therefore the Portfolio
Committee will take a fresh look into the education needs of these
provinces.

"We need to establish how many students at present have to use
facilities in other provinces and how many potential candidates will
study in their own provinces once universities have been established
there. We also need an indication of the number of students at present
using distance learning.

"We want an idea of which courses, chairs or faculties are needed in
these rural provinces, and which ones will be of priority should
universities be incrementally developed. We also need a sense of work
done previously," Fransman says.

Dr. Blade Nzimande, Minister for Higher Education and Training,
together with his new department has been tasked to look at the matter.
He has already responded positively to broaden the base of education and
the Portfolio Committee aims to start working on this matter, Fransman
added.