Date: 29/11/2004
Source: Ministry of Education
Title: Surty: National Inter Institutional Conference on mergers at Unisa


Address by the Deputy Minister of Education, ME Surty, at the National Inter Institutional Conference on Mergers at Unisa

The Chair of Council, Doctor Matthews Phosa,
The Vice-Chancellor of Unisa, Professor Pityana
The Pro Vice-Chancellor of Unisa, Professor Mathabe
Members of the Executive Management
The Academic and Institutional community of Unisa
Delegates from the Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP) and the South African Universities Vice Chancellors Association (SAUVCA)
Distinguished Guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I greet you ALL.

Let me start by thanking Unisa for the kind invitation that you have extended to my Ministry to come and share in this exchange on higher education transformation. It is indeed pleasing to know that the multiple challenges that you are dealing with as a result of the mergers have not led you to conclude, as popular commentary might sometimes lead one to believe, that the Ministry has become a prime sorcerer, the source of all grief. It is heartening to note that the higher education sector recognises my Ministry not only as the maker and custodian of public policy on education, but more importantly also as a partner in the further reconstruction of ideas and review of practice.

When the National Plan on Higher Education was announced a few years back, some people expressed doubts about the capacity of our system, and the Department in particular, to handle the complex challenges and ramifications associated with the expected changes.

With regard to the various stages of the restructuring process, it is a matter of record that the Ministry had from the beginning recognised the need to deal pro-actively with the substantive matter of its own internal capacity. I am confident that most of you will be aware of the practical steps that we have taken in this regard.

I am, however, not here to claim that our well-intended interventions have necessarily met all of your expectations in managing change and ushering in new institutions. It is for this reason that the Ministry continues to be open to engagement with the higher education sector on the subject of mergers and other matters related to the restructuring process. I believe that there is always room for us to learn from one another, to compare notes, and hopefully find not only mutual accommodation but also a common cause.

It may sound trite to mention that both the Department and the collective of higher education institutions are driven by the same fundamental goals. I make this point to highlight the fact that sometimes, in the heat of operational pressures, one may lose sight of the fact that we are all part of the same continuum of a skills and human resource development, nation building, value chain. One may in fact sometimes even lose sight of the fact that our roles are to complement each other, each from their own niche in the social continuum. Hence, when we engage each other robustly