The current landscape and institutional configuration of higher education has its roots in an apartheid past, is inadequate to meet socio-economic needs and is no longer sustainable. South Africa does not have the human and financial resources to maintain the present institutional configuration. Senior and middle-level leadership, management and administrative capacities are absent or lacking in parts of the system. New patterns in student enrolments mean that a number of institutions are at risk. Some institutions also do not satisfy the specifications for 'bedrock' institutions to continue as independent institutions. The goal of reconfiguration is to build a rational, coherent and integrated higher education system that strives for excellence and is oriented towards equity and the production of knowledge and high quality graduates.
National steering and detailed attention to change management is critical for the successful reconfiguration of the higher education system and the achievement of a differentiated and diverse system. In this chapter, the Task Team sets out the pre-conditions and requirements for the successful reconfiguration of the higher education system and institutions, the processes that should be followed and the time-frames that should be established for the various activities and processes. It also advances a number of recommendations on the size of the system in relation to the number of institutions, closures, combination and funding. Finally, it provides examples of possible combinations that could create a more rational and coherent higher education landscape and calls on the Minister to investigate more fully these as well as other possible combinations.
Key strategic interventions will be required to reconfigure the higher education system and institutions and build a new landscape. These include:
Without attention to these key interventions, the success of reconfiguration and the creation of a new higher education landscape could be compromised.
National steering and national and institutional planning will be essential to achieve the desired reconfiguration of the higher education system and ensure that the system and institutions are aligned with national policy goals. The key steering mechanisms that are available are national planning, funding and quality assurance. For various reasons, to date these have not been highly effective in moving the higher education system in the direction of differentiation and diversity. The Task Team has had to consider alternative strategies for reconfiguring the system and ensuring a differentiated and diversified, as well as an integrated and co-ordinated, system.
The Task Team's investigation and reconfiguration proposals are part of national planning and related to the development of a national plan to which the Minister of Education has committed himself. The reconfiguration of the system and institutions will enable the funding and quality assurance mechanisms to operate in more focused and effective ways and ultimately also to ensure that future national planning is more focused and manageable.
The national plan, apart from incorporating the issues of size and shape of higher education, should also encompass agreed upon performance agreements and targets for the national system and for individual institutions related to the equity, quality, effectiveness and efficiency challenges identified in chapter one. Concerning equity, the targets could be around the increased representation of black and women students in the Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) areas of study and their distribution in various fields. They could also be concerned with increasing access for mature learners. In terms of effectiveness, the targets could be related to increasing absolute numbers of students achieving first diplomas and degrees and the extent of community and industry partnerships. Efficiency targets could be set around increasing the proportion of students that successfully qualify without failing, repeating or dropping out and the more extensive use of physical infrastructure and facilities.
In developing a national plan it is crucial to recognise that under apartheid, institutions designated for black South Africans and the technikons were disadvantaged. There was uneven application of policies to higher education institutions. For example, the present subsidy formula was applied to the historically white universities since 1983 and to historically black universities only later. Similarly, there was an uneven application of the subsidy formula to technikons. Provision for more significant levels of research funding for technikons was only introduced in 1994. Technikons were only given the right to award degrees in 1993 and to implement degree programmes only in 1995. As a result, they have not yet been able to establish any extensive postgraduate and research capabilities, though good potential exists at a few institutions.
It is also clear that higher education institutions have interpreted the White Paper in widely divergent and sometimes even contradictory ways. As a result, institutional responses have in some cases placed institutions on trajectories that are at considerable variance with what should be their mandates in a reconfigured differentiated and diverse higher education system.
For both the above reasons, the specifications that were used in chapter three for establishing the mandates of institutions must be applied to the present South African higher education institutional landscape with circumspection and flexibility. It is important to maintain the specifications as the minimum requirements for defining mandates. Concomitantly, in a context where specific institutions were disadvantaged, a measure of flexibility in the application of the specifications is necessary for social and educational reasons. This would permit developmental trajectories to be created for institutions to enable them to undertake different mandates. In this way, a particular historically black university could, within a negotiated period, be supported to pursue a different mandate. In the same way, a specific technikon could also be supported to develop a different mandate - for example that of a technological institution with strong links to industry and with extensive postgraduate programmes to a masters level and select doctoral programmes especially in the 'hard' technology fields. The capacities and capabilities of institutions are not fixed. Within the constraints of resources they can be developed and serve vital social needs. The Task Team strongly recommends that this consideration must inform the national planning process, the combinations that are agreed upon and the reconfiguring of the higher education landscape.
There must also be great sensitivity to the employment implications of reconfiguring the system and of institutional combination. A Social Plan should be developed within a six-month period to serve as a framework for addressing various issues. These include:
The Social Plan should involve the Department of Education, institutions and organised labour. Its development could draw on expertise in the Department of Labour and other state departments and on the experience of business and labour in developing social plans to manage restructuring and change. Detailed discussions and negotiations on implementation would take place at institutional level, guided by the national framework of the Social Plan.
Public and donor funds will have to be mobilised to undertake the reconfiguration of the higher education system and institutions. In the light of the inefficiencies in the system, there is little hope at present of additional public funding for higher education. Indeed, retaining the current level of public funds may be a challenge. The Task Team, however, strongly recommends that the Minister strive to ensure that funding is retained at its present level, despite the declines in student enrolments. These savings, supplemented with the mobilisation of donor funds, should be earmarked for the key strategic interventions that are required to ensure the reconfiguration of the system.
Human resources will also be required for effective steering and careful planning and implementation at national, regional and institutional levels. Without the mobilisation of such resources, reconfiguration of the system and the achievement of a new institutional landscape will not be possible. With the best will in the world, with its current staff complement the Higher Education Branch of the Department of Education will be hard pressed to steer the reconfiguration of the system. It is vital that the Higher Education Branch is provided the necessary finances to mobilise specialist personnel.
The building of a higher education system that produces graduates and knowledge of high quality has been a strong theme of this Report. The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the CHE has been accorded the responsibility of accrediting, monitoring and developing the quality of academic programmes and academic aspects of institutional performance. The successful reconfiguration of the system depends on it being provided the resources to discharge these vital responsibilities effectively.
Over time, funding, national and institutional planning and quality assurance mechanisms must become effective instruments for sustaining a differentiated, diverse and co-ordinated and integrated system and for responding to changing social needs. An indispensable asset would be an effective management information system, which maximally utilises information and communication technologies for the collection and presentation of information and data and for enabling greater public accessibility to such data. There must be regular review of the efficacy of various strategies and policy instruments and the overall performance and state of higher education. For this purpose, the CHE's Annual Report, its annual consultative conference, the CHE Achievement of Policy Objectives Task Team and other mechanisms must be utilised effectively.
The Minister is advised to begin a process of consultations with key national stakeholders on the Task Team's proposals on the reconfiguration of the higher education system. An iterative process that involves the Department of Education and individual higher education institutions should follow these consultations. The purpose of the iterative process should be to establish the mandate of the institution and, where relevant, finalise institutional combination. The matter of institutional combination will, of course, also necessitate inter-institutional discussions. All these processes should inform the production of a national plan by the Department of Education.
Once the national plan is finalised and, in terms of the law, the CHE has advised the Minister on the plan, the process of combining institutions should be initiated and all institutions should be required to develop missions according to the new mandates defined out of the process of dialogue.
The approval of mandates and the development of institutional missions and strategic plans must be informed by high levels of realism. The goals and purposes of higher education, national and regional needs, as well as the specific histories, geographical location, key academic and other characteristics and capacities and potential capabilities of each institution must be taken into account. Collectively, the missions and strategies of institutions must strive to build public confidence and the credibility of the higher education system. They must also enable it to produce high quality educational outcomes and address the socio-economic needs of South Africa.
Institutional combination must not be viewed as a threat but as an opportunity to re-orient and revitalise higher education in pursuit of important social and educational goals. However, the combination of institutions - whether through mergers or other mechanisms - will be demanding processes. Open and frank discussions and iterative planning involving institutional leaderships and the Department of Education, the commitment of institutions and purposeful action are key to success. In undertaking combinations, serious attention must be given to a number of issues. These include:
A reconfigured system will not be realised overnight. Clear, explicit and realistic time-frames must be established for the processes and activities highlighted above. They are:
The first three activities are likely to require a minimum of six months. The final activity, especially where it involves combinations, could require between one and three years. It will not be possible to address every dimension of reconfiguration and pursue all the combinations at once. Implementation must be carefully planned and rolled out over a number of phases which combine goals, strategies and human and financial resources. Overall, a new higher education landscape with the qualities that are desired is likely to take a decade to achieve. Available human and financial resources will unavoidably shape the pace of reconfiguration.
The implementation of the national plan is the responsibility of the Department of Education. It will require the full support and co-operation of institutions and key stakeholders. The implementation of institutional missions and plans is the responsibility of the council and management of an institution.
The Department of Education must effectively monitor progress towards achievement of the performance agreements and targets. As the Minister is required to consult with the CHE on the national plan, the CHE must also regularly assess progress around the national plan so that it is able to advise the Minister appropriately.
Once there is agreement on the reconfiguration of the system, it should be possible for the Department of Education without too much delay to produce a new funding dispensation and formula as proposed by the White Paper. Funding must enable the system and institutions to pursue the social and educational goals and targets that are defined in the White Paper and the national plan. It must ensure that institutions are provided adequate resources to effectively discharge their mandates and missions. It must also enable institutional redress that is appropriate to the mandates and missions of institutions.
The Task Team recommends to the Minister that there should no longer be a 'blind' research funding component but that research should be funded through earmarked funding. Such earmarked funds should make provision for dedicated research and development work related to curriculum, learning and teaching and provide incentives for research collaboration between academics based at institutions with different mandates. They should also support new academics for a set period and build capabilities at certain institutions placed on a developmental trajectory for reasons of social need and redress. The move towards earmarked research funding could result in shortfalls in public funds allocated to some institutions. In the short term, institutions would need to be cushioned from any dramatic reduction in their overall public funding.
Critical to providing access to greater numbers of black learners, to black and women learners in particular areas of study, and to learners from working class and rural poor backgrounds is expanding the coverage and level of student
financial aid and making resources available for academic support and development initiatives. Such initiatives are central to creating equity of opportunity as well as improving the quality of graduate outputs. Efficiency gains that result from developing a more rational, coherent, co-ordinated and efficient system should be used to expand access and reinforce equity and quality.
It is vital that a reconfigured higher education system be sustainable. This requires an effective regulatory framework. It also entails state funding of the public sector and the more efficient and effective use of scarce public resources. For this and other reasons indicated at the beginning of this chapter, the Task Team recommends reducing the absolute number of higher education institutions. This does not necessarily imply closing institutions and the concomitant sale or scrapping of buildings, facilities and plant, and retrenchment of staff, although Section 25 of the Higher Education Act makes provision for closure of institutions. The Task Team recommends that there should be no closures.
The Task Team instead recommends reducing the present number of institutions through combining institutions. Savings should result from an increase in size of the institutions with reduction of unit costs. Further benefits will accrue through the elimination of unnecessary duplication and rationalisation of programmes. The possibility of cross-subsidising programmes will be enhanced. Reducing the number of institutions should also realise cost benefits by reducing the numbers of councils and senior management and administrative teams that would be required
Combination is not an end in itself; it is a means towards the achievement of social and educational goals. In South Africa, these goals relate to:
The legislative basis for combination is provided for by the Higher Education Act of 1997. Section 23 of the Act states that
...the Minister may, after consulting the Council on Higher Education (CHE) and by notice in the Gazette, merge two or more public higher education institutions into a single public higher education institution [Section 23 (1)].
Section 23 also outlines the process that must be followed by the Minister to effect mergers. Section 24 provides for the 'merger of subdivisions of higher education institutions'. Section 38 of the Act makes provision for institutions to co-operate to enable the optimal use of resources in the performance of their functions, and to establish regional structures in the interest of such co-operation. It also refers to the possibility of financial incentives to encourage such co-operation. The White Paper states:
...emphasis will be placed on regional reviews of institutional plans as an integral part of the national planning process. This will be intended to promote regional co-ordination and collaboration as part of the national plan to enhance articulation of programmes, mobility of learners between institutions, the sharing of resources, including scarce academic staff, library and information facilities. It is also intended to reduce programme duplication and overlap. The Ministry will provide incentives to encourage and facilitate regional planning and co-ordination.
It also says:
Incentive funding will be available on a selective basis to support the costs involved in regional collaboration among institutions which aim to consolidate, merge, share or otherwise collectively improve the efficient use of their facilities and resources for training, teaching, research or community service.
In making final decisions about the combination of institutions, a number of issues should be considered. These include:
- Promotes the overall social and educational goals that have been set for higher education.
- Contributes to the achievement of particular regional and local economic and social needs.
- Contributes to the achievement of particular mandates and missions.
- Promotes access and equity through improvements in quality and efficiency or, at least, does not make access and equity more difficult to achieve.
- Improves the student and staff equity profile.
- Permits historically disadvantaged institutions to play an important and effective role in the new landscape.
- Builds synergy in terms of institutional orientation, broad areas of study, fields and disciplines, variety and levels of programme offerings, distribution of students across broad areas of study, etc.
- Enables more effective provision of learning and teaching, and research and community service.
- Enables more rational and efficient use of buildings, facilities and human resources.
- Enables economies of scale through the creation of larger multi-purpose institutions.
- Provides enhanced leadership, management and administrative capacities.
- Creates institutions with new identities and cultures that transcend their past racial and ethnic institutional histories and contribute to their deracialisation.
- Creates new institutions that transcend the past institutional histories as universities, technikons or colleges.
- Overcomes the threat to the viability of institutions of low student Full-time Equivalents (FTEs).
- Addresses the viability of institutions as single-purpose public institutions.
- Develops potentially stronger, more viable and sustainable institutions.
There must also be sensitivity to the historical contributions of institutions to the democratisation of South Africa, the identities and cultures of particular institutions and the language policies and medium of instruction of institutions. The characteristics (minimum student FTEs, distribution of enrolments across the three broad areas of study, staff qualifications and research outputs, etc.) that institutions should need to satisfy should be a further consideration when approaching combination. Finally, in considering combinations, the missions and orientations of institutions, their strengths and real capabilities, the existence of synergy and the prospects of creating robust new institutions should be taken into account.
Chapter three specified the key characteristics that should define institutions with different mandates. If these characteristics are employed in relation to the present 36 institutions, the following scenario prevails. Firstly, six institutions, all historically black universities and technikons, do not qualify as independent institutions. This is mainly a consequence of them having less than 4000 FTEs. For them to function as 'bedrock' institutions or to serve other mandates they would need to be combined with other institutions. The Medical University of Southern Africa also does not achieve the status of an independent institution because of its single-purpose function.
Secondly, the vast majority of institutions (19) have the characteristics that define 'bedrock' institutions. These are predominantly the technikons and historically black universities, though they include a few historically white universities. All the distance institutions, either because of their spread of students over the three broad study areas, or for other reasons also have the characteristics of 'bedrock' institutions.
Thirdly, a handful of institutions, all historically white universities, meet the characteristics of comprehensive postgraduate institutions. Fourthly, six institutions fulfil the characteristics of extensive postgraduate institutions with select doctoral level programmes. These include historically black and historically white universities.
Earlier in this chapter it was argued that the characteristics that should define the different mandates of institutions must be used in a manner that is sensitive to the distortions of apartheid planning and the nature of the responses of some institutions to the White Paper. It was also stated that the mandates of institutions should be the subject of an iterative planning process between the Minister and individual institutions.
The Task Team believes that combination offers the opportunity for different outcomes than the ones that are a legacy of apartheid, and the prospect of developing a new higher education landscape. Combination of institutions is also unavoidable and necessary for other reasons, which were advanced earlier. Appropriate combinations will significantly advance the reconstruction of the higher education system in South Africa and enhance the possibilities of achieving social goals. In particular regions, combination will ensure greater levels of collaboration among higher education institutions, reduce unnecessary duplication, promote greater efficiency in the use of resources, and respond to regional and local needs. Appropriate combinations would allow institutions to build on their strengths, help to develop new identities and cultures and contribute to the public legitimacy of higher education institutions as part of a new rational and coherent national system.
The Task Team had insufficient time to analyse in detail the institutional plans of every university and technikon and arrive at clear and explicit recommendations on combinations of institutions. However, drawing on some work around the institutional plans of universities and technikons and on various reports, the Task Team illustrates below some possible combinations for the purpose of demonstrating briefly the objectives that could be served by combination. The examples have a regional focus because of the emphasis of the White Paper on the promotion of 'regional co-ordination and collaboration' and on' regional reviews of institutional plans as an integral part of the national planning process'. The Minister may want to investigate in greater detail the possible combinations that are exemplified below. The Task Team, however, strongly recommends that the Minister should investigate the full range of possibilities for combinations, and should also be open to compelling combination possibilities that may emerge from the iterative national planning process.
The Task Team is united in the view that no public institution should believe that it is exempted from combination, from the need to change fundamentally and from contributing to the achievement of a new higher education landscape. The historically advantaged institutions, in particular, cannot assume that their track records with respect to equity, quality, social responsiveness and effectiveness and efficiency are beyond dispute and self-evident. Much remains to be achieved by all institutions to advance new social goals. There should be no room for complacency.
The examples of possible combinations that could achieve different social and educational objectives are:
Example 1: KwaZulu-Natal
The possibility of creating a single institution through the combination of the universities of Natal and Durban-Westville. Such a combination could enhance the capacity of these institutions to respond to the needs of the region in a more effective way. It could also help to address the unnecessary duplication of programmes and enable physical and human resources to be used more effectively and efficiently.
The combination should be based on an examination of the extent to which these institutions have similar orientations and missions, of their relative strengths and weaknesses, and of the prospects of combination creating a new institutional identity and culture and a more representative and more deracialised student and staff body.
Example 2: KwaZulu-Natal
The Task Team is aware of the processes underway to create a single institution in the KwaZulu-Natal province through the combination of Natal Technikon and M L Sultan Technikon. The Councils of Natal Technikon and M.L. Sultan Technikon have already agreed in principle to merge. The Task Team supports this initiative. The incorporation of Mangosotho Technikon could lead to further consolidation and deal with the legacy of apartheid. It could also lead to more rational provision and economies of scale. Consideration should also be given to the possibility of combining these institutions with the Umlazi campus of the University of Zululand. The campus at Umlazi is small and close to the Mangosotho Technikon. Its present programmes could be offered through the combined technikons or other higher education institutions in the Durban area.
Example 3: Eastern Cape
The possibility of creating a single institution in the eastern part of the Eastern Cape through the combination of the universities of Rhodes, Fort Hare and Transkei. In terms of the criteria discussed in chapter three, the universities of Fort Hare and Transkei would not qualify as independent institutions. Rhodes University would be a bedrock institution. The considerations that have influenced the Task Team's thinking around this possible combination are:
The region seems unable to sustain three independent institutions and a single multi-campus institution would be adequate for the region.
The three institutions have different strengths and weaknesses. There would be considerable synergy between the three institutions and combination would result in a larger multi-purpose institution with a broader range of fields and enhanced management and administrative capacities.
The new institution would be able to offer extensive postgraduate programmes up to a masters level and doctoral programmes in select fields. It could, over time, possibly become a comprehensive postgraduate institution and play a vital role in the Eastern Cape.
There would also be opportunities to use human resources more effectively and to eliminate unnecessary programme duplication.
Example 4: Eastern Cape
In terms of the criteria discussed in chapter three, both the Eastern Cape Technikon and Border Technikon would not qualify as independent 'bedrock' institutions. There has already been talk of a merger between the two institutions. The Minister should consider the possibility of creating a single institution in the Border area by combining the Eastern Cape and Border Technikons. This could enhance the capacity to respond to social and economic needs, reduce duplication and competition for students and generate economies of scale.
Example 5: Eastern Cape
There may be increasing convergence between the mission and orientation of the University of Port Elizabeth and that of the Port Elizabeth Technikon. The Minister should examine the desirability and feasibility of combining these two institutions, which are in close geographical proximity, to yield numerous benefits, including the broadening of the areas of study and programmes and the efficient and effective use of physical infrastructure, facilities and human resources.
Example 6: Western Cape
Institutions in the Western Cape cover the range of mandates referred to in chapter three. They also have distinct missions and capabilities. However, institutional combination should not be ruled out and should be a distinct possibility. Regional-level rationalisation to eliminate unnecessary duplication and competition, mission and programme drift, and enable the more effective and efficient utilisation of infrastructure and human resources is imperative. There appear to be good grounds for rationalising and integrating programmes of different institutions in this region in, for example, fields such as the health sciences, nursing and teacher education, and across a range of postgraduate programmes. The Minister should examine how a much greater degree of institutional rationalisation can be achieved as an immediate objective.
Example 7: Free State
The Minister should examine the possibility of combining the University of Free State and the Qwa Qwa Campus of the University of the North to consolidate provision in the region and enhance academic and administrative effectiveness and efficiency.
Example 8: Gauteng and North West
In terms of the criteria discussed in chapter three, North West Technikon does not qualify to remain as an independent institution. It is also in close geographical proximity to Technikon Northern Gauteng. The combination of Technikon Northern Gauteng and North West Technikon could have many advantages. These include reducing programme duplication, a balanced programme mix, enhanced management capacities and greater economies of scale.
Example 9: North West
The combination of the universities of North West and Potchefstroom could consolidate provision in this region. It could result in rationalisation of programme offerings, enhance management and administrative capacities and lead to economies of scale.
Example 10: Dedicated Distance Education
The combination of the University of South Africa, Technikon South Africa and the Vista Distance Education Campus could lead to the rationalisation of programme offerings and focus investments in quality enhancement, information and communication technologies and the development of materials. It could also enable the rationalisation of learning centres around the country and enhance management capacities. As indicated in chapter three, a Working Group should be established by the Minister to investigate fully the possibility of such a combination and report its findings by the end of June 2001.
Example 11: The Unbundling of Vista University
The Vista campuses are relatively small campuses that are dispersed around the county. Their programmes are mainly in education and the humanities. These campuses could have large cost inefficiencies. The Minister should investigate the desirability and feasibility of combining each of the Vista University campuses with the university or technikon that is closest to it and offers similar programmes.
Example 12: Medical University of Southern Africa
As stated in chapter three, public institutions should preferably be multi-purpose institutions. The Minister should investigate combining the Medical University of Southern Africa with an appropriate multi-purpose higher education institution and consult with the Department of Health in this regard.
These examples are not meant to be exhaustive. They must also not preclude the Minister identifying other possible combinations.
Combination could lay the foundations for a more rational, coherent, effective and sustainable higher education landscape, which advances various social and educational goals and places institutions on a trajectory towards the greater achievement of equity, the production of higher quality graduates, and more efficient and effective provision.
In his Call to Action on 27 July 1999, the Minister of Education declared:
At the first Cabinet meeting of the new government, President Thabo Mbeki posed the question: 'Is our education system on the road to the 21st century?' The South African public has a vital interest in the answer.
The question is highly pertinent and, given the large investment of public funds in higher education, the public must have a 'vital interest in the answer'.
The present system has numerous shortcomings that have been documented. They should not be tolerated. The White Paper of 1997 has established a comprehensive transformation agenda in an attempt to harness higher education to help overcome social-structural inequities, contribute to reconstruction and development and position South Africa to engage effectively with globalisation. The proposals of the Task Team advance this agenda. They seek to ensure that South Africa will be a better place in the 21st century, and that the higher education system will be better equipped for the challenges of the 21st century.
The present system should be reconfigured as a differentiated and diverse system so that there can be effective responses from institutions to the varied social needs of the country.
In a new reconfigured system, institutions should have a range of mandates (principal orientations and core foci) and pursue coherent and more explicitly defined educational and social purposes with respect to the production of knowledge and successful graduates.
The mandates of institutions should be defined as:
- Institutions which constitute the bedrock of the higher education system. The orientation and focus of these institutions would be:
- quality undergraduate programmes;
- limited postgraduate programmes up to a taught masters level;
- research related to curriculum, learning and teaching with a view to application.
- Institutions whose orientation and focus is:
- quality undergraduate programmes;
- comprehensive postgraduate taught and research programmes up to the doctoral level;
- extensive research capabilities (basic, applied, strategic and developmental) across a broad range
of areas.
- Institutions whose orientation and focus is:
- quality undergraduate programmes;
- extensive postgraduate taught and research programmes up to the masters level;
- selective postgraduate taught and research programmes up to the doctoral level;
- select areas of research (basic, applied, strategic and development).
- An institution whose orientation and focus is dedicated distance education.
- Private higher education institutions.
The absolute number of institutions should be reduced through combination. Combination offers the opportunity to create a more responsive higher education landscape than that created by apartheid.
While examples are provided of possible combinations for illustrative purposes, the Minister should investigate the full range of possibilities for combinations. He should also be open to compelling combination possibilities that may emerge from an iterative national planning process.
Under apartheid, institutions designated for black South Africans and the technikons were disadvantaged. The capacities and capabilities of institutions are not fixed. Within the constraints of resources they can be developed and serve vital social needs. These considerations must inform the national planning process, the combinations that are agreed upon and the reconfiguring of the higher education landscape. The reconfiguration proposals should be used to create developmental trajectories for institutions to enable them to undertake specified mandates within a new national framework.
The reconfiguration, differentiation and diversification of the system, as well as combination, should be achieved through the iterative planning process suggested in chapter four.
The Minister should set up a Working Group to consider the establishment of a single distance education institution for the country. The Working Group should investigate the current dedicated distance education institutions, as well as the distance programmes of contact institutions, and provide its recommendations by the end of June 2001.
The Minister should lift the current moratorium on the introduction of new distance education programmes by contact institutions. This, however, should be premised on the development of a clear policy directive, including conditions and criteria, for the continued provision of distance education programmes by traditionally contact institutions.
There should be a re-examination of the current academic policy and qualifications structure to ensure the overall integration of the system and to orient higher education to the changing knowledge and work environment. In this regard:
- Provision should be made for the introduction of a four-year first bachelor's degree.
- The desirability and feasibility of the four-year degree being established in a two-year plus two-year curriculum structure should be investigated.
- The extent to which a two-year plus two-year curriculum structure could be harnessed to also expand access of adult and mature learners to higher education and consolidate linkages between higher education and further education and training institutions should be examined.
To ensure an adequate supply of high-level human resources for social and economic development, an increased participation rate of 20% of the age group 20-24 years in public higher education should be the target over the next 10-15 years.
The increase in the participation rate should be made up principally of African and Coloured students so that their current under-representation is eroded.
There should be a much greater incorporation of continuing education students than is the case at present. 'Recognition of Prior Learning' initiatives should be promoted to increase the intake of adult learners.
South Africa is not focusing sufficiently on promoting its higher education system internationally. There is immense potential to attract students from the Southern African region, other parts of Africa and elsewhere without reducing efforts to expand access to South African students.
There should be no closures of institutions. The absolute number of institutions should be reduced through combination.
The Minister should begin a process of consultation with key national stakeholders on the proposed reconfiguration of the higher education system. An iterative process that involves the Department of Education and individual higher education institutions should follow these consultations. This should be part of the present institutional and national planning activities. The overall purpose of the iterative process would be to finalise the mandate of the institutions and, where relevant, institutional combination.
The above processes should inform the production of a national plan by the Department of Education. The national plan should also encompass agreed upon performance agreements and targets for the national system and for individual institutions related to the equity, quality, effectiveness and efficiency challenges identified in chapter one.
Once the national plan is finalised, the process of combining institutions should be initiated and institutions should be required to develop missions according to their approved mandates. The Department of Education must develop efficient and effective steering and co-ordination mechanisms.
Due attention should be paid to the process by which combination is undertaken. This would require attention to:
- Appropriate structures with the necessary financial resources and human resources to steer the combination.
- Institutional involvement in identifying their strengths and weaknesses and the advantages and disadvantages of combination, and in maximising the opportunities afforded by combination.
- Planning in an atmosphere of openness and integrity with the engagement of all the principal actors.
- Strategic planning processes and detailed action plans with clear and explicit goals and outcomes, planning phases and realistic time-frames.
- Sensitivity to human resource issues and careful attention to labour relations, regulations and the rights and obligations all parties.
- The use of financial and other instruments as 'pulleys and levers'.
The approval of mandates and the development of institutional missions and strategic plans must be informed by high levels of realism. The goals and purposes of higher education, national and regional needs, as well as the specific histories, geographical location, key academic and other characteristics and capacities and potential capabilities of each institution must be taken into account.
A Social Plan should be developed within a three-month period to serve as a framework for addressing various issues relating to labour relations. These include:
- The commitments and interactions that would be required from the different social partners to ensure the success of reconfiguration.
- The human resource implications of reconfiguration and combination.
- Legal obligations in terms of the Labour Relations Act.
- Possible new opportunities for staff as a result of a reconfigured system.
- Measures to reduce or avoid retrenchments and alternatives to retrenchments.
- Time-frames for resolution of issues and decision-making.
- Consultations around the reconfiguration proposals.
- An iterative process around institutional mandates and missions.
- The development of a national plan.
- Combinations and the development of institutional missions and concomitant strategic plans.
The first three activities above are likely to require a minimum of six months. The fourth, especially where it involves combinations, could require between one and three years. It will not be possible to address every dimension of reconfiguration and pursue all the combinations at once. Implementation must be carefully planned and rolled out over a number of phases, which combine goals, strategies and human and financial resources. Overall, achieving a new higher education landscape with the qualities that are desired is likely to take a decade.
The success of reconfiguration will require setting nationally negotiated priorities and targets, as well as monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track their progress.
The Department of Education would need to effectively monitor progress towards achievement of the performance agreements and targets. As the Minister is required to consult with the CHE on the national plan, the CHE must also regularly assess progress around the national plan so that it is able to advise the Minister appropriately.
Present levels of public funding of higher education should be sustained, despite the decrease in enrolments. 'Savings' should be used to reconfigure the higher education system.
Institutions should be appropriately resourced to discharge their responsibilities and functions in accordance with their mandates and missions.
The coverage and level of student financial aid should be increased and resources should be made available for academic support and development initiatives. This is especially necessary to provide access to greater numbers of black learners, to black and women learners in particular areas of study and to learners from working class and rural poor backgrounds.
Public, international donor and private sector funds should be mobilised for strategic interventions towards the reconfiguration of the system and the achievement of quality, equity and efficiency in higher education. Such funds should be used for:
- Developing effective national steering, planning and implementation capabilities.
- Developing institutional missions and strategic planning in alignment with institutional mandates.
- Combining institutions and restructuring them in alignment with their institutional mandates and missions.
- Rationalisation and inter-institutional collaboration at regional-level.
- Building inter-institutional collaboration in strategic areas.
- Developing strategic planning capacities and education management information systems.
- Building financial planning capacities and systems.
- Enhancing the quality of learning and teaching.
- Expanding the use of information and communication technologies in learning and teaching.
- Developing student equity in select areas and staff equity and redress.
- Addressing the personnel implications of reconfiguration.
- Developing leadership, management and administrative capacities at all levels of the system.
- Periodic reviews of national planning and plans and of the achievement of policy and planning objectives.
There should no longer be a 'blind' research funding component. Research should be funded through earmarked funding. Such funding should also make provision for dedicated research and development work related to curriculum, learning and teaching, and provide incentives for research collaboration between academics based at institutions with different mandates. It should also support new academics for a set period and build capabilities at certain institutions placed on a developmental trajectory for reasons of social need and redress. The move towards earmarked research funding could result in substantial shortfalls in public funds allocated to some institutions. In the short-term, institutions would need to be cushioned from any dramatic reduction in their overall public funding.
Human resources will be required for effective steering and careful planning and implementation at national, regional and institutional levels. Without such resources, reconfiguration of the system and the achievement of a new institutional landscape will not be possible. The Higher Education Branch of the Department of Education must be given the necessary finances to mobilise specialist personnel.