Transcript CHS Response to The Green Paper on Post

CHS RESPONSE TO THE GREEN PAPER
ON POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION AND
TRAINING
Professor NG Mtshali
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Presentation Outline
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Introduction
Increase in enrolments
 Workplace demands
 Employment opportunities
Expansion and the Private Higher Education Sector
Strengthening and expanding the FET Colleges
Regulatory System
Funding System
Revitalization of the Academic Profession
Introduction
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Green Paper aims to align the post-school
education and training system with South Africa’s
overall development agenda
Sets out a broad policy for expanding post-school
provision to improve access to education and
training opportunities, strengthen the institutions to
improve education quality, and build a post-school
education and training system that is equitable,
accessible and affordable to all sections of the
population, including free education and training
for the poor.
Increase In Student Enrolments (1)
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Increase university headcount enrolments to 1 500 000
(a projected participation rate of 23%) as opposed to
the 2011 enrolments of 899 120 (a 16% participation
rate).
4 000 000 enrolments for Colleges and other post
school institutions including CETCs- approximately a 60%
participation rate /six-fold increase over the numbers in
2011,
These were interrogated in terms of;
 Infrastructure and Workplace learning
 Employment
opportunities on completion
Increasing in Student Enrolments (2)
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Infrastructure and Workplace learning
 These
should be in place before the numbers are
increased, especially for professional qualifications and
they should meet regulatory bodies’ minimum
requirements ;
 Delay
in these may result in delay in enrolling more
students and create tension between academic institutions
and DHET - institutions seem not to want to comply).
 The
regulatory system must be also be streamlined to
facilitate the process,
Workplace Learning Demands
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Approximately 65% of students at colleges are unable to find
workplace experience to complete N diplomas.
Increasing enrolments and work-based learning experience
must be well interrogated especially in the fields such as
health where opportunities are very limited; Institutions are
expected to pay for placing students, which is not part of the
budget in public institutions.
Workplace learning should be planned jointly by training
institutions and workplaces (both public and private) at a
Province or National level to ensure quality exposure, with
strict monitoring of learning.
Employment Opportunities
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Employment opportunities on completion are not
guaranteed because a significant number of graduates is
not employed.
 Creating
employment opportunities should be a
collaborative effort between the industry and the
training institutions
 There should be a clear education and training plan
that caters for vacant positions and future projections –
not training for the sake of training but training for the
market.
 ‘Entrepreneurship’ outcome to be strengthen in curricula
Expansion and the Private Higher
Education Sector
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The expansion and innovation is welcomed. There are at
least 362 private higher education institution according to
SAQA databases. Some are underutilized with numbers
ranging from 30-15000
Strengthen private higher education providers to allow
those that can afford to access these thereby freeing up
spaces in public institutions for advancing transformation.
Expansion by way of a quality assured and accredited
private higher education sector provides a feasible
mechanism to achieve the target participation rates
currently precluded by “capacity restraints”.
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Private Higher Education Sector has a critical role to play in
developing programmes addressing some scarce skills.
There should be wide consultation on programmes to be
offered by private providers, and quality assurance bodies
should have input, as history has shown that balancing
quality standards and income generation sometimes poses
as challenge.
Tight control measures should be in (application process,
monitoring and regular evaluations)
There is a need to address articulation and progression
routes between and among private and public institutions in
the new system as the lack of mobility of students between
these two sub-sectors may constrain the achievement of an
integrated, diverse system.
Strengthening and expanding the FET
Colleges
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The country has a number of platforms to address skills
shortage and FET Colleges are one example of these
platforms.
NQF should indicate articulation opportunities to other
institutions of postsecondary education (Universities of
Technology and General Universities.
Critical questions should be addressed including, Can
learners use FET Colleges as a route to Universities?, if
yes, how. For example, middle level worker training in
health take place mainly in these colleges and there is
no clear pathway at present.
Regulatory System
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At present, there is duplication, overlap and, at times,
incoherence and inconsistency in the functioning of parts of the
regulatory system.
Synergizing the roles and functions of the Quality Councils and
Statutory Bodies or Professional Councils in order to
rationalize and integrate accreditation and quality assurance
is imperative.
The question is how will the new integrated accreditation
system be funded? (Will it be through Annual subscriptions,
Govt subsidy? Will these bodies still maintain their autonomy?)
Funding (1)
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Funding should remain the driver of the strategic
imperatives of the Ministry of Higher Education and
Training with the new higher education funding
framework (HEFF) catering for differentiation and
collaboration in addition to transformation in all its
forms.
Ear-marked funding for academic and non-academic
student monitoring, support and development must be
included.
Funding (2)
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The collaboration between SETAs and Universities in
terms of funding is welcomed and will release and/or
augment NSFAS funding thereby alleviating the
burden on NSFAS
While new funding is motivated, the HEFF should be
reviewed in terms of the 2-year lag which precludes
expansion and timely responses to market need.
Research funding from the various Ministries and their
affiliated statutory funding agencies must be
consolidated to advance the overall research agenda.
Revitalization of the Academic
Profession
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The “revitalization of the academic profession” (pg
45) by way of direct/indirect innovative
incentivization is welcomed, as is the emphasis on
research in the context of the new generation of
academics and researchers to address the aging
academic workforce.
The type of research must however have the
appropriate utilitarian/knowledge balance.
Revitalization of the Academic
Profession
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The inculcation of a collaborative culture between
historically advantaged and historically disadvantaged
institutions to build capacity and to enhance teaching and
research in the latter while allowing the former to continue
to thrive should be nationally driven by the Higher
Education Quality Committee and perhaps incorporated as
a driver in the new higher education funding framework.
It is however erroneous to assume that black PhD graduates
will take up positions in the historically disadvantaged
institutions.
Conclusion
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To reiterate, the green paper is welcomed, the
country needs an integrated post school system,
however there is still work to be done, which
requires a collaborative effort from all
stakeholders.
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Thank you