‘I support the idea of free education’ - Jonathan Jansen
University of the Free State Vice-Chancellor Professor Jonathan Jansen said on Thursday that while he supported the idea of free education for poor students, he deplored the burning down of universities.
He was speaking at a luncheon in Johannesburg, organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in South Africa as a farewell to him before he stepped down from his post at the end of August to take up an invitation as a Fellow at the Centre for Advanced Studies at Stanford University in the US.
Jansen said he believed that poor students deserved the right to free education but was completely against the idea of destruction to get free education.
He pointed out that throughout his seven-year term as vice-chancellor he had not sent home a poor student because they did not have tuition fees.
“South Africa is in a perfect storm because for the past 15 years the government has underfunded higher education and pushed up the fees every year. I am worried because I don’t see everybody worried. If your schools don’t work, then your universities won’t work, as well as the economy,” Jansen added.
He said President Jacob Zuma’s call for a zero per cent university fee increase for the next two years was catastrophic and called on businesses to approach government and engage with them on how they could help fund education.
“Our universities are going down, one by one. A country without higher education loses respect. I feel good when I am walking around the campus. It gives you a sense of hope. We have an obligation to fund the students that are poor,” he said.
The top professors in South Africa were leaving which was worrying, he added.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation