Nzimande promises R1bn in bursaries to poor students
The national bursary scheme for students from families earning up to R350 000 a year will see R102.4-billion disbursed over the next three years, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande said on Friday.
Nzimande said the new bursary scheme, which was introduced last year, would by 2022, cover about half of all students at public universities as it was made available to new entrants every year.
"It will be phased in at universities over five years, with the new first-time cohort added each year. By 2022, the scheme will cover all cohorts of students across the university system. The scheme will support approximately 50 percent of the undergraduate student population at public universities," he said in the budget vote speech for his department.
"The substantial investment in poor and working-class students over the 2019 MTEF (medium term expenditure framework), amounts to R82-billion for university students and R20.4-billion for TVET college students."
The scheme is administered through the troubled National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), which was placed under administration in August.
Nzimande said since the appointment of the administrator, there had been "significant improvements in the operations" of the scheme and this made for a more successful student registration process at the beginning of the year.
"The focus is to ensure the immediate short-term stability of NSFAS and put in place effective policies and systems to ensure that funding gets to the qualifying students on time and that they are effectively supported to succeed in their studies."
He added that a specialist ministerial team would be appointed in the coming months to assess the root causes of the policy and capacity problems at NSFAS.
"In addition, we will be working closely with NSFAS to ensure a smooth transition period between the Administrator and new management and governance teams of NSFAS."
Democratic Alliance MP Belinda Bozzoli said it was impossible to approve a budget for a troubled department that was so casual about oversight that entities like NSFAS, "a R30-billion organisation", have consistently failed to brief Parliament's portfolio committee on higher education on how they manage their funding.
"It does not appear to trouble our colleagues in the ANC," she said.
Comments
The
functionality
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