Questions and Replies

Reply:

The Policy for the Recognition of South African Higher Education Institutional Types will have no bearing on the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges. The policy is directed at higher education institutions only. The TVET colleges will remain as they are and
operate in the same manner they are operating currently. However, my Department is working on improving articulation between TVET colleges and universities and the introduction of Higher Education Colleges and University Colleges by institutional types policy should add impetus
towards that improvement.

Reply:

In March 2016, the Minister requested the CHE to advise him on a “framework for managing future university fee structures through which increases should be developed and agreed upon”. The CHE undertook the work in two phases: the first phase to make recommendations for increases for the 2017 academic year, and the second phase to recommend a framework for the longer term.

The Department with the support of Universities South Africa (USAf) established a Working Group in 2019 and has developed a first draft of a proposal towards a national framework for regulating fees. The proposed proposal towards a framework outlines the background and need for a fee regulation framework as well as the advice received from the CHE to the Minister in 2017. However, the framework requires further engagements with the Minister.  Work is currently continuing on the draft policy framework in 2022, aiming for a final framework and three-year agreement to be approved by the Minister by December 2022.

Reply:

The Department acknowledges the surge in the number of students who are experiencing mental health challenges, especially in relation to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the number of student suicides that are reported. The Department regards addressing mental health is part of a holistic approach to the health and wellbeing of staff and students.  Therefore, the Department is funding HIGHER HEALTH to the tune of R20,604 million (2022/3); R27,530 million (2023/4); R28,440 million (2024/5) and R29,714 million (2025/6) to implement a comprehensive and integrated programme promoting health and well-being of students and staff additional to the allocated budget in the baseline for each institution.

HIGHER HEALTH is the implementation arm of the Department to implement a comprehensive and integrated programme promoting health and wellbeing of students across South Africa’s public universities and TVET colleges and provide on-campus support to PSET institutions in 7 priority areas:

Mental Health, as seen in the diagram is central to the approach.  HIGHER HEALTH is skilled in facilitating both first and second curriculum activities in the form of peer-to-peer education and in-classroom interventions through the integration of general health and wellness, addressing the wide range of social and health challenges experienced by staff and students.  It is done at all campuses of universities and TVET colleges.

HIGHER HEALTH provides psycho-social support services through several means, including: (1) pro-active screening; (2) prevention and awareness programmes (3) organised programmes such as first-thing-first and second curriculum activities (4) the HIGHER HEALTH toll-free helpline, and (2) through interventions provided by on-campus and off-campus counselling and clinical psychologists. HIGHER HEALTH's activities also include focussed campus activities, campus radio programmes and peer support mechanisms. HIGHER HEALTH has set up campus and community radio stations to engage young students routinely on matters related to specific Sexual and Gender Based Violence and mental health as a matter of priority. There is also HIGHER HEALTH's 24-hour toll-free helpline available in all 11 official languages.  The line offers health, wellness and psychosocial risk assessment toolkits for early screening, empowerment and referral related to gender-based violence, mental health, HIV, TB and other matters.

This year, over 14 000 students accessed the various HIGHER HEALTH models of psychosocial support. Academic stress and anxiety (30%), general stress and substance abuse (22%) depression and suicide (18%) and sexual, physical and emotional abuse (19%) present the main reasons for accessing support care.  The Honourable Member also asked what are the relevant details in each case.  Information on individual reported cases are captured by institutions and HIGHER HEALTH, and reported in aggregated form to the Department's University Branch.  Information on each case is confidential and cannot be shared.

INSTITUTIONAL INITIATIVES

All universities and TVET Colleges have measures in place to raise awareness, offer guidance and advice and support students and staff through Campus Services and Student Support Services. These include, but are not limited to:  workshops or presentations during orientation weeks and during various parts of the year for students; roadshows; training; production and dissemination of brochures and other literature for the university community; and information on institutional websites.

The Department plays an oversight role, monitoring institutions to ensure that institutions take full responsibility for addressing health and well-being of students and staff on their campuses.

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

1. (a) What (i) total number of employees of his department are currently working from home?

The Department has 377 employees as of 1 September 2022 of which 50% (188) work remotely at any given day while the other 189 report to the office at any given day. Employees rotate reporting to the office and maintain 50% attendance. Senior Management Service (SMS) are required to report the office 3 days per week and 2 days for non-SMS.

(ii) Number of such employees have special permission to work from home?

There are 2 employees who have applied for reasonable accommodation to work from home due to ill-heath in line with the Policy and Procedure on Incapacity and ill-heath Retirement. Their applications are currently being processed for consideration and therefore work from home until the outcome of their applications.

(iii) Are the reasons for granting such special permission?

The Department has approved a staggered return to the office with a 50% rotation in line with Code of Practice on Managing SARS-COV2 in the Workplace and the Environmental regulations for Workplaces. In ensuring that the department does not expose employees to unconducive working conditions, it has maintained the staggered reporting to the office as a mitigation. There is a long-term project registered with the Department of Public Works to upgrade the building.

(b) On what date will such workers return to their respective offices?

Employees will continue reporting to the office in the staggered manner until the department has secured an alternative office which is June 2023. Employees who have applied for reasonable accommodation due to ill-heath will work from home until the outcome of their applications as recommended by the Health Risk Manager.

2. Whether he will make a statement on the matter?

Not applicable.

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

CORPORATE SERVICES BRANCH

a) BRANCH:	CORPORATE SERVICES (ALL DIRECTORATES)
i) Total number of employees currently working from home	0
ii) Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	0
iii) Reasons for granting such special permission	Not Applicable
b) What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
Not Applicable

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER AND DIRECTORATES/UNITS REDERING DESIGNATED FUNCTIONS UNDER ITS AUSPICES

a) Directorate:	Chief financial Officer	Financial Management	Supply Chain Management	Development Support	Public Entities
i) Total number of employees currently working from home	0	0	0	0	0
ii) Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	0	0	0	0	0
iii) Reasons for granting such special permission	None	None	None	None	None
b) What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
Not Applicable

PLANNING, POLICY AND STRATEGY BRANCH

a) BRANCH:	PLANNING, POLICY AND STRATEGY (ALL DIRECTORATES)
i) Total number of employees currently working from home	0
ii) Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	0
iii) Reasons for granting such special permission	Not Applicable
b) What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
Not Applicable

COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING BRANCH

a) BRANCH:	COMMUNITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING BRANCH (ALL DIRECTORATES)
i) Total number of employees currently working from home	0
ii) Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	0
iii) Reasons for granting such special permission	Not Applicable
b) What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
Not Applicable

SKILLS DEVELOPMENT BRANCH

a) BRANCH:	SKILLS DEVELOPMENT BRANCH CHIEF DIRECTORATES: INDLELA, NSA AND SETA COORDINATION
i) Total number of employees currently working from home	1 employee is currently working hybrid (from home and office) at SETA Coordination.
ii) Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	1 employee stated above was given special permission to work hybrid.
iii) Reasons for granting such special permission	She was granted special permission due to her critical but stable condition with comorbidity (lung problem).
b) What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
It is not possible to specify when she will fully return to office since her ill-health and state of vulnerability is unpredictable. She needs to be given reasonable accommodation to continue working.

BRANCH:	University Education
Total number of employees currently working from home	2
Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	2
Reasons for granting such special permission	Ill-health and family responsibility
What date will such workers return to their respective offices?
It is not possible to specify when they will fully return to office since her ill-health

BRANCH:	TVET
Total number of employees currently working from home	0
Number of employees who have special permission to work from home	0
Reasons for granting such special permission	N/A
What date will such workers return to their respective offices?: N/A

Reply:

The Department does not collect data on student loans of students from both (a) private and (b) public tertiary institutions who owe South African banks. South African financial institutions are the owners of loan contracts between students/parents and guardians and subsequently the requested data.  Financial institutions should have such data.

Reply:

1. I have not attended any such a meeting.
2. (a) and (b) not applicable.

Reply:

1. My Department will follow the standard procedure of changing place names as guided by the South African Geographical Names Act of 1998;
2. All name changes have to be approved by the South African Geographical names in South Africa.

Reply:

The Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA) as directed by the Skills Development Act (Act No.97 of 1998) annually develops Sector Skills Plans (SSPs) which identify, amongst others, Top Ten Sectoral Priority Occupations required by the Sector and Intervention Measures. 

In order to respond to the capacity building needs of the municipalities, the LGSETA has developed a Councillor Development Strategy in collaboration with relevant parties in response to capacitating newly appointed and returning councillors with the necessary skills and competencies to discharge their roles and responsibilities as assigned in their respective portfolios over the next five years.   The Councillor Development Strategy has three pillars namely: 1) councillor development and skills audit; 2) function-based training and development; and 3) soft skills development. 

The Councillor Development Strategy further outlines a list of skills that were informed by the previous audit and implementation of councillor training which will be used to guide any future skills priorities:

Municipal Key Performance Area	Key Skills Gaps Identified
Municipal Financial Management	Financial Governance Municipal Financial Management and Reporting Municipal Public Accounts Committee Municipal Procurement Finance for Non-Financial Managers
Good Governance and Leadership	Municipal Governance Local Government Law and Public Administration Leadership and Relationship Management Leadership and Ethics Ward Committee Governance Change Management Monitoring and Evaluation Performance Management and Accountability
Municipal Administration	Media Relations and Stakeholder Engagement Human Resource Planning Policy Development Batho Pele and Interpersonal Skills Presentation skills Report Writing End-User Computing Office Administration Conflict Management Negotiation skills Municipal Legislations Adult Education and Training (AET: level 1-4)

 

Reply:

The Department of Higher Education and Training is not aware of graduates within the higher education sector who are not inspired to build careers in the water and sanitation sector.

The Department’s role is to ensure that there is an enabling environment for institutions to provide the necessary training and skills required for the water management sector and ensure that students are supported with the necessary means, where appropriate, to pursue their careers.

There are several higher education institutions that offer disciplines in Water Resources Engineering and caters for the vocational pathway in terms of the Higher Certificate and Diploma qualifications, as well as the Bachelor of Science in Hydrology and Water Resources Management for an academic and research pathway (please see attached list).

The Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) plays a key role in developing skills needed in the water and energy sector.

Reply:

There are currently 76 student housing projects underway. The total funding allocated to these projects amount to R4.547 billion which is made of R3.842 billion from the Infrastructure and Efficiency Grant (IEG), R523 million from the Budget Facility for Infrastructure (BFI), and R182 million from the Sibusiso Bengu Development Grant. From the total funding of R4.547 billion, 56% (R2.544) billion went to the 8 institutions under the Sibusiso Bengu Development Programme. These universities constitute 31% of the total number of public universities in the country.

The institutions involved in these projects are as listed below:

• Cape Peninsula University of Technology
• Central University of Technology
• Durban University of Technology
• Mangosuthu University of Technology
• Nelson Mandela University
• North-West University
• Rhodes University
• Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University
• Stellenbosch University
• Tshwane University of Technology
• University of Fort Hare
• University of Johannesburg
• University of KwaZulu-Natal
• University of Limpopo
• University of Pretoria
• University of the Western Cape
• University of Venda
• University of Zululand
• Vaal University of Technology
• Walter Sisulu University

Reply:

The recommended amendments to the Policy Framework are consistent with the recommendations of the legal opinion. Pre and post the amendment, the prime focus of the Language Policy has been and will always be an attempt at realising the Constitutional ideals of linguistic equality in post-apartheid South Africa.

Our primary objective is to extend to the historically marginalised African languages the same privilege historically enjoyed by Afrikaans and English as the exclusive languages of scholarship in pre-democratic South Africa. The definition of indigenous languages in the Policy Framework will be amended as per the legal advice received and there has never been dispute in the Language Policy Framework on the status of Afrikaans as an indigenous language.

Reply:

The concerns around the cancellation of registration of the Centre for Fine Art Animation and Design (Pty) Ltd (“CFAD”) has been ongoing for a long period of time. The following is a detailed response to the Question.

THE LEGAL CONTEXT

The Department has the statutory responsibility of regulating the activities of private higher education institutions in accordance with the Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997) (the Act) and the Regulations for the Registration of Private Higher Education Institution, 2016 (the Regulation). To that end, the Department wishes to bring the following your attention:

1.  Article 29(3) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa requires every private provider of education and training to be registered with the State. The State in this case is the Department of Higher Education and Training. In this regard, there are two sets of legislation applicable to the registration of private providers of education and training:

a) Higher Education Act, 1997, Act No. 101 of 1997 for the registration of private higher education institutions; and

b) Continuing Education and Training Colleges Act, 1996 for the registration of private colleges.

2. The legal point of departure for registration with the Department begins with the registration of the qualification on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the accreditation of the programme and the college or institution by the relevant Quality Council (QC). There are 3 QCs, each one responsible for managing its own qualifications sub-framework. The QCs and the qualifications sub-frameworks are as follows:

a) Council on Higher Education (CHE) manages the Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF);

b) UMALUSI which manages the General and Further Education and Training Qualifications Sub-Framework (GENFETQSF); and

c) QCTO which manages the Occupational Qualifications Sub-Framework (OQSF).

3. The purpose of registration is to ensure that private providers of education and training operate within the law, have the necessary resources, capacity and expertise to offer acceptable standards of higher education, the programmes they offer are registered, the qualifications the students attain are aligned to the NQF and students are protected from fraudulent operators in higher education. Further, the Department is required to ensure the highest standards of integrity at all levels, that the Department discharges its responsibilities in an accountable manner and that it protects the public against any form of malicious and unscrupulous conduct threatening the higher education system.

4. With regard to the above, please note that accreditation and registration are two separate functions undertaken separately by two different bodies. For higher education, the registering authority is the Department, and the accreditation body is the CHE.

REASONS FOR THE CANCELLATION OF THE REGISTRATION OF THE CENTRE FOR FINE ART, ANIMATION AND DESIGN (PTY) LTD AS A PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION

5. On 27 June 2016, the Registrar of Private Higher Education Institutions cancelled the registration of CFAD for its failure to submit a complete 2014 annual report, after due legal process was followed, and after much pleading with officials from CFAD to submit its annual report. The submission of the annual report is a legal requirement for maintenance of registration as a private higher education institution as it allows the Registrar to establish if the institution has discharged its responsibilities as a private higher education institution. Subsequently, on 15 September 2016, the appeal lodged with the erstwhile Minister, Dr BE Nzimande, was successful.

6. For the second time, on 20 November 2016, the Registrar cancelled the registration of CFAD for its failure to submit its 2015 annual report, after due legal process was followed, and after much pleading with officials from CFAD to submit its annual report. Subsequently, on 7 April 2017, the appeal lodged with the Minister, Dr BE Nzimande was unsuccessful, for the following reasons:

a) Failure to Submit the Institution’s Administrative Data;

b) Failure to Provide Staff and Student Data;

c) Failure to Submit Audited Annual Financial Statements;

d) Failure to Submit the Financial Surety which had expired;

e) Failure to Comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations;

f) Failure to Provide Proof of Certificate Awarded to Students;

g) Failure to comply with the Requirements of the National Learner’s Records Database (NLRD);

h) Failure to Provide the Updated Record of the Directors of the Company as Approved by the Consumer Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC);

i) Failure to Submit the List of Premises on which Teaching and Learning is Provided; and

j) Failure to submit the Declaration Signed by Every Student.

7. Since the start of the registration of private higher education institutions in 1998, it has never been the case that an institution of higher learning was unable to submit its annual report in the required manner, including basic information. It has also never been the case whereby the Department had to plead with an institution to submit its annual report and indefinitely prolong the period of extension. In 2015 and 2016, CFAD was the first such institution.

8. Even the appeal was submitted only after the Department pleaded with CFAD to submit the appeal for the simple reason that the Department wanted to protect the interest students. For that matter, the appeal was only submitted a month after the due date for the submission of the appeal.

9. After parents pleaded with the Department to extend the phase-out period to 31 December 2017 so that final year students will not be affected, the Department contacted Dr N Soobben and pleaded with him to make a formal request with Mr GF Qonde, the Director-General, for an extension to the phase-out period from 31 December 2016 to 31 December 2017. Since the Department no longer had the contact details of the institution, and CFAD was not communicating with the Department, the Department had requested a parent, Ms Allison Shepherd, to provide Dr N Soobben’s cell phone number.

10. At the time of the first cancellation of registration of CFAD, there was no communication or response from CFAD to the Department’s queries. For almost 3 years, repeated calls to CFAD went unanswered. At no stage did CFAD approach the Department or the CHE for assistance regarding the problems it claims to have experienced. It was the Department that had to initiate the communication with CFAD.

11. In August 2017, officials from the Department paid a site visit to the institution at 5 Walnut Road, Smart XChange Building in Durban to endeavour to assist the institution. Subsequent to the visit, two further site visits were made on 24 January 2018 and 25 April 2018, respectively. In the last site visit Dr Shaheeda Essack requested an improvement plan from CFAD which has not as yet been submitted.

12. On 7 June 2018, the Department was informed that on 31 May 2018, the Sherriff of the Court, repossessed all goods of value from CFAD. The pictures on the repossession were circulated on social media.

13. According to the accreditation report dated 28 February 2017, the CHE has withdrawn the accreditation of the institution and its programme. This means that CFAD is no longer accredited with the CHE. The outcome on the subsequent application for accreditation with the CHE is pending. Therefore, the application for registration submitted to the Department is awaiting proof of accreditation from the CHE and the submission of the improvement plan as requested in the meeting of 25 April 2018.

14 In 2018, the High Court in Durban acceded to CFAD’s request to operate in 2018 and 2019 so as to teach out the pipe-line and final year students. The High Court also ruled that no new students should be enrolled.

15. The Minister is also aware that CFAD has filed papers with the High Court in Durban to suspend the Registrar’s decision to cancel its registration and to suspend the Minister’s decision to dismiss the appeal. The Registrar and the Minister await the ruling of the High Court.    

DIRECT RESPONSE TO THE ENQUIRY

16. The Minister is fully aware of the challenges surrounding the cancellation of registration of CFAD and advises CFAD to ensure that its application for registration with the Department is complete to enable the Registrar to register the institution. Since accreditation is a separate function from registration and handled by the CHE, the institution is advised to contact the CHE directly for any enquiries on accreditation.

17.  The High Court had also allowed CFAD until 2019 to teach out final year students, most of whom were in their final year in 2018 and some in 2019. Therefore, the “situation of distress” always referred to is not understood.

18. The Department has done everything in its power to assist CFAD in the registration process. Unfortunately, the application currently does not qualify for registration since it has not provided the evidence that it meets the accreditation requirements of the CHE and the registration requirements of SAQA.

19. CFAD, therefore, does not have the legal authority to operate an institution of higher learning

Reply:

Legislation on post-school education does not preclude any aspect of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and that includes the right to self-determination.

For instance, the Higher Education Act, 101 of 1997 makes provision in line with the Constitution for the establishment of private institutions.

The development of the post-school sector in South Africa post-apartheid has been driven by post-apartheid national policy imperatives, geared towards developing a national unified higher education system within a coherent national education policy framework. The focus of the policy frameworks in place since democracy has been to develop a truly national post-school education and training system which addresses the legacies of past inequality and discrimination, which is geared towards supporting national imperatives, and which supports the national development agenda. These policy goals are clearly articulated in the various White Papers, including the White Paper on Post-School Education and Training.

As outlined in the preamble to the Higher Education Act, the purpose of the Act was to create a single unified higher education system, redress imbalances of the past, and transform higher education in terms of the expectations of an open and democratic society.

Public Universities are national institutions and while they are anchored in local communities and within provinces, they are funded and monitored at national system level.

Reply:

The table below reflects the 2020 audited number of full-time lecturers in terms of their highest qualification at public universities.

Institution	Degree	Honours	Masters	Doctorate
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	23	89	374	240
Central University of Technology	2	31	152	126
Durban University of Technology	25	35	343	213
Mangosuthu University of Technology	10	17	117	47
Nelson Mandela University	29	60	251	315
North West University	90	211	472	800
Rhodes University	4	12	120	216
Sefako Makgatho University	8	171	302	130
Sol Plaatje University	4	6	54	65
Tshwane University of Technology	14	160	409	312
University of Cape Town	34	39	348	713
University of Fort Hare	18	33	121	163
University of Free State	26	63	346	472
University of Johannesburg	40	1	508	703
University of KwaZulu-Natal	50	31	388	761
University of Limpopo	29	101	257	209
University of Mpumalanga	5	11	39	64
University of Pretoria	5	9	353	873
University of South Africa	24	162	618	980
University of Stellenbosch	23	40	300	806
University of Venda	10	52	160	193
University of Western Cape	43	24	205	409
University of Witwatersrand	46	34	294	810
University of Zululand	2	14	147	153
Vaal University of Technology	14	34	170	79
Walter Sisulu University	54	100	340	169
Total	632	1 540	7 188	10 021

Reply:

1. Sol Plaatje University’s off-campus accommodation accreditation process opened in November 2021. Service providers that missed the first submission deadline were afforded an opportunity to submit applications of accreditation up until the last day of February 2022.   The university reported that the process of accreditation is open to all interested parties that meet the requirements in the minimum norms and standards as stipulated by DHET. All properties must be conducive to living and learning. Note: 99.9% of the Sol Plaatje University accredited off-campus accommodation suppliers advance BBB economic empowerment goals.

2. Neither the Minister nor the Department have received complaints of discrimination against SPU by black property owners. 

3. Please note that as per the 2022 NSFAS eligibility criteria and conditions for financial aid, private accommodation allowance is limited to the maximum cost of the equivalent University owned on-campus accommodation at a particular institution.   The SPU in consultation with all affected landlords has set the 2022 private accommodation rental/allowances for a double room at R3 500 and single rooms are capped at R4 200.

Reply:

My Department has sought and received only one legal advice on the matter regarding the status of Afrikaans and Khoi languages as indigenous languages of South Africa. The Legal Opinion is herewith attached.

Reply:

Attached find here: Reply

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Yes, the Department is on track to achieve some of the National Development Plan (NDP) 2030 targets. It should be noted that the achievement of the 2030 targets is directly linked to the availability of funding from the fiscus. Whilst positive progress has been made despite funding challenges, the Post-School Education and Training service delivery environment has recently been impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 global health pandemic. The table below provides progress status on the NDP targets. 

NDP 2030 target	Current performance (2021/22)
1. University student enrolments-1.62 million	1 094 808
2. Improve academics’ qualifications: (75% of academics with PhDs)	49.3%
3. Number of masters graduates (all masters degrees annually)	12 922
4. Produce 100 PhDs per million per annum i.e. 5 000 per annum	3 552
5. Full funding for all NSFAS qualifiers (poor) and loans (state surety) for others	504 336 (universities)
	261 404 (TVET colleges)
6. Increase enrolments in Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges to 1.25 million	452 277
7. Increase enrolments in Community Education and Training colleges to 1 million	142 538
8. 30 000 artisans produced per annum	15 107

University sector

Access to universities has grown substantially over the past 10 years, indicating that the country is on track to reach the NDP target of 1.6 million enrolments by 2030. Many more students enrolled in universities during the 2020 academic year.  Over 1.3 million students enrolled at public and private universities. Public universities were able to enrol 1 094 808 students, reflecting an increase of 4 808 (44%) from the set target of 1 090 000. In the same period, 504 336 qualifying students in universities received National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding for tuition fees and allowances. 

Graduation rates at public universities grew significantly, indicating that the country is on track to reach NDP targets by 2030. Student completions show that 237 882 (107%) students completed a university qualification. Doctoral graduates constitute 3 552 (107%), 12 652 (86%) engineering graduates, 9 642 (91%) life and physical sciences graduates, 9 646 (88%) human health sciences graduates, 12 922 (92%) masters graduates (all masters graduates), 1 075 animal and veterinary sciences graduates, and 30 809 (108%) initial teacher education.

Progress made on the quality of teaching provided at universities demonstrates that the country is on track to meet the 75% NDP target by 2030. To date, 49.3% of university academic staff hold PhD degrees.

TVET college sector

Admittedly, enrolments in the TVET college sector has not been at envisaged levels.  The final 2022 consolidated funding grid indicates that of the planned headcount enrolment into ministerial approved programmes, 508,445, is comprised of 503, 221 headcount enrolments funded by State and 5,224 students are to be funded by TVET Colleges from student fees. This planned enrolment respectively represents a 100% contribution to the target of 503,221 headcount enrolments funded by the state and only 6.02% contribution to the target of 86,779 headcount enrolments funded by TVET Colleges from student fees. This contributes to a combined achievement of 86.18% of the total 2022/23 target set of 590,000 for ministerial approved programmes. The total required budget for this enrolment plan amounts to R14.550 billion of which R14.385 billion is funding by the State with a correlating budget deficit of (R165 million or 1.15% funding deficit) that must be absorbed by TVET Colleges through the recovery of student fees. The NDP target of 2,5 million enrolments in TVET colleges is not likely to be met. Similarly, the target of more students to be enrolled in TVET colleges compared to universities will not be met.

CET college sector

Enrolments in CET colleges are also not growing at the envisaged levels. Enrolment stood at 142 538, showing an underachievement of 78 011 (35%) against the set target of 220 549 in 2020.

Artisan development

The skills development system targets have significantly slowed down when measured against the projected artisan registration and completion. However, since the relaxation of COVID-19 regulations, there were continuous engagements with SETAs to speed up enrolments in meeting the NDP target of producing 30 000 artisans per annum by 2030.

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

Please refer to the source document attached Tag A. 

Reply:

(a)    There are five programmes being offered at the institution, which are continuations of legacy qualifications which were formally accredited as aligned to the Higher Education Qualifications Framework (HEQF). These are:

• Advanced Diploma in Internal Auditing; 
• Advanced Diploma in Journalism; 
• BSc Honours in Zoology; 
• Master of Medicine in Obstetrics and Gynaecology; and
• Postgraduate Diploma in Chemical Pathology. 

It should be noted that in 2013, a revised Higher Education Qualifications Sub-Framework (HEQSF) was gazetted as policy, replacing the HEQF, and all higher education institutions had to align their legacy qualifications to the HEQSF. New student registrations could only be taken into the legacy qualifications until 31 December 2019, after which the programmes had to be taught out or a new programme put in place that enabled continued offering in the area. 

The five qualifications listed above fall within this category and should be in teach-out until new replacement programmes are accredited and registered. In the case of the Walter Sisulu University (WSU), there were new student registrations after 31 December 2019.

There is a sixth qualification, i.e. the Postgraduate Diploma in Library and Information Services, which also has legacy roots and has not been offered since 2019.

(b)    The Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) approved that the following processes should be undertaken:

• Appoint an evaluator to review the HEQSF alignment processes for the five programmes. Once the report of the evaluator has been compiled, the HEQC will consider the report and recommendations. This process is underway.
• A full audit of all the programmes WSU is offering will be undertaken to confirm that all programmes being offered meet the compliance requirements of the three regulatory bodies, i.e. Department, CHE and South African Qualifications Authority. This process has also already commenced.

(c)     There are no further cases that have come to the attention of the CHE or Department. A Data Validation Project is underway by the CHE which is intended to validate the HEQSF alignment data to ensure the accreditation record at the CHE is an accurate reflection of what the institutions can offer. If/when discrepancies are identified, the CHE will deal with them in a similar manner to the processes described above.

Reply:

The tables below provide an overview of the number of new applications, where the applicant was a SASSA beneficiary in the period 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2022, that were funded by NSFAS, per academic year and institution. Please note the 2022 funding cycle registration data exchange process between NSFAS and institutions is still ongoing and the 2022 information will be updated upon finalisation of this process.   The information has been provided per education sector (University or TVET College).

Universities:

TVET Colleges:

Reply:

HIGHER HEALTH, with support from its Technical Scientific Team, the Department of Health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), has developed a comprehensive and clear set of PSET guidelines and protocols on managing COVID-19 in the sector which were formally released by the Minister of Higher Education, Training, Science and Innovation since 30 April 2020.  One of these guidelines is the GUIDELINE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES ON COVID-19 VACCINE IN THE POST-SCHOOL EDUCATION AND TRAINING SECTOR that can be followed in producing institution-specific vaccine policies.  This guideline has been produced after extensive consultation with relevant stakeholders in the Post-School Education and Training (PSET) sector, including Universities South Africa, the South African Public Colleges Organisation, Community Education and Training (CET) College management, student bodies and student leadership, labour unions, public health experts and the HIGHER HEALTH Scientific Technical Task Team.

The guideline has been presented to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation.  The Minister referred the guideline to the COVID-19 Ministerial Task Team led by the Deputy Minister and comprise all stakeholders including unions and student formations.  The guideline is currently still under consultation with various stakeholders and has not been released in the PSET sector.  

At this stage the Department does not promote mandatory vaccine policies in institutions.

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

a) South Africa has a bilateral science and innovation partnership agreement with the Russian Federation in science and technology signed in October 2014. The partnership is of mutual benefit to both countries which advances internationalisation of science and innovation.

b) Regarding the question on commercial projects with the Russian Federation –the Department of Science and Innovation has no known commercial contracts with the Russian Federation and to the best of the Department’s knowledge, its entities also do not have commercial contracts with the Russian Federation.

(i) None.

(ii) None.

(aa) n/a

(bb) n/a

(cc) n/a

(dd) n/a

(ee) n/a

c) Should there be commercial contracts of mutual interest the general government procurement and contract management processes will be followed also informed by our national interest and foreign policy imperatives.

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING

The Department of Higher Education and Training does not have any commercial contracts with the Government of the Russian Federation or any entity based in the Russian Federation. The Department mainly cooperates with the Russian Federation in human capital development in the form of scholarships. Tuition and accommodation is paid by the Government of the Russian Federation. The Department covers return flight tickets and top-up stipends provided by the Russian Federation. The monies are disbursed to students by the South African Embassy in Moscow.

A consolidated response for both the Department and the Public Entities accordingly reporting to it is also attached for convenience.

Reply:

(a)-(c) Neither myself, nor the Directors-General, Drs Phil Mjwara or Nkosinathi Sishi were on an official trip to the United States of America on the said date.

Reply:

During the financial eligibility evaluation of the students the entity found that the father earned more than the R350 000 threshold as per the SARS 2021 Tax Assessment. The students were not funded for this reason.

Reply:

Provision of catering services on campuses and university residencies is the responsibility of the University Management.  My department was concerned about the complaints relating to the provision of quality food in the institutions of higher learning. As soon as questions were brought to our attention, Sol Plaatje University was contacted about the incident reported to have happened in one of its cafeterias. 

The University responded that it has contracted with local Kimberley-based service providers to provide catering services in its student dining halls.  These service providers are required to provide food that is of a national standard, and the University holds them to that undertaking.  In the case reported, meals for lunch were prepared in the University 's dining hall and one pack was reported to contain a worm.  It is not clear how the worm entered the pack.  The University took the proactive approach to shut down the cafeteria, and invited a health inspection from the Sol Plaatje Local Municipality who visited the kitchen to conduct an inspection and was accompanied by two members of the SRC, Sol Plaatje University Manager for Soft Services and the Residence Warden.

The Health Inspector could not find fault with the operations of the kitchen, which included the processes of receiving, storing, preparing, cooking and serving meals to students.  Students were given the option to eat in any of the other cafeterias on campus, but they refused to do so, and demanded that the kitchen be re-opened. The kitchen was only re-opened after the go-ahead was received from the health inspector.

The University has instituted additional measures to support food safety in its dining halls. These measures include regular checks by management and student leaders, regular inspections by external experts, and the secondment of experienced staff to its kitchens.

Reply:

The Department of Higher Education and Training has been supporting research productivity in the higher education system through its “Policy and Procedures for Measurement of Research Output of Public Higher Education Institutions” since 2003. Since its inception, the policy aimed to sustain current research strengths and to promote research and other knowledge outputs required to meet national development needs. The purpose of the policy is to encourage research productivity by rewarding quality research output at public higher education institutions. Therefore, the Department has been subsidising research productivity at the universities through this policy.

The policy was later revised and improved and now with a new title: Research Outputs Policy, 2015. However, the original aim and objectives have been maintained. Currently, in the 2022/23 financial year, the Department invests R5 226 955 000.00 on research productivity in the university sector, from R1 124 807 000.06 in the 2004/05 financial year. The policy uses research publications in peer-reviewed journals; published peer-reviewed conference proceedings; peer-reviewed books; research Master’s and Doctoral graduates as proxy for research activities within universities.

The subsidy also includes the creative and innovations research which are subsidised through the Policy on the Evaluation of Creative Outputs and Innovations Produced by Public Higher Education Institutions (2017).

Since the inception of the research policy in 2003, the number of units (used to calculate all the research outputs as enumerated above – publications, graduates, artefacts and innovations) grew from 12 051 in the 2004/05 financial year to 40 847 units in the 2022/23 financial year.

In the earlier years of the implementation of the policy, the Department made available developmental funds to institutions that struggled to meet their set research output norms. The subsidy formula allowed for such funding. This has since been converted into the University Capacity Development Grant, which covers several projects within institutions, including the development of researchers and young academics. The Sibusiso Bengu Development Grant allocated to the institutions defined as historically disadvantaged allows for coverage of such a need, depending on the priorities the affected institutions identify.

Independent analysts have associated the growth of research productivity in the higher education sector in recent years to the positive impact of the above-stated policies. Thus, it is believed that the policies and projects of the Department have instilled a research culture at the universities. However, institutional policies and practices do also play a role too in this regard. Plans are underway to also deal with its unintended consequences, such as predatory publishing and a focus on quantity rather than quality.

Reply:

1. (a) Honourable King, there are fifty (50) public Technical Vocational and Education and Training (TVET) Colleges in South Africa with more than 264 campuses spread across the rural and urban areas of the country. To make it easy for the public, we have split them according to the Province each college is located. For example, Eastern Cape 8, Gauteng 8, Free State 4, KZN 9, Limpopo 7, Mpumalanga 3, North West 3, Northern Cape 2 and Western Cape 6.

(b) (i)(ii) Ordinarily the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) do not issue in-service certificates as their main function is to assist with funding. However, when a student completes his/her in-service training with the employer, a report is compiled and submitted to the college so that they can process the issuing of certificates with the department.

(iii) The department has put systems in place in line with policy prescripts for TVET students to apply for and be awarded with level certificates and the National N Diploma (National Nated Diploma – NND) after having met the programme requirements according to the policy. The students are to comply with the minimum requirements for the issuing of certificates on N4, N5 and N6 levels as contemplated in Report 190/191 in line with the National Education Policy, Norms and Standards for the Instructional programmes, Examination and Certification thereof in Technical College Education, Report 190(2000/03). Further, we issued a Memorandum 31 of 2013 to examination officers, examination centres, public and private colleges as well as Umalusi outlining the requirements for the issuing of National Nated Diploma (NND).

Accordingly, only students who meet the requirements will receive the National Nated Diploma for the period in question. Students who do not complete their work experience as indicated in the memorandum we issued, will not receive their diplomas until they complete and apply to the Department of Higher Education and Training to process the application and evaluate compliance with the requirements according to the minimum requirements for the issue of a NND.

It is against this background that my department can only provide the number of students who qualified to be awarded the NND. It often takes time for students to get the relevant workplace placement and they can only submit their applications on completion thereof. The 18 and 24 months required for Business and Engineering Studies respectively, can be achieved over a long period in short stints of work experience given the difficulties of securing workplace experience for all qualifying students. As a result, Honourable King, I have instructed officials within my department as well as colleges to keep data of students who have completed their in-service training and who have qualified to be awarded certificates and diplomas. Currently my department is not in a position to respond adequately on the total number of students who have completed their in-service training and awaiting to be issued with certificates. Going forward, we will track the placement of TVET graduates as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his state of the nation address. As we all know the President has called on the private sector to support wherever possible to not demand experience as a hiring requirement but to give as many young people as possible their first job so they can learn whilst working.

(2) With respect to the availability of the standard form to be used for in-service training, colleges receive applications from students with relevant work experience to evaluate, moderate and issue certificates to those who comply. However, there is a standard log book students use when they are in-service training.

Reply:

1. Number of patents registered over the past 2 decades in the field of (a) water technology and (b) process engineering:

The response from the CSIR is that it has registered 883 patents over the last two decades. However, the information was not disaggregated into water technology and process engineering.

2. Number of scientists working at the CSIR annually for the past 2 decades.

(a)

Financial year	No. of Scientists	Financial year	No. of Scientists
2002	No data	2012	1537
2003	No data	2013	1578
2004	No data	2014	1691
2005	No data	2015	1869
2006	No data	2016	1969
2007	1490	2017	1966
2008	1512	2018	1850
2009	1551	2019	1608
2010	1547	2020	1367
2011	1560	2021	1474

(b) Number of scientists specifically working on water related technology and/or solutions each of the periods

The CSIR doesn’t have data in this level of details.

3. What number of:

(a) Number of patents registered each year at the CSIR for the past two decades:

Financial year	No. of Patents	Financial year	No. of Patents
2002	25	2012	55
2003	39	2013	29
2004	30	2014	41
2005	24	2015	59
2006	37	2016	87
2007	30	2017	43
2008	50	2018	48
2009	51	2019	46
2010	30	2020	76
2011	58	2021	25
Total	374	Total	509

(b) Technologies successfully commercialised and implemented in (i) South Africa and (ii) outside South Africa in the past 4 decades.

Over the past four decades, the CSIR has entered into commercialisation agreements with over 100 entities. Depending on the technology and the commercial partner, these agreements have provided various exploitation rights such as domestic, foreign or worldwide commercialisation rights. Among the various technologies/products successfully commercialized include:

• Umbiflow
• Heavy vehicle simulator
• Qfrency
• Eucalyptus material
• High performance node
• In-shell pasteurization of eggs
• MEME
• Corocam
• BioFizz
• BioFloc
• BioActive
• Aloesin

Reply:

(a)

Financial year	Amount: R’000	Financial year	Amount: R’000
2002	R269,883	2012	R556,837
2003	R295,429	2013	R594,478
2004	R321,996	2014	R618,849
2005	R356,992	2015	R675,340
2006	R391,007	2016	R680,485
2007	R428,055	2017	R714,105
2008	R429,013	2018	R722,373
2009	R480,320	2019	R752,149
2010	R509,122	2020	R731,202
2011	R535,357	2021	R657,846
Total	R4,044,244	Total	R6,703,664

 

(b) (iii) First decade (2002 – 2011) – R47,3 million.

(iv) Second decade (2012 – 2021) – R200 million.

Reply:

My Department is prepared to share the legal advice it has received on the matter regarding the status of Afrikaans and Khoi languages as indigenous languages of South Africa, as well as other documents consulted in developing the Policy Framework for Public Higher Education Institutions (Policy Framework), published on 30 October 2020. This matter has been engaged extensively within the Department and proposed amendments by the legal opinion to the definition of indigenous languages contained in the Policy Framework are underway. The Legal Services section of my Department can compile and make available the required documents on request.

Reply:

(c)(i) 300,000 TVET colleges students are targeted to receive bursary funding through the National Students Financial Aid Scheme during the 2022 academic year;

(ii) The processing of student applications for NSFAS is still underway and as such the number of unfunded students is not available at this juncture. However, on average 98% of first-time NSFAS applicants in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges qualify for bursaries and do not pay tuition fees. This means that about 2% of first-time NSFAS applicants and NSFAS returning students who do not qualify for bursary funding on the basis of academic performance are the ones who are not funded and as such they are required pay for their own fees.

Reply:

Over the past two decades, the CSIR has not partnered/collaborated with WRC in the development of novel technologies and processes developed by the organisation. However, the CSIR has over the decades competed for project funding following various WRC calls for funding and succeeded in securing some of the funding which were mainly for basic research without novel technologies outputs.

The Municipal Finance Management Act remains a challenge when fostering collaborations for technology development among the two organs of state due to the tendering system which does not effectively support easy contractual agreements between organ of states as more investment is required for successful novel technologies and processes for water.

Reply:

(1)(a) (i) The TIA Deal Team, led by the former Workout and Restructuring Business Unit negotiated the selling price.

(ii) The then Workout and Restructuring Business Unit’s primary responsibility was to negotiate exiting terms on behalf of TIA in respect of TIA’s investments.

(b) At the time of the sale, Kapa US’ value was based on an independent evaluation by Orchard Partners Incorporated shared by Kapa US with the TIA Deal Team, indicating that Kapa US’ total equity was valued at USD49,31 million. In terms of the Subscription and Shareholders’ Agreement concluded between TIA’s predecessor Cape Biotech Trust (CBT), Kapa US and KAPA SA on 16 March 2006, CBT’s 49% shareholding in Kapa SA equated to 10% of the value of Kapa US. In view thereof, an amount of USD4,931 million was accepted by the TIA Deal Team. At the then exchange rate, USD4,931 million amounted to nearly R60 million.

(c) TIA subsequently learned via the media that the shareholders of Kapa US had been bought out by the Roche Group for USD445 million on 30 November 2015, some eight months after TIA sold its shareholding in Kapa SA to Kapa US. As TIA had only received USD4,931 million, the loss was quantified at USD39,569 million. TIA has subsequently instituted legal action against Kapa US based on two separate claims, namely misrepresentation and breach of contract.

(d) In accordance with the provisions of the Sale of Shares Agreement concluded on 26 March 2015, the dispute between the Parties must be adjudicated by an arbitrator.

(2) A report was never commissioned. However, the former minister did constitute a task team made of DSI officials and TIA. The result of that process was the appointment by TIA of a legal firm (Adams and Adams), who made a series of recommendations on the way forward including the adjudication of the dispute by an arbitrator.

Reply:

Name of University	(1) Ratio of NSFAS to non-NSFAS students in campus accommodations	(2) What is the total number of beds (a) at each higher education institution and (b) reserved for NSFAS students
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 54% and 46% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 12 798. (b) At least 8335 beds are occupied by NSFAS students (this is based on data compiled from prior years and the current year)
University of Cape Town	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 65% and 35% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 7870 (6888 UCT owned and 982 Leased). (b) UCT does not reserve spaces for NSFAS students but UCT prioritises NSFAS students for on-campus residence accommodation.
Central University of Technology	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 96% and 4% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 1 139 (890 Bloemfontein campus; 249 Welkom campus).   (b) Students are placed on first come first serve principle, thus no beds are reserved for students.
Durban University of Technology	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 96% and 4% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 14 697. (b) 14 097 occupied spaces on residences for NSFAS students. 14161 are in residences, representing 74% residence uptake of this cohort. This translates into 96% of the total number in residence (14697) the remaining 4% (536) representing self-payers who are non-NSFAS.
University of Fort Hare	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 68.8% and 32,2% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 10 002 total beds (Alice Campus: 6024 University-owned and East London Campus: 3978 University-leased).   (b) UFH does not reserve spaces for NSFAS funded students. A residence admission policy is used for placement. Students are placed according to their academic performance and affordability.
University of the Free State	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 76% and 24% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 6 692 capacity for on-campus accommodation (Bloemfontein Campus: 4 418; QwaQwa Campus: 1 496 and South Campus: 778). (b) The university has a placement and renewal policy which governs the process of placement of students in the residences. Notwithstanding very strict adherence to the policies, 5 115 NSFAS students are accommodated in on-campus accommodation (represents 76% of the total capacity).
University of Johannesburg	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 40% and 60% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 7 188. (b) 2 541 are allocated to NSFAS funded students.
University of Kwazulu-Natal	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 76% and 24% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 20 004. (b) 15 203 are allocated to NSFAS funded students.
University of Limpopo	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 65% and 35% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) 7 326 beds for students on campus. (b) Residence admission and registration is dependent upon the Residence Admission Policy (Approved).  Application and Academic Performance are the main prerequisite for a student to qualify for accommodation. No reservation is done on the basis of NSFAS and or other Funding/Sponsor.
Mangosuthu University of Technology	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 87% and 13% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 1416 MUT owned residence (622 university owned beds are reserved for first year NSFAS funded students and 794 are non-NSFAS. A further 8581 beds are in leased accommodation (8150 are NSFAS funded and 431 are non-NSFAS). (b) 622 on campus/university owned is reserved for first year NSFAS funded students. Placement in leased accommodation is done on preference basis, either NSFAS or Non-NSFAS funded.
University of Mpumalanga	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 58.8% and 41.2% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds on campus is 1353 beds. Accredited Private Accommodation is 6467 beds. (b) We do not have beds reserved specifically for NSFAS students. Beds are allocated on the basis of the University Housing Policy which does not give preference to NSFAS students.
Nelson Mandela University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 85% and 15% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 4 298 (PE and George). (b) There is no bed reservation for specific categories of students except that first preference is given to out of town students.
North-West University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 59% and 41% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 11 319. (b) 6 454 occupied spaces on residences for NSFAS students. NWU beds are not reserved on the basis of the funding ability of a student but based on academic performance first, within the scope of the diversity targets of the institution.
University of Pretoria	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 37% and 63% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 7 027. (b) 35% (2 251) occupied spaces on residences are reserved for NSFAS students.
Rhodes University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 63% and 27% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 3 683 of which 2 324(63%) are occupied by NSFAS funded students. (b) NSFAS funded students are prioritised for campus accommodation
Sefako Makgatho University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 57.3% and 42.7% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) has a total student accommodation capacity of 5015. (b) SMU does not have specified beds that are reserved for NSFAS student as the majority of our students are NSFAS sponsored. However, 2,877 NSFAS sponsored students are occupying the campus accommodation.
Sol Plaatje University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 75% and 25% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 1 812 (1 365 allocated to NSFAS funded and 447 non-NSFAS students). (b) A further 740 beds are allocated at University accredited accommodation (612 allocated to NSFAS funded and 128 non-NSFAS students).
University of South Africa	Non-residential	Non-residential
Stellenbosch University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 30% and 70% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 7 667. (b) 30% occupied spaces on residences for NSFAS (first year) students. 2 190 students to 5 406 non-NSFAS students = 7 596 students placed in campus accommodation as at 31 March 2022.
Tshwane University of Technology	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 80% and 20% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 7 248 (7 248 are TUT owned and 5 798 of these occupied by NSFAS funded students and 1 450 by non-NSFAS students). A further 4 766 beds are in University leased accommodation and occupied specifically by NSFAS funded students: 98.8% versus 1.2%).  (b) Spaces available in University owned accommodation is not reserved for NSFAS students. All applicants, whether self-funded or NSFAS-funded may register on a first-come-first-served basis. TUT also has 9 781 beds in accredited accommodation and all 9 781 beds are fully occupied by NSFAS funded students.
Vaal University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 78% and 22% for non-NSFAS	(a) Total number of beds is 4 731 (currently 4 088 beds are occupied and 643 under renovation). (b) 90% reserved for NSFAS funded students.
University of Venda	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 81% and 19 for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 9 776 (3 317 on campus University owned and 6 459 beds off-campus accredited residences).  (b) We do not reserve accommodation for NSFAS students, however we are aware that about 75% of our students are NSFAS funded.
Walter Sisulu University	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 95% and 5% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 21 000 (5000 WSU owned and 16 100 leased). (b) Total beds for NSFAS funded students 18 854.
University of the Western Cape	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 70% and 30% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 3302. (b) 75% occupied spaces on residences for NSFAS students.
University of the Witwatersrand	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 55.2% and 44.8% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 6 508 for university owned and leased (3 596 occupied by NSFAS funded students). (b) Wits does not reserve beds specifically for NSFAS-funded students. All NSFAS-funded students who apply for Wits accommodation and meet requirements get assistance. (Wits reserves through policy 50% (47% in 2022) of all residence beds for first year students).
University of Zululand	Ratio of NSFAS funded students is 78.7% and 21.3% for non-NSFAS students.	(a) Total number of beds is 5 324 (4 195 occupied by NSFAS funded students and non-NSFAS 1129) (b) The beds are generally reserved for funded students, so the non-NSFAS would be mainly for students funded by other funders.

Reply:

The CSIR showcases its services and capabilities through various communication platforms, targeting multiple stakeholders, including the public sector, state-owned enterprises, the private sector, not-for-profit organizations and international entities.

With the support of the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), the CSIR carries out the following awareness-raising activities:

• Open/technology demonstration days – The CSIR open days showcase the CSIR's infrastructure, its people, skills, technologies, innovations and capabilities.
• Site visits and tours – The CSIR regularly hosts South African and international delegations from the public and private sectors to raise awareness of its capabilities and share information and knowledge.
• Biennial conference – The CSIR will be hosting its 8th biennial conference in October 2022. The conference objectives include sharing the organization’s progress, breakthroughs and impact in research, development and innovation, and illustrating how the CSIR can help them industries strengthen their offerings and their overall competitive edge.
• Mass media campaigns – The CSIR implements mass media campaigns. The current campaign, called "Did You Know?", aims to familiarize stakeholders with some of the technologies that the CSIR has developed.
• Career days – These events target grade 10 to 12 learners from rural schools. CSIR scientists and researchers showcase their work and share experiences with learners. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, career days were hosted at CSIR campuses across the country and at schools.
• General media engagements – There are general engagements with the media to communicate developments in research and opportunities that are available, such CSIR technologies that are open for commercialization.
• Exhibitions/trade fairs – The CSIR raises awareness of its services and capabilities at events such as Science Forum South Africa, the Innovation Bridge, BioAfrica, the Manufacturing Indaba, the Mining Indaba, the Digital Indaba and Africa Tech Week, among others.
• Public outreach – With the support of the South African Agency for Science and Technological Advancement, which falls under the National Research Foundation, an entity of the DSI, the CSIR participates in public outreach programmes, including visiting schools and exhibiting at science festivals to promote the public understanding of science.

Furthermore, in the past three years, the CSIR has ring-fenced some of the Industry Innovation Partnership funding received from the DSI to raise its profile and inform small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) about its activities and offerings, including the following:

• CSIR business development managers facilitate engagements with industry to discuss CSIR offerings that might be of value to their enterprise and supply chain development sections.
• Articles about SMMEs that the CSIR has supported are published and radio interviews are arranged. These emphasize that the SMMEs have received support from CSIR industry-facing centers.
• The CSIR facilitates tours of its facilities to raise awareness of products developed for SMMEs, the infrastructure on offer, and the expert scientists and engineers who work with SMMEs.

Reply:

The answer is based on some of the DSI’s initiatives and surveys namely: Sector Innovation Fund (SIF), Agricultural Bio-economy Innovation Partnership Programme (ABIPP), R&D Tax Incentive, Business Innovation Survey (2014-2016) and Agricultural Business Innovation Survey (2016-2018).

Sector Innovation Fund (SIF) and Agriculture Bioeconomy Innovation Partnership Programme (ABIPP)

(a) What contribution had the private sector made towards innovation in the Republic in the past two years,

In terms of the Sector Innovation Fund (SIF) programme which is one of the DSI’s initiatives aimed at encouraging the private sector to increase its investment into research, development and innovation. The pilot phase of the SIF programme was implemented in 2014/15, with the second 4-year phase commencing in 2018/19, and the supported sectors were selected through calls for proposals processes.

The SIF programme targets organized industry associations, which the DSI partners with to implement RDI programmes that are aimed at meeting the industries’ competitiveness challenges. These challenges range from the need to develop high-end skills; to the need to identify alternative pest and disease control methods and mechanisms to retain (or develop) new export markets; to working towards a circular economy; to improving operational efficiencies, to dealing with global change and other environmental issues. The partnerships are co-funding arrangements in which the industry partners match the DSI’s funding contribution into each SIF. Total investment by DSI is about R182 million, from 2014 to last financial year and from Industry is about R108million.

The previous financial year, the DST has implemented six multi-stakeholder programmes in the agriculture sector, through its instrument, the Agriculture Bioeconomy Innovation Partnership Programme (ABIPP), and in partnership with the private sector. A total of R73, 375 728.00 has been leveraged from private sector and includes funding from the Grains and oilseeds industries (Grain SA, Winter cereal trust, South African Cultivar and Technology Agency, Maize Trust, Sasol Trust, Oil and Protein Seed Development Trust (OPDT)), Red Meat (RMIRA), and Technology Innovation Agency.  For all other partners there are in-kind contributions by virtue of involvement in other aspects of the project, inputs, knowledge transfer etc

(b) What projects are the most noteworthy in this regard,

There are more than 100 projects across the different SIF programmes, but the outputs and outcomes of a number of these have been instrumental in contributing to the relevant sectors maintaining or improving their competitiveness. Examples include an online phytosanitary certification tool that has enabled the citrus and other horticultural sectors to access and retain export markets; alternative pest and disease control mechanisms that allowed the citrus industry to overcome the EU’s Citrus Black Spot barriers to entry; new packaging and transportation protocols and methodologies that contributed to significant cost savings; plantation management systems that assisted emerging forestry growers and processers to improve their operational efficiencies.

The following is the partnership and the programme under ABIPP:

1. The Strategic Innovation Partnership for Grain and Oilseeds which is a partnership between Grain South Africa (Grain SA), DSI and TIA. They are many government and industry partners in the projects and many co-funders involved. Of the four projects currently under implementation, the Wheat Breeding Platform aims to provide industry with access to improved genetics and higher-yielding, locally adapted wheat germplasm to enhance the sustainability of the local wheat industry and improve South Africa’s self-sufficiency. In the previous financial year, 200 genotypes were identified for distribution and were sent to the collaborating programmes of private companies Syngenta, Corteva and Agricultural Research Council (ARC)-Small Grains. Two cultivars were selected by industry for commercialization. Of these two, one has been submitted for registration with the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act.
2. Soybean Food and Nutrition Development Programme. The programme is a partnership between TIA and Oil and Protein Seeds Trust (OPDT). The projects include the assistance of black emerging farmers to plant soybean and grow into commercial farmers (growing from subsistence, emerging, small scale and commercial).
3. Red Meat Sustainability Programme. The programme is a partnership between TIA and Red Meat Industry Research Association (RMIRA) with the aim of supporting innovations in the red meat industry to contribute to the development of the industry. Under this programme, two projects are currently underway; the “Precision farming of feedlot cattle to enhance animal welfare, health and production” and the “Evaluation of small holder pig production systems in the Cape Metropole District of the Western Cape province in South Africa”.

(c) In which sectors of the economy has the private sector contribution been instrumental

There have been seven SIF programmes in the following sectors: horticulture (post-harvest innovation), citrus, minerals processing, forestry, paper manufacturing, wine and sugar milling. And there are six ABIPP partnership programmes currently contribute in the following agricultural sectors: 1) Wheat, 2) Maize, 3) Soybean, 4) Cotton, 5) Red meat, 6) Potato, 7) Canola, and 8) Cassava

(d) How have the specified projects advanced the development agenda of the Republic

The SIF programme has contributed to high end, industry-relevant, skills development, through supporting at least 438 students and interns from its inception up to the end of December 2021, with just under 8% of these having already become employed as a result of the support. There have also been at least 66 knowledge products that have been produced, at least half of which has been transferred to industry partners, including small or emerging players. About 51% of the students supported are female (with about 27% being Black females), and about 55% of the students are Black. The DSI’s investments also had a huge leveraging impact as it attracted more funding from the private sector.

With regards to wheat, our local sector produces only approximately half of the wheat that South Africans consume and the remaining gap is met through imports.  Initiatives to increase production will therefore reduce the balance of payments for wheat imports.

R&D Tax Incentive

The R&D tax incentive does not address “innovation” per se, but is rather focused on systematic investigative or systematic experimental activities of which the results are uncertain, which activities may be a smaller part of “innovation”. Data is not captured by the DSI on annual contributions of the private sector to R&D, but rather on expected costs of proposed projects over the life of such projects. Also, due to secrecy restrictions of the Income Tax Act, no information on particular projects can be provided.

What is available are values for tax revenue foregone due to participation of taxpayers in the R&D tax incentive (as published in the Budget Review of 2022) which indicated the following impact: Tax revenue foregone for 2016/17 – R234 million; 2017/18 – R266 million, 2018/19 – R279 million and 2019/20 – R199 million.

The above can be translated to the R&D tax expenditure of tax payers that participated in the programme during the particular years.

R&D supported by section 11D R&D tax incentive

2016/17 – R1,68 billion, 2017/18 – R1,9 billion, 2018/19 – R2 billion and 2019/20 – R1,42 billion

The budget review also indicated that roughly half of the total R&D tax expenditure has supported the manufacturing sector over this period.

The large share of support directed towards manufacturing, and to a lesser extent to the agricultural sector, shows that this incentive encourages R&D within sectors that are important for creating jobs.

An average of 291 taxpayers received the benefit of the R&D tax incentive for the first three fiscal years presented (the latest year has a low level of assessment). Of these, 101 taxpayers are from the manufacturing sector; 68 from the financial intermediation, insurance, real estate and business services sector; and 50 from the agricultural sector.

Business Innovation Survey (2014-2016)

The Business Innovation Survey provides key indicators on business sector innovation performance and the understanding of the business sector’s perceptions of the barriers to innovation, which provides essential evidence to promote innovation, going forward. The measurement of innovation is an invaluable opportunity to pause and reflect on where South Africa’s innovation strengths and challenges lie. The BIS indicators are considered among the best for measuring innovation processes, as they directly ask firms, the ‘performers’ of innovation, whether they engage in innovation activities (e.g. by performing R&D, buying advanced machinery used for, or training personnel involved in, the development of new products or processes), whether they introduce specific innovations (product, process, marketing or organizational).

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

Innovation was pervasive across all sectors, but especially in engineering and tech, manufacturing, and trade.

• More than two thirds (69.9%) of South African businesses were innovation-active. They took some scientific, technological, organisational, financial, or commercial steps, duringn2014-2016, towards the implementation of an innovation.
• Innovative South African businesses engaged in the four types of innovation measured in almost equal shares: product innovation (48.2%), organisational innovation (42.0%), marketing innovation (41.7%), and process innovation (34.6%).
• The engineering and tech, manufacturing, and trade sectors reported the greatest concentrations of innovation in 2014-2016.

South African businesses invested in innovation activities that helped them—and their workforces—to prepare for technological and organisational change.

• South African businesses geared for technological change by training their workforces and investing in new information technology. The business innovation activities reported by the largest share of companies were training (59.3%), acquisition of computer software (58.3%), and acquisition of computer hardware (57.2%).
• For both the industrial and services sectors, the biggest-ticket innovation expenditure item during 2014-2016 was the acquisition of machinery and equipment.

More innovation-active South African businesses accessed national and global markets than their counterparts with no innovation activity.

• Businesses with innovation activity were more likely to have sold their goods and services on national markets (58.1%), when compared to non-innovation-active businesses (37.7%). More non-innovation active firms accessed selected provincial markets (57.4%) than any other market.
• In addition, more innovation-active businesses accessed global markets, including
• Markets in the rest of Africa, Europe, Asia, and other countries, than non-innovation-active businesses.

Quality improvement was the top-rated innovation outcome for innovation-active businesses.

• Improved quality of goods and services was considered by 38.0% of product and process innovators as a highly successful outcome of innovation, followed by increased revenue (31.8%) and improved profit margins (30.9%). Similarly, for 49.5% of organisational innovators, improved quality was the most highly rated innovation outcome.
• Improved health and safety (27.0%) or reduction in environmental impacts (23.3%) were reported by a significant number of product and process innovators when compared to financial or quality outcomes.
• Entering new export markets or increased export market share as a highly successful innovation outcome was reported by only 7.5% of product and process innovators.

innovation was not a widely connected phenomenon.

• Only about one-fifth (20.8%) of innovation-active businesses reported collaboration activities as part of the development of their innovations. The five most widely reported reasons to collaborate were accessing information, accessing R&D, accessing expertise, cost sharing, and accessing new markets.

• 2014-2016: private research institutes and government research institutes were sources of information for only 7.8% and 7.4% of innovative businesses respectively, while universities and higher education institutions were used as a source of information by only 2.8% of innovative businesses.

major obstacles to innovation included mostly financial but also some market factors.

4

• Barriers that innovation-active businesses identified as most important concerned financial and market factors. Eight widely reported obstacles included lack of funds from within
• the business or business group (31.5%) or from external sources (25.0%); the excessive cost of innovation (22.5%); lack of credit or private equity (24.8%); difficulty in accessing government grants (21.5%); uncertainty about demand for innovations (19.3); market competition (16.4%); and lack of customer demand (8.6%).
• For non-innovation-active businesses, the most widely reported barrier to innovation was a lack of demand for innovations (20%).

Agricultural Business Innovation Survey (2016-2018)

Agricultural Business Innovation survey measures the scale, nature and outcomes of innovation in South African agribusinesses in order to provide evidence required to inform decision-making and policy. The results of Agricultural Business Innovation Survey can aid policy actors in improving existing instruments and funding mechanisms to enhance current and desired forms of innovation in South African agribusinesses as a whole, and within specific subsectors.

SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS

• 1. During the period 2016 to 2018, 62.0% South African agricultural enterprises were innovation active. These are enterprises that engaged in any form of innovation activity. So, about 38.0% of the enterprises did not engage in any innovation activity. Innovation activities are many and can comprise combinations of
  2. The data shows that the agricultural sector is changing and firms are investing in a wide range of innovation activities to help them adapt and prepare for the future. The survey results indicate that South African agricultural enterprises were most likely to be investing in training (65.4%) their employees to help them adapt to new processes and technologies that are transforming the agricultural sector. Enterprises were also investing in the acquisition of machinery and equipment (57.2%), as well as acquisition of computer software (49.2%). In addition, a significant proportion of agricultural firms were investing in intra-mural R&D (48%) and extramural R&D (44%).
  3. Most technological innovations in agricultural enterprises are incremental and new to the firm or market. The data indicates that almost 50% of all product innovators developed products that were new to their firms, followed by 49.5% of product innovators who indicated that they developed innovations that were new to the market, and a smaller proportion, 13.7%, reported innovations that were new to the world.
  4. Firms were provided with a list of possible answers to indicate the outcomes they derived from their innovations. These were grouped into categories and included some shorter and longer-term effects. There were multiple outcomes of innovation, and these reflect the different types of innovations implemented by firms. The top three outcomes reported as highly successful by the highest proportion of innovation-active enterprises were improvement in soil fertility (23.1%), followed by increased variety of crops/species/animals (20.2%), followed by development of new intellectual property (IP) (18.4%).
  5. The share of businesses that were innovation-active in the farming and fisheries sub-sectors was larger than it was for the entire agricultural sector, while a smaller share of forestry businesses was innovation-active than the entire agricultural sector, with process innovation more frequently reported by those who do innovate.

Reply:

Departmental plan to ensure that young persons are ready for the new world and the Republic does not fall further on global scale

On 7 June 2019 the then Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, appointed a

Ministerial Task Team on the Implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for Post-School

Education and Training (4IRMTT) (Government Notice No 839 of 2019) to advise on how the Department should respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by the 4IR.

The purpose of the MTT was to investigate the capacity of the PSET system to: contribute to the 4IR; provide / produce skills that are in line with the needs of the 4IR (building capacity for functioning in the 4IR); and embrace the affordances of the 4IR. The MTT Report has since been presented to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, currently two departments within the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation are working together on the implementation of the recommendations arising out of the Ministerial Task Team on Fourth Industrial Revolution for Post-School Education and Training. However, the Department of Higher

Education and Training has been implementing the following initiatives related to the Fourth Industrial Revolution:

1. DHET Partnership with CISCO and HUAWEI - The DHET has partnered with CISCO and HUAWEI to support, in the updating of existing curriculum to align with industry demands in the digital skills area. Under Cisco agreement, at least 300 lecturers are being trained at all 50 TVET Colleges to upgrade their skills in ICT related NC(V) qualifications; under the Huawei agreement, lecturers at 32 TVET colleges are being trained to support the introduction of subjects such as Routing & Switching, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, WLAN, and Security and Cloud Computing.
2. Occupational Programmes aligned to priority sectors of the ERRP - Colleges are also identifying Occupational Programmes that will be introduced for purposes of aligning to the priority sectors as stipulated in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan (ERRP) in Partnership with Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and INDLELA. These will be supported through funding from SETAs and/or the National Skills Fund, guided by research undertaken through the Labour Market Intelligence Partnership (LMIP) and Sector Skills Plans (SPPs), which has highlighted the growing demand for digital and ICT skills across a variety of job roles.
3. Demand led skilling model for the Global Business Services and ICT industries - With support from the Presidential Employment Stimulus to the tune of R100 million, the National Skills Fund is managing the roll out of a demand led skilling model for the Global Business Services and ICT industries. This initiative is expected to be expanded in future years through insourcing funding from other public and private sector funders.
4. Approval and accreditation of programmes - One of the provisions of the ERRP Skills Strategy is to ensure expanded access to short programmes and full qualification required for the economic growth of South Africa. This also demands that quality councils introduce greater flexibility in their approval processes to ensure faster turnaround for timely approval and accreditation of programmes to respond to changes and innovations in ICT related fields, among others.
5. Expanded university enrolments - The university enrolment planning process enables institutions to collectively achieve the goals for the system within the context of system parameters and the government’s priorities. The Department has commenced with its midterm review of the approved 2020 – 2025 university enrolment plans, which will cover the 2023 – 2025 academic years. The review will provide a national picture of enrolments, average annual growth, graduates and further information on national imperatives and priorities for all higher education institutions. This process will culminate in a revised Ministerial Statement on Student Enrolment Planning for the period 2023 – 2025 to ensure that the country can achieve its objectives for expanding university enrolments within a sustainable financial framework.

Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) priority skills related to 4IR:

Some SETAs, in their Sector Skills Plans (SPPs) have identified Fourth Industrial Revolution occupations as part of their priority skills, such as:

1. Agriculture Sector Education and Training Authority (AgriSETA)

1.1 As a key change driver 4IR was utilized as a vehicle to prioritize the following occupations in the sector: Industrial Mechanician, Planning Managers (Manufacturing), Processing Unit Managers, Plant Managers (Manufacturing), Engineering Managers,

Agricultural Engineering Technicians, Agricultural Product Processing Engineering

Technologists, Crop Production Mechanization Engineering Technologists, Environmental Protection Professionals and Conservation Scientists. These occupations are directly linked to 4IR where the integration of various technologies assist farmers in increasing efficiencies. The Occupations listed above form part of AgriSETA’ s priority occupations and are prioritised in the 2022/23 financial year through funding of bursaries, Graduate Placement and Learnerships.

2. Banking Sector Education and Training Authority (BANKSETA):

2.1 The SETA developed occupational qualifications on three levels to be registered with the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations to address the growing need for formal qualifications related to Cyber Security.

2.2 The SETA allocated funds to re-skill and or upskill employees whose roles may be impacted by automation, artificial intelligence, and the increased need for data analytics.

2.3 There is dedicated funding allocated to IT related skills and some of the programmes funded include Data Management, Cobit 5 and Analysing Data.

2.4 Programmes for unemployed youth on the Kuyasa Learnership include modules in Microsoft Azure Fundamentals, Designing and Implementing a Data Science Solution on Azure, Microsoft Azure Artificial Intelligence Fundamentals, and Designing and Implementing an Artificial Intelligence Azure Solution.

2.5 A training programme in Cyber Security was implemented and recently the SETA also started to train high school students on skills for the future which include Coding, software programming and data science.

3. Construction Sector Education and Training Authority (CETA)

3.1 The SETA in response to changing world and technologies in the context of 4IR revised its Sector Skills Plan (SSP) to address issues of green technologies and 4IR skills including use robotics and drones in the sector. Emerging skills in this regard are highlighted. The SETA is also planning to review its training material across the board to speak to contemporary skills and innovations in line with the 4IR.

4. The Chemical Industries Education and Training Authority (CHIETA)

4.1 The impact of 4IR on the chemicals industry is seeing increasing use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), use of computer systems to perform tasks that would require human intelligence and the following are focal areas in CHIETA Strategic and Performance Planning Process and inter alia also focusing on the youth and rural learners.

4.2 The SETA is currently exploring 4IR opportunities and planning to open CHIETA Innovation Hub by 2025. The Innovation Hub would be dedicated to supporting the growth of very early-stage technology-based businesses in the South African chemicals industry. Learning and digitization of skills development through the virtual/simulated coded welding programme. Various new economy 4IR skill demands on the industry to be supported through the CHIETA Annual Performance Plan (APP).

4.3 As part of Research capacity building for students from previously disadvantaged institutions, the SETA funded the Vaal University of Technology to develop master’s students, through the development of a chitosan membrane for electricity production project, which will be utilised to develop fossil batteries for electric cars and capacitate the students with fourth industrial revolution skills. The University will be working with Pet Industrial, using their facilities for membrane Development.

4.4 Infusing the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) simulated training to extend the reach of CHIETA services and add greater value to learners. Digital training ecosystems.

5. Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA)

5.1 The 4IR Project(s) currently supported by the SETA and nature of support or objectives of the project: Influence of Emerging Technologies and Artificial Intelligence Skills in the Sector. This Research Project is to ensure that the EWSETA has relevant, up-to date data and information with respect to the influence of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence skills in the energy and water sector; and the 4IR Aquatech Accelerator is a sector specific programme that seeks to fast-track sustainable solutions for Africa’s water-energy-food nexus challenges, this is a mentorship driven programme that is designed to identify, develop, support, fund, and up-scale a new generation of 4IR enabled solutions.

5.2 The SETA has partnered with MTN in their Annual MTN APPS Award where it will be leading the development of an Energy and Water Education APP which provides young people the opportunity to not only apply their 4IR skills in developing the APP, but also in interacting and using the winning APP.

5.3 In SETA career guidance interventions, the SETA will start to embed 4IR skills and careers within the energy and water sector, into the awareness and communication roadshows for example: drone technology (used widely in the renewable energy sector).

5.4 The Energy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA) has partnered with the 4IR-AquaTech Business Accelerator programme, which aims to capacitate young entrepreneurs with skills through a 6-month mentorship programme designed to identify, develop support, fund and upscale a new generation of 4IR enabled solutions to address the Eastern Cape Province’s pressing food-energy-water nexus challenges. The programme kicked off in June 2021 with a 4IR Aqua-Tech sociotechnical debate and hackathon to focus on the Eastern Cape water crisis.

6. Education, Training & Development Practices Sector Education Training Authority (ETDPSETA)

6.1 The ETDP SETA is supporting its Stakeholders, Constituencies, and the Unemployed persons in acquiring skills in 41R. The following are a few of the programmes implemented:

6.1.1 Unemployed persons: currently 250 unemployed young people have registered with the university of Johannesburg and Southwest College on digital skills programmes, namely, Artificial Intelligence and Computer Programming.

6.1.2 41R Research Chair - the ETDPSETA has partnered with the University of Johannesburg and established a research chair on 41R. The research looked at the processes of programme implementation at identified TVET Colleges, systems, and processes on how to automate TVET systems for effectiveness and incorporation of 41R principles and programmes. The research recommendations were distributed to the TVET colleges for 41R implementation.

6.1.3 41R Centres of Excellence in TVET Colleges - 10 TVET Colleges have received financial support to establish 41R mini laboratories and encouraged to work with the relevant industries for the delivery of programmes. Each TVET has been allocated an initial amount of R4m to commence with the project;

6.1.4 Support for Community Education and Training Colleges (CETs) - an amount of R5.4 has been set aside to support CETs to establish digital learning platforms to benefit students and lecturers;

6.1.5 Department of Basic Education - ETDPSETA has provided financial support to DBE to improve teaching and learning. A TV Channel has been established through this support. Several initiatives are in place to digitise teaching and learning which include training of teachers in coding, robotics and ICT Integration into teaching and learning.

6.1.6 Provision of Laptops and data to the unemployed young people - all unemployed beneficiaries that are supported by the ETDPSETA receive a laptop

and data in addition to the stipends- bursaries, internships, cooperatives development and learnerships and skills programmes.

7. Food & Beverages Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority (FOODBEV)

7.1 FoodBev SETA held a capacitation workshop in February 2022 with the Theme: Expanding Access to Quality Skills Development programmes in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution for the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector. The aim of the workshop was to capacitate our stakeholders with technological skills needed in the Food and Beverages Manufacturing Sector.

7.2 The SETA is involved in training and upskilling/reskilling of 200 SMEs on the digital world of small businesses in the sector.

7.3 The SETA is funding towards 10 PhD and 40 Masters Research and Innovation bursaries which respond to 4IR needs in the sector.

8. Fibre Processing & Manufacturing Sector Education and Training Authority (FP &M SETA)

8.1 The SETA has reviewed occupational qualifications to be registered with Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) ensuring that 4IR skills focusing on digitization and innovation are incorporated in the updated occupational curricula.

8.2 The FP&M SETA has implemented a number of technical & innovative projects in partnership with FP&M SETA employer associations and large employers to address Business Economic Recovery and Reconstruction (ERRP) e.g., National Bargaining Council for Clothing Industries, Printing South Africa, Forestry South Africa, Celrose Clothing, TVET SA and Prestige Clothing to upskill employees. Learnerships & skills programmes focused on automation, digitising design (CAD & CAM) and preproduction processes, use of artificial intelligence, use of additive manufacturing, robotics and coding, entrepreneurship and business coaching and mentoring.

8.3 The FP&M SETA has prioritized Economic Recovery and Reconstruction (ERRP) promoting sector growth, employment retention and sustainability.

8.4 The FP&M SETA funded workshops, skills summit and conferences to support promotion and advocacy of 4IR skills and skills for the digital economy for employees e.g. FP&M SETA Skills Summit - Future Perfect Digital and Innovation skills for business recovery and reconstruction, IPM Conference.

8.5 As per Annual Performance Plan 2022/23, targets were increased for occupational programmes to reskill and upskill workers for job sustainability.

8.6 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) promotes upskilling of workers facing possible retrenchment, in entrepreneurship, 4IR skills and business coaching and mentoring.

8.7 4IR skills incorporated into FP&M SETA priority skills to be promoted in FP&M sector - robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, big data specialists, analytics, Internet of Things, Block Chain, Automation, augmented reality, cyber security, data analysis and cloud computing.

9. Financial and Accounting Services Sector Education and Training Authority (FASSET)

9.1 The SETA has introduced an indicator in the Annual Performance Plan for 2022/2023

to do digital skills trainings for unemployed youth. The Sector Skills Plan for the sector identified some Information and Communication Technology skills like software development, systems administration. The response from FASSET was to pilot a digital skills programme where FASSET has developed two initiatives: the SETA adopted Microsoft Power Apps as a platform of choice because of the dominance of Microsoft in the desktop space. The platform was also selected because of the low-code requirement and the SETA has allocated around R5m to train 500 leaners in the following areas: Microsoft Office, Microsoft Digital Literacy, Microsoft Digital Literacy for Windows, Microsoft Planner, Microsoft data analytics, Microsoft Power BI, Analysing Data with Power BI.

10. Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSETA)

10.1 To facilitate effective workplace training and to adequately prepare students with tools to deal with the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” in line with the requirements of the health and welfare sector, the HWSETA in its funding interventions includes special funding that prepares students adequately for the new workplaces.

10.2 To prepare students for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the HWSETA incorporates some technical and work readiness skills into the funding model. These include: Work readiness: Resume writing, self-presentation, time management, professionalism, and work etiquette and Technical Skills: Technology-based skills (Beginner, Intermediate or advanced computer programmes). Information technology students/ graduates are funded for coding or computer programming short programmes. These are applying to both employed and unemployed workers.

11. Media Information and Communication Technologies SETA (MICTSETA)

11.1 The MICT SETA has developed an Integrated Digital Skills Strategy (IDSS). This Strategy sets out a structured series of initiatives intended to contribute to the capacities of South Africans to meet the skills gap challenges arising from the increasing deployment and adoption of 4 IR technologies and the impact of these on the world of work, education and broader society.

11.2 To ensure that the South Africa especially the ICT Sector does not fall behind, the implementation of the Integrated Development Strategy has achieved the following:

• Developed a total of 28 4IR qualifications inclusive of full and part qualifications.
• Some of the qualifications have already been submitted to SAQA for final approval;
• Developed qualifications and submitted to QCTO for verification and recommendations to SAQA;
• Qualifications currently under development; and
• Established 4IR Research Chairs in Public Universities.

12. Manufacturing Engineering & Related Services Education and Training Authority (MERSETA)

12.1 The SETA is involved in a number of experiential learning and skills for 4th Industrial Revolution, with various universities such as: Cape Peninsula University of

Technology, Central University of Technology, Durban University of Technology, Mangosuthu University of Technology, Nelson Mandela University, North-West University, Rhodes University, Tshwane University of Technology, University of Cape Town, University of The Free State, University of the Western Cape, Vaal University of Technology; and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges such as: Vuselela TVET College, Boland TVET College, College of Cape Town, East Cape Midlands TVET College, Ehlanzeni TVET College, Ekurhuleni East TVET College, False Bay TVET College, Vhembe TVET College, Ekurhuleni West TVET College and False Bay TVET College.

13. Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA)

13.1 The PSETA has partnered with Microsoft South Africa to provide digital skills programmes to public sector employees. The online platform, Batho Pele Digital Skills enabled by Microsoft Community Training, gives public servants free access to learning content ranging from entry-level digital literacy skills to advanced skills for technical roles. The programmes on the platform are available to the entire public sector, from local, provincial, and national government to the legislative sector, public entities and state-owned entities. The courses offered are basic digital skills and digital literacy and Microsoft office programmes used in the workplace.

13.2 For the unemployed the PSETA has partnered with Microsoft South Africa and its implementing partner Afrika Tikkun Services on the Global Skills Initiative South Africa (GSISA) in rolling out digital skills across the country. PSETA is a strategic partner to the project and supports unemployed learners to access this opportunity and promote the initiative through its networks to ensure that as many unemployed learners as possible have free access to the best resources, to improve knowledge and capabilities.

PSETA has allocated per province a minimum of 2 000 spaces for unemployed South African citizens to participate in this programme.

14. Safety and Security Education and Training Authority (SASSETA)

14.1 For the current workforce, SASSETA offers drone pilot training to the private security and policing subsectors; and electronic case and evidence management (court online, and caselines) training to the Justice and Legal Services subsectors.

14.2 For unemployed youth, SASSETA has awarded R15 million in bursaries to Universities South Africa to assist with the historical debt of students so that they can graduate and enter the economy; and R3 million to the University of the Witwatersrand to assist with the registration of new students. The target for both interventions is ‘missing middle’ students who are studying in the 4IR fields that are relevant to SASSETA and in terms of the Occupations listed in the Economic Reconstruction and Recovery Plan. Examples of this are ICT Systems Analyst; ICT Security Specialists and Computer

Network and Systems Engineers; Software Developer, Programmer Analyst, Developer Programme, and ICT Project Manager.

15. Transport Education and Training Authority (TETA).

15.1 To understand the Transport Sector’s 4IR skills needs and occupations that are affected by the emerging technology and might require re-skilling and upskilling; TETA has commissioned a research study on the Impact of 4IR on the sector. The research study is aimed at identifying 4IR skills sets for all 8 sub-sectors in the transport sector. To ensure that the transport sector workforce is upskilled and reskilled; and that the unemployed receive training that will increase their employability, partnerships will be formed with institutions in the post school system to include the 4IR skills and occupations in curriculum. TETA entered a partnership with Stellenbosch University and Tshwane University of Technology to develop training programmes that will address the 4IR skills needs in the industry. Part of these projects include training the employed in the industry and unemployed on the developed 4IR training programmes.

The TETA is also funding projects to provide training for drone pilots to respond to the need of drones across all sectors of the economy.

15.2 The SETA is also funding unemployed learners on drone pilot training.

16. Wholesale and Retail Sector Education and Training Authority (W &RSETA)

16.1 In line with the Annual Performance Plan (APP), the W&RSETA is providing bursaries to the unemployed youth within the sector in the following 4th IR related occupations: Software Developer; Business Analysts and Computer network engineer; Systems engineer; Data Analyst; System Architect; Data Scientist; Programming; Cyber security, and Mobile Application Designer.

17. Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Services SETA)

17.1 The Services SETA conducted research studies to understand the impact of 4IR on the services sector workforce. Findings of these have informed the update of the Sector Skills Plan 2022/23 and the Annual Performance Plan 2022/23 targets. To respond to these challenges the Services SETA has prioritised capacity to supply, focused on development of occupational qualifications and short skills programmes to address skills scarcity and to offer the current workforce that may face redundancy due to 4IR second opportunities.

17.2 The following short skills programmes have been finalised and registered with the QCTO: Spatial Intelligence Data Scientist and Advanced Spatial Intelligence Data Scientist.

17.3 The Services SETA Sector Skills Plan 2022/23 prioritises ERRP Skills Strategy with a specific on digital skills (4IR) and the Annual Performance Plan 2022/23 will prioritise these digital skills through short Skills Programmes, Learnerships, Internships and Bursaries among others such as: Data Centre Operations; Data Analysis; Data Science; Internet of Things; Cybersecurity and Digital Marketing. 

Reply:

Organization	What total amount in Rand has been spent on	a) Catering	b) Entertainment	c) Accommodation
Departments of Higher Education and Training and Science and Innovation	(i) Minister	R78 992.35	R56 562.13	R2 010 038.00
	(ii) Deputy Minister	Nil	R2 209.50	R1 210 453.79
	(iii) Departmental Officials	R17 163 787.11	R226 096.59	R53 954 822.98

Kindly note that the expenditure incurred by the Minister and Deputy Minister on these items is for official purpose use only.

Reply:

(1) (a) 11 881 MBChB students (Audited figures for the 2020 academic year)

(b) 9 210 Nursing students (Audited figures for the 2020 academic year)

(2) There are ten universities in South Africa with medical schools with each of these universities having different admission criteria. As competition for places is intense, each university has its own methodology of calculating its admission scores based on a combination of academic criteria, e.g. National Senior Certificate results in compulsory subjects, National Benchmark Tests, etc., and non-academic criteria, e.g. extracurricular activities, measures of disadvantage, personal reports and interviews, etc. 

(3) Universities are required to select their medical students by ensuring equitable and fair access to students from all population groups, whilst ensuring optimal student throughput and success, equity and demographic representivity, and training future healthcare practitioners who can fulfil the needs of society. 

Reply:

(a) and (b) The Department does not collect data on job opportunities linked to qualifications. However, the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) — Quarter 3 of 2021 indicates that only 2.7% of unemployed persons were graduates, while 7.2% had other tertiary qualifications as their highest level of education.

(c) As at 31 December 2021, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) reported that R33.652 billion was paid to new and continuing students registered at public universities.

Reply:

DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND INNOVATION

The department did not have sexual harassment incidents and sexual assault incidents reported for the past three financial years and the period 1 April 2021 to March 2022. The table below provides a response to the questions asked.

QUESTION	3 Financial years
What (a) is the total number of incidents of (i) sexual harassment and (ii) sexual assault that were reported in his department (aa) in each of the past three financial years and (bb) since 1 April 2021	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021 - 2022
(b) Number of cases	0	0	0
(i) Opened and concluded	0	0	0
(ii) Withdrawn	0	0	0
iii) Remain open or pending based on the incidents	0	0	0
(c) Sanctions were meted out against each person who was found guilty?	0	0	0

DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING:

a i) There were 13 sexual harassment cases reported during the period 2018/19 to 2020/21 

  ii) There were no cases of sexual assault that were reported during the period 2018/19 to 2020/21 

(aa) The following breakdown applies in each three past financial years: 

(i) 2018/19: there was one (1) reported case

(ii) 2019/20: there were three (3) reported cases 

(iii) 2020/21: there were nine (9) reported cases 

(bb) Two (2) cases of sexual harassment were reported and there was no case of sexual assault reported since April 2021 

b) Out of a total of 15 misconduct cases opened:

i) A total of 11 cases were concluded

 ii) A total of 2 misconduct cases were withdrawn 

iii) A total of 2 misconduct cases remain open or pending 

c) The following sanctions were meted out against the alleged persons: - 8 sanctions of dismissals were meted, - 1 sanction of a final written warning was meted; - 1 sanction of a 3 months suspension without pay; was meted; and - 1 case was not found guilty.

Reply:

(a) and (b) The Department does not collect data on job opportunities linked to qualifications. However, the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) — Quarter 3 of 2021 indicates that only 2.7% of unemployed persons were graduates, while 7.2% had other tertiary qualifications as their highest level of education.

(c) As at 31 December 2021, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) reported that R33.652 billion was paid to new and continuing students registered at public universities.

Reply:

Answering these questions would require extensive research, as they relate to a period spanning four decades. This is compounded by the unreliability of some of the information, which relates to activities undertaken during the apartheid era. For example, some of the projects that were undertaken during the apartheid era were secret projects that were not properly or fully recorded. Therefore, the information required to answer the questions is not available.

Reply:

Answering these questions would require extensive research, as they relate to a period spanning four decades. This is compounded by the unreliability of some of the information, which relates to activities undertaken during the apartheid era. For example, some of the projects that were undertaken during the apartheid era were secret projects that were not properly or fully recorded. Therefore, the information required to answer the questions is not available.

Reply:

Answering these questions would require extensive research, as they relate to a period spanning four decades. This is compounded by the unreliability of some of the information, which relates to activities undertaken during the apartheid era. For example, some of the projects that were undertaken during the apartheid era were secret projects that were not properly or fully recorded. Therefore, the information required to answer the questions is not available.

Reply:

a) Below is a table explaining the enrolment for TVET colleges up to 2020.  The latest dataset that is published is for the 2020 academic year.  The 2021 numbers cannot be released as they are subject to change and the quality assurance of that dataset for publication the has commenced.

Enrolment into TVET Colleges
2017 (i)	2018 (ii)	2019 (iii)	2020 (iv)	2021 (v)
688 028	657 133	673 490	452277	Not available yet.

b) Throughput is defined as achieving the qualification within the stipulated time.  The only qualification offered at TVET colleges for which throughput can be calculated is the NC(V) qualification which is a 3-year qualification at NQF levels 2-4.  Throughput rate is as enrolment reported retrospectively.  Thus for 2018/19 academic year, it is the 2017 academic year in question.  Students certified in 2017 for NC(V) L4 and were enrolled into NC(V) in L2 in 2015.

Throughput Rate for NC(V) L4
2017 (i)	2018 (ii)	2019 (iii)	2020 (iv)	2021 (v)
53.9%	31.8%	46.8%	Preliminary and to be approved yet.	Not available yet.

Extracted from the departmental APP for 2022-23

c)

Drop-out is understood as a student discontinuing his/her enrolment during the period for which he/she was enrolled.  The detailed drop-out number is attached.  Reasons for drop-out mostly are cited as personal circumstances or socio-economic reasons.

Drop-out Number
2017 (i)	2018 (ii)	2019 (iii)	2020 (iv)	2021 (v)
2979	3346	3314	2536	Not available yet.

Reply:

1. (a) The table below reflects the 2020 HEMIS audited information received from universities.

Institution	(i)  Life and Physical Sciences	(ii)  Health Sciences	(iii)  Engineering	(iv) Computer and Information Technology
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	1 772	2 196	5 591	1 792
University of Cape Town	2 363	4 123	4 037	1 454
Central University of Technology	568	1 163	3 435	2 593
Durban Institute of Technology	647	2 785	5 760	2 903
University of Fort Hare	1 002	790	62	515
University of Free State	3 389	2 406	89	666
University of Johannesburg	3 313	2 715	6 631	1 995
University of KwaZulu-Natal	6 309	6 199	2 431	949
University of Limpopo	3 588	1 557	5	1 070
Nelson Mandela University	1 515	2 000	2 082	2 082
North West University	4 236	2 260	1 769	1 752
University of Pretoria	4 779	7 485	6 948	2 512
Rhodes University	1 181	892	0	388
University of South Africa	14 180	2 354	8 128	11 012
University of Stellenbosch	3 621	4 346	3 917	896
Tshwane University of Technology	2 730	2 387	8 695	6 077
University of Venda	3 168	1 160	142	329
Vaal University of Technology	1 360	533	6 240	1 522
Walter Sisulu University	978	1 633	2 071	2 605
University of Western Cape	3 488	3 011	0	1 093
University of Witwatersrand	4 141	6 805	5 653	1 033
University of Zululand	2 650	358	0	335
Sol Plaatje University, Northern Cape	179	0	65	275
University of Mpumalanga	319	0	10	353
Mangosuthu University of Technology	410	344	5 085	805
Sefako Makgatho Health Science University	1 473	3 816	0	93
Total	73 357	63 314	78 844	47 098

(b) The Department does not collect data on the number of students who find or do not find employment. However, the Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) — Quarter 3 of 2021 indicates that only 2.7% of unemployed persons were graduates, while 7.2% had other tertiary qualifications as their highest level of education.

2. (a) As at 31 December 2021 the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) reported that 533 358 new and continuing students registered at public universities were funded for the 2021 academic year. Audited data for the 2021 academic year will only be available upon finalization of the NSFAS 2022 statutory audit starting in April 2022.

(b) The Department does not collect data on the number of students who pay their own fees.

3. The table below reflects the 2020 HEMIS audited information received from universities.

Institution	International Students
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	1 868
University of Cape Town	5 125
Central University of Technology	484
Durban Institute of Technology	476
University of Fort Hare	475
University of Free State	1 270
University of Johannesburg	4 223
University of KwaZulu-Natal	1 947
University of Limpopo	158
Nelson Mandela University	1 151
North West University	1 797
University of Pretoria	4 206
Rhodes University	1 271
University of South Africa	16 231
University of Stellenbosch	2 888
Tshwane University of Technology	1 438
University of Venda	163
Vaal University of Technology	1 042
Walter Sisulu University	121
University of Western Cape	1 332
University of Witwatersrand	3 648
University of Zululand	117
Sol Plaatje University, Northern Cape	14
University of Mpumalanga	64
Mangosuthu University of Technology	47
Sefako Makgatho Health Science University	131
Total	51 687

Reply:

What is the total (a) percentage and (b) number of students who (i) graduated from community education and training colleges and (ii) completed their Level 4 General Education and Training Certificate for Adult Basic Education and Training qualification in the

(aa) 2017, (24 757) (38.0%)

(bb) 2018, (28 154) (43.5%)

(cc) 2019 (41 638) (77.2%)

(dd) 2020 (22 764) (57.9%)

(ee) 2021 – the data will be available after mop-up (completed investigations, submitted reports to Umalusi and data verified as final data) in July 2022.

Reply:

There has been no demand from the Department of Science and Innovation that South African scientists should not comment on the conflict in Ukraine. The Department has, however, advised the public entities reporting to the DSI, not to comment on the political aspects of the conflict, as these are matters of foreign policy, and it is the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, which is the competent authority to comment on foreign policy for the South African Government.

Reply:

Addressing the occurrence of GBV forms part of integrated Gender Equality functions, under the umbrella of Social Inclusion across the Department of Higher Education and Training (the Department/DHET) (in all branches).  Every branch has unique responsibilities, including:

• Implementation Branches (University Education (UE, TVET, CET and Skills):
  • Create the enabling environment, coordinate, support institutions in the implementation of social inclusion in the PSET system;
  • Manage the institutional policy environment;
  • Manage and support implementation programmes within institutions; and
  • Monitor the implementation of Social Inclusion in institutions.
• Corporate Services Branch:
  • Create the enabling environment, coordinate, and support the DHET in the implementation of social inclusion;
  • Manage the DHET policy environment;
  • Manage and support implementation programmes within the DHET;
  • Monitor the implementation of Social Inclusion in the DHET;
  • Manage all Human Resource related issues within the DHET, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Community Education and Training (CET) colleges; and
  • Report to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) on implementation and Government employees.
• Branch: Planning, Policy and Strategy (through the Directorate: Social Inclusion and Equity):
  • Develop and manage the enabling policy environment (including sector policies, guidelines, standards, protocols and tools) for social inclusion in the PSET system;
  • Support (where needed) implementation branches in the implementation of Social Inclusion and Equity;
  • Collate information from Branches and monitor the implementation of social inclusion policies and programmes in the PSET system;
  • Report on the implementation of social inclusion in the PSET system;
  • Liaise with Chapter 9 institutions, other Departments; and
  • Report on national and international obligations.

The Department has taken the following further steps to assist Post-School Education and Training (PSET) institutions to implement measures to address the occurrence of Gender-based Violence (GBV):

1. Policy Framework to address Gender-based Violence in the Post-School Education and Training System

The Department published the Policy Framework to Address Gender-Based Violence in the Post-School Education and Training System on 17 July 2020 (Government Notice 410 of 2020). The strategic objectives of the Policy Framework are:

• Strategic Objective 1: Enabling Environment

Create an enabling environment in the Department and Post-School Education and Training (PSET) institutions to ensure the effective implementation of the Policy Framework, actions and programmes. These include: regulations, norms, standards, guidelines and standardised procedures; structured engagements with other Government departments, agencies, entities and non-governmental organisations; institutional policies are implemented; as well as accountability, monitoring and evaluation. The Policy Framework not only allows for the participation in and the establishment of national structures and mechanisms intended to enable implementation of PSET institutions’ policies, but also gives a monitoring mechanism to collect and report on relevant and strategic data and information.

• Strategic Objective 2: Prevention and Awareness

Promote the safety of all students and staff by putting in place comprehensive prevention and awareness programmes intended to raise the importance of policies and services addressing Gender-Based Violence (GBV), as well as other measures aimed at preventing incidents of GBV in PSET institutions. PSET institutions are also required to exercise sufficient degrees of control over third parties such as visitors to the university or college, as well as employees of companies contracted to provide some form of service to the institution. The Policy Framework also protects staff and students that are placed in workplaces to complete practical training.

• Strategic Objective 3: Support and Assistance

PSET institutions must provide for comprehensive support and assistance and refer the survivors of GBV appropriately to specialised support and assistance. The support must be in line with the National Instructions, National Directives, List of Designated Health Establishments and Additional Services directives under the Sexual Offences and Related Matters Act (SORMA) (Act 32 of 2007). PSET institutions must therefore ensure that affected parties receive multi-disciplinary support including, where appropriate, support from HIGHER HEALTH, Thuthuzela Care Centres and local health facilities. The Department, HIGHER HEALTH and PSET institutions must provide guidance around the structures, mechanisms and processes that are in place to address GBV in line with national regulatory framework and international obligations. PSET institutions should develop and review internal anti-GBV policies in line with the Policy Framework (July 2020).

It is the responsibility of PSET institutions to implement the Policy Framework at institutional level with the support of the Department and HIGHER HEALTH. The Department supports institutions in implementation, monitors the implementation of the Policy Framework and is finalising the Social inclusion Review and Implementation Model (SI-RIM) that is a mechanism to provide information for reporting purposes.

2. Collaboration with HIGHER HEALTH

HIGHER HEALTH is the implementation arm of the Department to implement a comprehensive and integrated programme promoting health and wellbeing of students across South Africa’s public universities and TVET colleges and provide on-campus support to PSET institutions in 7 priority areas:

 HIGHER HEALTH provides psycho-social support services through two main modalities: (1) through the HIGHER HEALTH toll-free helpline, and (2) through interventions provided by counselling and clinical psychologists. HIGHER HEALTH is also running a comprehensive awareness programme through several focussed campus activities, campus radio programmes and peer support mechanisms.

Between January and October 2021, over 12 000 students accessed the various HIGHER HEALTH models of psychosocial support. Academic stress and anxiety (30%), general stress and substance abuse (22%) depression and suicide (18%) and sexual, physical and emotional abuse (19%) present the main reasons for accessing support care.

HIGHER HEALTH, in collaboration with several Departments (including the Department of Higher Education and Training), experts and institutions developed Institutional Implementation Guidelines and supporting protocols and standards for Institutions to address GBV. HIGHER HEALTH, through the Department has furthermore released a set of instruments that will strengthen the realisation of the Policy Framework. These instruments are directives to all institutions and Management to put the necessary infrastructure towards a comprehensive response on cases of sexual and gender misconduct, rape, sexual assaults across all our campuses. The procedural guidelines and protocols on rape, code of ethics ensure that reporting of cases, disciplinary systems, safeguarding evidence, provision of rape kits, psychosocial support services and survivor friendly infrastructure is developed across campuses.

3. Institutional Programmes

The Department is supporting institutions to develop and implement policies and protocols on GBV.  All universities and TVET Colleges have measures in place to raise awareness, and offer guidance and advice on GBV related matters. These include, but are not limited to:  workshops or presentations during orientation weeks and during various parts of the year for students; roadshows; training; production and dissemination of brochures and other literature for the university community; and information on institutional websites. In addition to these initiatives, a large number of students have completed a curriculum on GBV prevention and mitigation via Higher Health, empowering them with knowledge and understanding of GBV and related matters. Higher Health is the Department’s implementing agency for student health, wellness and development in the post-school sector.

There is a need for a more comprehensive training embedded in institutional policies. The Ministerial Task Team established to advise the Minister and the Department of Higher Education and Training (the Department) on Gender Based Violence and related matters, is exploring the possibility of national standards and principles about what should be included as a minimum in training sessions.

HIGHER HEALTH has set up campus and community radio stations to engage young students routinely on matters related to Sexual and Gender Based Violence and mental health as a matter of priority. There is also HIGHER HEALTH's 24-hour toll-free helpline available in all 11 official languages.  The line offers health, wellness and psychosocial risk assessment toolkits for early screening, empowerment and referral related to gender-based violence, mental health, HIV, TB and other matters.

4. Ministerial Task Team on GBV

Following the release of the Policy Framework and as part of its work, the Ministerial Task Team held a series of engagements with university communities across various institutions.  Amongst others the aim was to establish how universities respond to sexual harassment and gender-based violence and harm, and what support is needed from the Department to enable effective implementation of the Policy Framework.

It has been established that not all universities have sufficient means to deal with GBV, and the Department and HIGHER HEALTH aim to support campuses in addressing the problem. The Ministerial Task Team will advise on areas requiring improvement in institutional responses to gender-based violence and sexual harassment and appropriate levels of support needed for the implementation of the National Policy Framework to address gender-based violence by universities.

The Department plays an oversight role, monitoring institutions to ensure that they take full responsibility for addressing GBV on their campuses.

Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs) are one-stop facilities that have been introduced as a critical part of South Africa’s anti-rape strategy, aiming to reduce secondary victimisation and to build a case ready for successful prosecution. Fifty-one centres have been established since 2006. It is led by the NPA’s Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA), in partnership with various departments and donors as a response to the urgent need for an integrated strategy for prevention, response and support for rape victims.

HIGHER HEALTH is funded by the Department to the tune of R20 million per year.

Including responsibility and compliance, behaviour constituting GBV, investigation and disciplinary process, consequences etc.

Implementing Protocols on Rape and Sexual Assault and Code of Ethics indicating PSET Institution’s commitment to eradicating GBV and Minimum Standards Protocols that support the guidelines. These deals, with campus safety, protection on outreach/field visits, whistleblowing, staff student relationships, alcohol etc.

Minimum standards checklist/s on GBVF that consider different institutional configurations are to be prepared.