Minister of Higher Education and Training on third quarter 2013 performance

Higher Education, Science and Innovation

12 March 2014
Chairperson: Adv I Malale (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

The Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mr Blade Nzimande, with the assistance from DHET head of programmes, briefed the Committee on third quarter performance.

In answer to questions, he noted that the Department has had a turnaround strategy for SETAs since 2009. It was trying to assist the SETAs with the Sector Skills Plans and with improving their financial management among other things. This was beginning to yield some results, however there were still challenges. The Minister had appointed a Ministerial Task Team which was asked to collect information on SETAs. The team has presented its report; at the same time the Human Resources Development Council has established a Technical Task team to review the entire skills system among SETAs. It would be useful if the next administration would be invited to share its report with the Committee. The Human Resource Development Council has asked the Department to look at and respond to some drastic recommendations.  Another matter which the Department has identified was that the number of SETAs was too high; however no decision has been taken in this regard. The Ministerial Task Team made a very important recommendation about “shared services” kind of bodies that could be established for more centralisation, especially for research purposes. This would relieve SETAs of a lot of administrative and research work so that they could focus on their core functions. The current SETAs licence expired in 2016 so by then, the Department would have made decisions on all recommendations for the improvement of the functions.

There were 23 pre-determined targets for the quarter under review; 20 (87%) of the targets were achieved and 3 (13%) targets were not achieved. Programme 1: Administration achieved 6 of the 7 targets allocated to the programme, Programme 2: Planning and Monitoring & Evaluation achieved 2 of the 2 targets. The targets for Programme 3: University Education was annual in nature and would therefore be reported on in the 4th Quarter. Programme 4: Vocational and Continuing Education and Training (VCET) achieved 7 of its 9 targets while Programme 5: Skills Development achieved all 5 targets.

DHET’s expenditure for the period under review was 88.6%. The greater portion of that expenditure went to subsidies to Higher Education Institutions. The average spending for normal operational activities including compensation of employees was 78.1% as opposed to the ideal of 75%. He explained that despite additional funding and the shifting of funds, austerity measures are necessary to contain the fast growing expenditure throughout the Department.

The compensation expenditure stood at 76% by the end of the 3rd quarter. Programme 1 had to date spent 83% of its budget. Programme 2 had spent 70.5%. Programme 3 spent 95.7% . Programme 4 spent 91.9% of its allocation. Programme 5 was allocated spent 72.5% of the budget. Programme 6 Direct Charges, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and the National Skills Fund (NSF) was allocated R 12.3 billion and spent R 8.7 billion (70.9%). In total the DHET was allocated R 41.3 billion and spent 88.6% of this allocation.

Achievements for DHET was the opening of the two new universities  in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, together with the continual strengthening of the institutional capacity of FET Colleges where training was given to teachers, to support the new curriculum. In respect of artisan development, artisan candidates entering learning actually reached 6 683, which was above the planned target of 5 000. The 2013/14 "Decade of the Artisan" was launched as well.

The main concern raised by Members was about private FET colleges which were operating outside the regulations stipulated by the DHET. Noting that 45 of these institutions were considered to be operating illegally and would therefore be de-registered, what would happen to the students who were enrolled at these colleges? Wwhat plans did the DHET have for protection of these learners? What plans did the DHET have for the filling of vacancies within the DHET?

Meeting report

Performance Report by Minister and DHET Heads of Programmes
Minister Blade Nzimande explained that it was on the 8 April 2013 when the DHET tabled its 2013/14 Annual Performance Plan and the 4th Implementation Plan for the 2014/15 strategic period. The DHET was on course for delivering on its strategic goals. There were 23 pre-determined targets for the period ending in December 2013, of these 20 targets were achieved and 3 were not achieved. The senior management of DHET has been working tirelessly under the leadership of the Director-General over the past three quarters to ensure that DHET was on course with target delivery. Some of the key achievements for the quarter under review were the continued focus on the two new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape, Sol Plaatje University was launched on the 19 September 2013 and the University of Mpumalanga on the 31 October 2013. Interim management teams were appointed by the resident councils of both universities including the appointment of personnel for teaching and administration. Refurbishment of existing buildings to accommodate the 2014 academic programmes at both institutions was also undertaken.

The second highlight for DHET was that the institutional capacity of FET Colleges was continually being strengthened, training was given to teachers, to support the new curriculum. In respect of artisan development, the number of artisan candidates entering learning actually reached 6 683, which was above the planned target of 5 000. The 2013/14 "Decade of the Artisan" was launched as well. Critical feedback from the Committee was welcomed.

Mr Qonde Gwebinkundla, Director-General, DHET thanked Minister Nzimande for the introduction and brief background. He explained that there were 23 pre-determined targets for the quarter under review; 20 (87%) of the targets were achieved and 3 (13%) targets were not achieved. Programme 1: Administration achieved 6 of the 7 targets allocated to the programme, Programme 2: Planning and Monitoring & Evaluation achieved 2 of the 2 targets set. The targets for Programme 3: University Education was annual in nature and would therefore be reported on in the 4th Quarter report. Programme 4: Vocational and Continuing Education and Training (VCET) achieved 7 of its 9 targets while Programme 5: Skills Development achieved all of its 5 targets.

Programme 1: Administration
Ms Bolekwa Masidi said the purpose of the programme was to provide overall management and administration for the Department. Some of the main achievements within the programme were:
- 100% compliance to Supply Chain management and logistical policies and standards compliance
- Functional user-friendly and updated  DHET website functional 365 days per year (as planned)
- 5 Issues of electronic newsletter (target was 1 newsletter)
- 100% (All) response to queries via call centre (as planned)
- 6 Exhibitions and public relations events were held (Target was 3)
- 95% compliance with security directives (as planned)

Some of the reasons for the underperformance were that all requests received for payments were processed within 5 days however due to the slow performance of BAS and the volumes of backlog invoices received from the service provider, payments were not in all instances made within 5 days.

Programme 2: Human Resource Development, Planning and Monitoring Coordination
 Mr Firoz Patel, Deputy Director: Planning, DHET, said the purpose of the programme was to provide strategic direction in the development, implementation and monitoring of departmental policies and Human Resource Development Strategy for South Africa. The following targets were achieved:
- 1 Quarterly performance report on the Annual Performance Plan was produced and approved by the Director General (as planned).
- 100% (1) Request for  advice in respect of the implementation of the National Qualification Framework Act was answered within standards approved by the Branch Head (as planned)

Programme 3: University Education
Mr Mahlubi Mabizela, Chief Director: University Policy and Development, DHET, explained that the purpose of the programme was to develop and coordinate policy and regulatory frameworks for an effective university education system and provide financial support to universities, the National Students’ Financial Aid Scheme and National Institutes for Higher Education.

He said there were no specific targets for the quarter. However the following critical processes were implemented during the quarter under review:

The launch of the two new universities were a major focus of the work during the quarter under review. The Interim Councils of both universities appointed their interim management teams during the quarter and processes were finalised to appoint sufficient personnel (teaching and administrative). Refurbishment of existing buildings to accommodate the 2014 academic programmes was undertaken for both institutions

In addition a government gazette requested nominations to the Interim Council and a call for public participation in suggesting a name for the new institution. A joint task team was also set up with Higher Education South Africa (HESA) to finalize the consultative process before the reporting regulations for universities could be published. Transfers to universities and public entities were up to date and by end December 2013, 94.8% of the budget had been transferred to universities, 75% to the Council on Higher Education  (CHE) and 100% to NSFAS. With regards to the Development and Infrastructure Grant, evaluation reports were completed and funds were released to all institutions where reports were satisfactory and all compliance issues were adhered to. A national reference group has also been appointed to evaluate and assess the plans regarding the Teaching Development Grant Policy during the 4th Quarter. Research outputs of universities, including journal articles and books were evaluated. The draft report for the 2012 outputs was finalised for approval.

Programme 4: Vocational and Continuing Education and Training (VCET)
Ms Gerda Magnus said the purpose of the programme was to plan, develop, evaluate, monitor and maintain national policy programmes, assessment practices and systems for vocational and continued education and training. This included Further Education and Training (FET) colleges and post-literacy adult education and training.

Some of the main achievements in this programme were:
- 82 Student Support Services Managers and lecturers were trained to implement the comprehensive student support services framework (Target was 60)
- 202 Lecturers were trained to support curriculum delivery (Target was 150)
- 80 personnel at public FET Colleges were trained in Strategic and Operational Planning (Target was 75)
- 100% Results for all candidates for November 2013 exam cycle released to examination centres on 31 December 2013

In addition the following targets were also achieved despite actual training taking place during the quarter under review:
-Training of Provincial Education Department (PED) officials to support new curriculum delivery (as more officials were trained during the 1st quarter)
-Training of Personnel in public FET Colleges in financial management (as more than a targeted number was trained during the 2nd quarter)

The reasons for the underperformance were that training on and the assessment of the implementation of the Collective Agreement in three provincial Human Resource units was not done. The focus was on finalising additional Collective Agreements that would enhance the migration process. Secondly only 90% (407) of registered private colleges complied with regulations; a process was underway to deregister the remaining 10% (45) non-compliant colleges.

Programme 5: Skills Development
Mr Maliviwe Lumka, Chief Director: Skills Development, DHET, said the purpose of the programme was to promote and monitor the national skills development strategy and to develop a skills policy and a regulatory framework. The main achievements of the programme were that:
- 6 683 artisan candidates entering learning nationally (Target was 5 000)
- 3 493 artisan candidates found competent nationally (Target was 3 000)
- 48% National artisan learners pass rate ((Target was 47%)
- 15 Audits conducted at SETA or Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) accredited trade test centres (Target was 5)
- SETA’s National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) implementation report compiled and approved by the Director- General as planned

Financial information
Mr Theuns Tredoux, Chief Financial Officer, DHET, said expenditure for the period under review was 88.6%. The greater portion of that expenditure went to subsidies to Higher Education Institutions. The average spending for normal operational activities including compensation of employees was 78.1% as opposed to the ideal of 75%. He explained that despite additional funding and the shifting of funds, austerity measures are necessary in order to contain the fast growing expenditure throughout the Department. The compensation budget was at 76% by the end of the 3rd quarter. High spending pressure was as a result of the need for the installation of an Examination IT System which would enable the Department to combine results across examination cycles and years.

The 3rd Quarter expenditure per programme was as follows:
The compensation expenditure stood at 76% by the end of the 3rd quarter. Programme 1 had to date spent 83% of its budget. Programme 2 had spent 70.5%. Programme 3 spent 95.7% . Programme 4 spent 91.9% of its allocation. Programme 5 was allocated spent 72.5% of the budget. Programme 6 Direct Charges, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) and the National Skills Fund (NSF) was allocated R 12.3 billion and spent R 8.7 billion (70.9%). In total the DHET was allocated R 41.3 billion and spent 88.6% of this allocation.

Discussion
Mr S Radebe (ANC) asked what was the deadline for deregistering of private colleges who were not complying with the law?

Mr M Mpontshane (IFP) thanked the Department for the presentation. He noted that at the Imbumbulu Campus of the Coastal FET college, teachers were not going to work on purpose; how was the Department dealing with such administrative challenges?

The Chairperson asked about the Department’s plans to fill the vacant positions within the Department. He said the Committee had a meeting with Higher Education South Africa (HESA) a while back to listen to the progress which the institution had made over the last few years. The report from HESA was very impressive; however all role-players should get together.

Minister Nzimande thanked Members for the questions. The Department has had a turnaround strategy for SETAs since 2009. It was trying to assist the SETAs with the Sector Skills Plans and with improving their financial management among other things. This was beginning to yield some results, however there were still challenges. The Minister had appointed a Ministerial Task Team which was asked to collect information on SETAs. The team has presented its report; at the same time the Human Resources Development Council has established a Technical Task team to review the entire skills system among SETAs. It would be useful if the next administration would be invited to share its report with the Committee. The Human Resource Development Council has asked the Department to look at and respond to some drastic recommendations.

 Another matter which the Department has identified was that the number of SETAs was too high; however no decision has been taken in this regard. More discussion was necessary. The Department did not have yet a properly trained cadre in the sense of foot soldiers such as labour market analysts who understand the sector and could therefore do proper skills training and that can pull together proper research on employment and skills shortages within SETAs. The fact that the Department did not have such a body was a challenge. The Ministerial Task Team also made a very important recommendation that “shared services” kind of bodies could be established for more centralisation, especially for research purposes. This would relieve SETAs of a lot of administrative and research work so that they could focus on their core functions. The current SETAs licence expired in 2016 so by then, the Department would have made decisions on all recommendations for the improvement of the functions.

Minister Nzimande responded to the question on the Coastal FET and said the Department would be paying closer attention to the college to improve its monitoring processes. On the question of filling of vacant posts, he said the Department would prepare a briefing for the Committee which would explain the work of the Department in this regard in more detail. As a broader issue, he said the Department was dealing with the problems at North West University and Free State University. He said the Committee also needed to take a strong interest in these universities. The Department has written a strong letter to the Council of North West University, saying that there was no justification for the Nazi salute being accepted as part of the university culture. This would not only destroy the image of the university but also that of the country’s higher education system, internationally. The outgoing Vice Chancellor had a lot of explaining to do and the university has been very defensive. There were no “Afrikaans” universities in the country, so people should refrain from seeing this as the Department attacking Afrikaans universities within the country. A letter would also be written to the Chair of Council at the Free State University around the continued issues at the institution. He urged the Committee to take an active role in holding the Department accountable about this.

Mr Mpontshane asked that the Department come back and brief the Committee on where austerity measures needed to be applied in order to contain the fast growing expenditure throughout the Department.

Mr Gwebinkundla responded to the question on private colleges and said it was a bit difficult to give an exact date. However the Department was dealing with all these matters at a speedy rate. The matter about private colleges that were not complying with the law needed to be dealt with in accordance with the Promotion of Administration Justice Act. In some cases, there was still litigation in process therefore it would be difficult to give a set timeframe. On Coastal FET, he said the Department had achieved stability in the region. A forensic investigation was underway currently and suspensions have been effected. All processes were being dealt with and teaching and learning had been restored. The FET College was again fully functional.

Mr Mabizela responded and added to the question on private colleges and the lack of accreditation in some and said accreditation was the main function of QCTO.

Mr Radebe asked when QCTO would be fully functional.

Mr Tredoux replied that the measures which the Department needed to put in place to contain growing expenditure were travel and subsistence and all other administration line items of the Department. Due to the increase in enrolments at FET colleges there was an automatic pressure on the examination system, and these increased items such as printing and delivery costs for which DHET had not received any additional funding. The Department has also not received any funding to manage the function shift despite asking for Treasury for the money. The Department has asked for a “top slice” from the Commission Grant so that the Department could better manage these pressures. In addition another pressure was the limitation placed on personnel expenditure, therefore the Department still needed to manage the filling of vacancies. The Department had to be strategic in the prioritizing of which vacancies to fill and which to postpone. The Department so far had spent 99% of its budget.

Mr K Dikobo (AZAPO) thanked the Department for the presentation. He said 45 private colleges were being deregistered by the Department; what would happen to these learners who were admitted, how were the learners being protected?

Dr L Bosman (DA) asked about distance learning. Currently there was no law in the country which protected distance learners. Most of these qualifications were approved by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

Minister Nzimande replied to the question of filling of vacancies and said the challenges faced by the Department were disturbing its capacity to establish functional provincial offices. However it was worth noting that the Department would be receiving 117 posts from provinces; this was personnel from Adult Education and Training and well as FET divisions in the provinces. The issue of not having money was also affecting these processes.

On distance learning, the Minister said DHET was receiving a lot of pressure from foreign higher education institutions. However South Africa was very reluctant in registering international institutions as this would potentially destroy the country’s public education system.  Private education institutions could be registered but not as higher education institutions. Rich universities took the best staff from the public school systems, together with the best students which the public education system needed. Another concern was that the Department did not have the capacity to adequately supervise private higher education institutions. The curriculum of these private institutions could also not be supervised.

Mr Mabizela indicated that the process of de-registering colleges while there were still students studying there was proving to be a challenge. The DHET was therefore putting in place a “phase out” period by which these institutions should cease operations.

Mr Lumka said all private institutions which operated in the country needed to register with the DHET and they needed to have their programmes accredited by QTCO. Any operation not registered was operating illegally. Regulating online learning/distance learning was not only proving to be a challenge in South Africa but throughout the international stage. The area of regulating private institutions was stipulated in the White Paper. The DHET was already communicating with existing private institutions so that monitoring mechanisms could be used to avoid any illegal registrations operating within the country.

The Chairperson thanked the Minister and the DHET team as a whole. He said the commitment shown by the Minister and the DHET team was highly commendable. He thanked Members for their oversight work as well, exceeding all political inclinations.

Adoption of minutes
The minutes for 26 February 2014 and 5 March 2014 were adopted without amendments.

The Chairperson thanked Members for their engagements and hard work throughout the Fourth Parliament.

The meeting was adjourned.

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