Question NW574 to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
27 March 2023 - NW574
Mkhatshwa, Ms NT to ask the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation
What strategies has his department implemented, particularly for institutions in rural and less urbanised locations, to increase access to quality student accommodation which is becoming scarce resulting in inflationary pressure on student accommodation costs?
Reply:
My department has established a Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP) which is aimed at addressing student housing backlog through the implementation of large student housing projects that deliver more than 1000 student beds each across universities and TVET Colleges. From the onset, SHIP was established to ensure that a minimum of 60% of the student beds it delivers are for campuses in rural and peri-urban areas. For the less urbanised spaces, under Phase 1 of the SHIP which commenced in 2019, R1.464 billion was allocated towards the development of 13005 student beds at University of Fort Hare (UFH) Alice Campus, North-West University (NWU) Mahikeng Campus, University of Limpopo (UL), University of Zululand (UNIZULU), King Hintsa TVET College, and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU). To date 3165 beds have been completed, 5500 are currently under construction, and 4340 have been scheduled.
Under Phase 2 of the SHIP, R1.382 billion has been allocated towards the development of 6300 beds at Central University of Technology (CUT) Welkom Campus, Gert Sibande TVET College, Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) Ga-Rankuwa Campus, and Walter Sisulu University (WSU). In addition, R1.209 billion has been allocated to student housing projects that are not under the SHIP, and the projects are currently under construction. These projects are located at CUT Welkom Campus, TUT Ga-Rankuwa Campus, UL, UNIVEN, WSU and University of Zululand (UNIZULU). Furthermore, R1.261 billion was allocated for previous projects which have already been completed at CUT Welkom Campus, NWU Mahikeng Campus, SMU, UFH Alice Campus, UL, UNIVEN, UNIZULU, WSU, and University of the Free State (UFS) Qwa-Qwa Campus.