Question Question:Minister of Higher Education to the Minister of Higher Education and Training

Reply:

QUESTION 1503

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 14 OF 2010)

Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training

1. Whether the forensic investigation into the Public Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) has been completed; if not, why not; if so, (a) when was it completed and (b) when was the report delivered to him;

2. Whether he has taken any action subsequent to receiving the report; if not, why not; if so, (a) when will this report be tabled in Parliament and (b) what are the further relevant details?

NW1759E

REPLY:

It must be noted that the questions refer to a period of time that predates the date on which I, as the Minister of Higher Education and Training, was assigned the responsibility for the administration of the Skills Development Act by the President. This proclamation took effect on 1st November 2009. Since assuming responsibility, I have taken the following actions:

· The Skills Development Act permits the Minister, after consultation with the National Skills Authority and the SETA in question, to direct the Director-General to appoint an administrator to take over the administration of a SETA or to perform the functions of a SETA if, inter alia, the SETA fails to perform its functions. I have invoked section 15 (1) of the Act to address non-compliance of the Public Services Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA). I have directed a letter to the PSETA requesting them to comment on my intentions to invoke section 15 (1) of the Act. I have received their reply and have indicated that I have instructed my DG to proceed with the appointment of an administrator.

· I have proposed to my Colleague Minister Baloyi, the Minister of the Public Service and Administration, that we establish a joint committee reporting to both Minister Baloyi and myself to review the role of the Public Services Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA). This Committee is in the process of being established

1 (a) The forensic investigation has not been completed. However, two forensic investigations were conducted into the PSETA's finances, namely, a joint effort between SAPS and the Special Investigations Unit and another one by Price Waterhouse Coopers which must still be concluded.

1 (b) I was informed that a report dated 3 March 2009 was submitted to the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) by the SIU. The PWC investigation is currently under way and great strides have been made in finalising the investigation. According to the last meeting that was held between PSETA and PWC on 30 April 2010, all the information that was outstanding was made available except for the following:

(i) On 31 March 2010, the PSETA Board requested the ADG: DPSA to provide banking details of all employees that were employed by the PSETA during the period when the incident occurred so that the said information can be forwarded to the PWC forensic investigators.

(ii) Computers and/or Laptops that were used by the former CFO Mr. Munyayi and Managers at PSETA that were involved in the administration of the NSF project and especially the management of the finances could not be traced and: a request was made to the DPSA – Asset Management Unit to provide relevant information. However, according to the DPSA it was not possible to trace the computers/laptops that were used at the time.

The meeting also resolved that the forensic investigators will prepare a list of suspected fraudulent accounts and assistance of the SIU will verify whether the suspected accounts are fraudulent or not.

Due to the fact that the outstanding information as indicated was not provided by the DPSA, it will therefore be difficult to determine by when the report will be finalised.

1 (b) Based on the above, it was not possible for the investigators to report to the Department of Higher Education and Training. However, it is important to note that the matter was discussed by the PSETA Board with the DDG: ESDS and HRD at the Department of Labour during August 2008.

2 As already indicated to the report is not finalised and therefore not submitted to me to take the necessary action.

The PSETA has reported that subsequent to the discovery of the fraud and the outcome of the Special Investigations Unit's (SIU) report, the following actions were taken:

(i) PSETA's banking account with ABSA was placed on hold to prevent any further fraudulent transactions and was only opened after new personnel and controls were put in place.

(ii) PSETA sent out letter to the banking institutions where the fraudulent accounts were held requesting the respectively banks to place the affected accounts on hold.

(iii) Disciplinary proceedings were instituted against the former Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Maxwell Munyai, who was identified to have been responsible for the fraud and/or theft.

(iv) Legal proceedings were instituted against Mr. Munyai for the fraud and/or theft of the NSF funds. He was subsequently convicted on 39 counts of the initial 44 counts of fraud and/or theft and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, of which 3 years were set aside for time spend whilst awaiting trial.

(v) VIP Softline was engaged to manage and administer the Larnership payroll for the rest of the learnership programme.

(vi) SAB & T Chartered Accountants were engaged to provide the back office accounting services and Kwinana and Associates was also engaged in 2009 to carry out the financial records reconstruction exercise for the PSETA since inception.

(vii) Mr. Kenny Govender, the Acting Chief Executive Officer during the period in which the fraud occurred was given a written warning for negligence in the management of the NSF account.

(viii) Ms. Mamello Mahommed's, the Learnership Manager, probation was not confirmed due to unsatisfactory performance in the discharge of the NSF obligations.

(ix) Mr. Hannes Roets was appointed as the Finance Manager in January 2007 and unfortunately passed away in March 2007 and in 2009 Kwinana and Associates was appointed to provide the CFO function/services.

(x) Mr. Clive Mtshisa was seconded as the interim Chief Executive Officer and Mr. Sipho Majombozi was subsequently appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer from February 2008 on the understanding that he will relinquish the position upon the recruitment of a substantive Chief Executive Officer.

(xi) A substantive Chief Financial Officer has been identified and is expected to assume office with effect from 1 June 2010 and the selection process for a substantive Chief Executive Officer is currently under way with interviews having been conducted on the 17th of May 2010 and the final appointed will done on 8 June 2010.

In view of the fact that the report is not finalised as already indicated and it is therefore not possible to confirm by when the report will be tabled in Parliament. The Department will require the administrator of the PSETA to ensure that the report will be finalised and submitted as soon as possible.

2(a) Once the final report has been submitted to my Department, I will ensure that it will be managed in terms of the relevant legislation.

2 (b) Further details pertaining to the issue under discussion could be made available once the final report has been submitted to my Department.

QUESTION 1791

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 04/06/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 16 OF 2010)

Mr N M Kganyago (UDM) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) What are the minimum compulsory qualifications for a person to take up a lecturing position at a further education and training (FET) college?

(2) Whether all current FET lecturers meet the minimum compulsory qualifications; if not, (a) how many lecturers are not properly qualified and (b) what steps does his department intend taking in this regard?

NW2059E

REPLY:

(1) There has been no specific policy for FET college lecturers in the past and they were generally appointed in terms of the Employment of Educators' Act, at REQV 10 to 13. This was however applied very unevenly across the colleges nationally. It must be noted that the requirements of FET Colleges differ significantly from schools. Accordingly the South African Council of Educators (SACE) granted special dispensation for qualified artisans (with N certificates / Technical Diplomas) but lacking professional Teaching qualifications to register as teachers.

(2) In August 2009 the Department published a gazette for public comment that sets out the framework for lecturer qualifications and development in the FET college sector. Although the framework has not been finalised, it serves as the benchmark for the employment of lecturers going forward. . Once the framework is finalised the Department will develop a plan for relevant lecturers to upgrade and up-skill to meet these requirements. An analysis of 4788 lecturers reveals the following:

Relative Education Qualification Values	Number of Lecturers	%
REQV 10	99	2.07%
REQV 11	11	0.23%
REQV 12	57	1.19%
REQV 13	1721	35.94%
REQV 14	2900	60.57%

There are currently just over 5000 lecturers employed in public FET Colleges.

QUESTION 1792

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 04/06/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 16 OF 2010)

Mr N M Kganyago (UDM) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) How many lecture periods per week do further education and training (FET) colleges devote to practical training of learners in (a) carpentry, (b) bricklaying and plastering, (c) plumbing, (d) motor mechanics and (e)(i) heavy and (ii) light current electrical work;

(2) Whether he has found that learners in the above trades acquire suitable saleable skills for entry into the labour market; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? W2060E

REPLY:

(1) In the NC (V) qualification students spend 2 - 3 hours per week in practical training. The curriculum prescribes that neither the theory nor practical learning must be more than 60%, or less than 40%. Given this limited flexibility, the firm requirement however is that all the outcomes as listed in the subject guidelines must be met.

(2) The subjects mentioned are the occupational component of a much bigger vocational (career-orientated) qualification requiring students to spend the greater portion of the college day in other forms of learning. The occupational subjects mentioned are not intended to qualify the students in these respective occupations. It is intended rather to give the students an opportunity to acquire important knowledge and skills to enable further learning and qualification along a career pathway, or to specialise further in a given occupation/job. Practical application in the subjects mentioned are supported by practical work done in the other three vocational subjects in the vocational programme, and is therefore sufficient for the intended purpose.

QUESTION 1793

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 04/06/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 16 OF 2010)

Mr N M Kganyago (UDM) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a)(i) How many first-year students were registered for degrees in engineering at each university and (ii) how many of them qualified to commence their second year in (aa) 2007, (bb) 2008 and (cc) 2009 and (b) what was the demographic breakdown of these students according to race?

NW2061E

REPLY

(a)(i) The attached table gives an indication of how many first-year students were registered for degrees in engineering at each university, including the demographic breakdown as requested in part (a)(ii) of the question.

(ii) The information on how many have qualified to commence their second year and the demographics for the second year is not available as institutions have different definitions for years of study. For example some institutions may require a student to repeat the first year if they fail subjects, whereas another institution will regard a student in a similar position as a 2nd year student. The total number of students (second year and onwards, excluding first time entering students) enrolled for engineering are as follows:

2006: 34066

2007: 35959

2008: 37035

QUESTION 687

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 15/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 7 OF 2010

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether any universities took up the offer to register students without having to pay registration fees upfront; if not, why not; if so, (a) how many and (b) which universities;

(2) Whether any eligible students were overlooked by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme of South Africa (NSFAS) offer; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? NW813E

REPLY:

(1.a) As of Thursday, 17 March 2010, eighteen institutions had taken up the offer for the 2010 academic year, to the value of R331 million as indicated in table below. The total upfront payment claimed from HEIs for donor category DE-General amounts to R317 million. Central University of Technology and the University of South Africa indicated that they did not need the upfront payment. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology will send additional claims during March 2010.

The University of Pretoria, Rhodes University, and Vaal University of Technology are still busy with the processing of claims and will submit their claim for upfront payment during March 2010.

The total amount claimed for DE-Teacher (ringfenced) amounts to R9, 835 million. Three universities submitted claims: UKZN, NWU and TUT. Only three universities (UKZN, UNIZULU and TUT) submitted claims in the Category DE-Disability to the amount of R2, 343 million.

Other claims submitted by Stellenbosch University of R1 million was for the payment of agricultural bursaries and the University of the Witwatersrand for the bursaries provided by Rural Education Access Programme (R66 000).

(b) UPFRONT PAYMENTS CLAIMED BY UNIVERSITIES AS AT 18 MARCH 2010

18 Universities took up the offer to register students without having to pay registration fees upfront:

Institution	DE-General	DE-Teaching (Ringfenced)	DE - Disability	Other
	R'000	R'000	R'000	R'000
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	5 391
University of Cape Town	21 816
Durban Institute of Technology	35 680
University of Fort Hare	5 205
University of the Free State	19 584
University of Johannesburg	54 124
University of KwaZulu-Natal	23 205	2 990	614
University of Limpopo	1 331
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University	22 852
North West University	19 580	2 091
University of Stellenbosch				1 000
Tshwane University of Technology	34 620	1 442	1 633
University of Venda	1 699
Walter Sisulu University	23 445
University of Western Cape	23 491
University of Witwatersrand	29 882			66
University of Zululand	12 828	3 312	96
Mangosuthu University of Technology	5 500
TOTAL	316 765	9 835	2 343	1 666
TOTAL UPFRONT PAYMENT CLAIMED FOR ALL CATEGORIES	R330 009 087 million

It is assumed that universities that did not apply for funds used their own funds in anticipation of receipt of the NSFAS transfer.

(2) In 2008, 11 120 and in 2009, 16 172 students applied for, were eligible for but did not have an NSFAS award. Reasons are not provided as to why these students do not have an award, but it could be that they received bursaries elsewhere such as from private companies. The 2009 figure provided by public institutions is provisional as this data from the public institutions is not audited. The public institutions will submit their audited 2009 data to the Department in July 2010. Provisional 2010 data will be available from institutions at the end of October 2010 as they have a 2nd semester registration in July 2010.

QUESTION 881

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 23/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 8 OF 2010

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) What is the (a) breakdown and (b) total budget of the stakeholder summit on higher education transformation scheduled for 22 to 23 April 2010, including the preparations towards it? NW1018E

REPLY:

1a) Breakdown of budget (in Rands)[1]

Programme development	46 850
Development of summit concept papers (including honoraria for plenary and commission presenters)	325 400
Logistics, Planning and Project Management (including management of summit webpage)	138 000
Scribing (including synthesis report of pre-summit submission, recording of summit proceedings)	118 400
Development of proceedings report and summit report using blogs/submissions	125 400
Travel costs	46 204
Printing for conference report	102 400
Consumables	30 050
Contingency	67 596
Management fee	124 727
Catering costs	219 161
VAT	155 806
TOTAL	1 500 000[2]

1b) It must be highlighted that the budget for the Summit does not utilise voted funds but donor funding. The total budget of the stakeholder summit amounts to R1.5 million. A Summit Steering Committee (SSC) was appointed by the Minister who oversees the planning of the summit, the development of the programme, the management of the event and, the production of the report. The SSC is stakeholder driven with representation from HESA, the CHE, SAUS and organised labour. A service provider was appointed to undertake all the organisational work and to manage the summit. The committee has met several times and will meet again on 15 April to finalise the preparations. An advertisement, calling for submissions from higher education stakeholders was placed in the Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times and the City Press.

[1] Total number of delegates expected is 400.

[2] The budget is donor funding, not voted funds.

QUESTION 2211

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 20/08/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 23 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a) How many lecturers currently employed at the 53 further education and training colleges (i) have (aa) doctoral, (bb) masters, (cc) honours and (dd) bachelors degrees and (ii) do not have a university degree and (b) what are the relevant details regarding the rationale to employ lecturers who do not have a university degree?

NW2718E

REPLY:

a) The information contained below is for lecturers employed in the 50 further education and training colleges and not 53 FET Colleges as requested. This data is collated from the summary of REQVs.

(i) (aa)Doctors degree : 38;

(bb)Masters degree: 200;

(cc) Honours degree: 720;

(dd)Bachelors degree :2647and

(ii) number of lecturers who do not have university degree is 4062, of which 3569 have diploma qualifications

b) There are two types of lecturers that are under-qualified in FET Colleges, but they offer effective teaching and learning. The following are the categories:

· Lecturers with National N Diploma (Trade Test and N6 Diploma)

These lecturers have acquired the relevant qualification in different field of trades. They have knowledge required to teach trade subjects, but have no professional training as lectures and teachers

· Lecturers with ordinary Teachers Diploma

These lecturers have had professional being as teachers /educators but do not have disciplinary knowledge to teach trade related subjects.

In August 2009, the Department published a gazette for public comment that sets out the policy framework for lecturer training and development in the college sub-sector. Although the framework is not yet finalised, the department intends to build on this framework to set the minimum qualifications requirements for employment as a lecturer in the FET sub-system. The issue of lecturer training, development and support is part of the FET summit process, because the department had already identified it as of the challenges in this sector.

QUESTION 2117

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 13/08/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 21 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

1. Why has only one university made it onto the Times Higher Education World University Ranking;

2. whether he has any plans in place to ensure that South African universities appear in the top 100 rankings; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW2557E

REPLY:

1. Comparative practices related to league tables like the Times Higher Education World University Ranking is limited in its biased use of a range of indicators in an attempt to measure and compare universities. There are many differences between universities and the context in which universities are developed; continue to develop and function - including the financial, historical, social, political and cultural changes - makes information obtained in this way controversial. South Africa is on a specific development trajectory and imperatives considered as being key to South African universities might be excluded from the list of criteria against which institutions are judged.

A snapshot evaluation of these rankings shows a bias towards universities which are larger and well-resourced, where English is the language of the academy and modelled along Westernised notions of what a university is or ought to be. Strikingly, there is little or no recognition for the humanities and creative arts.

2. As the South African Government, our objective is to ensure that the quality of our universities is constantly and consistently measured against our own set of criteria (including international best practices). We have in place the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC), which is the permanent committee of the Council for Higher Education mandated to ensure a robust quality system for the university sector. The HEQC executes this mandate through a vigorous process of academic programme accreditation as well as institutional audits. The process is aimed at continuously improving and strengthening our university sector.

QUESTION 1969

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/07/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 18 OF 2010)

Mrs G M Borman (ANC) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether all the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges have received their final examination results for 2009; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW2205E

REPLY:

Yes. All FET Colleges have received their final examination results for 2009.

The Department of Higher Education and Training uses two key policies when resulting candidates for the National Certificate (Vocational), namely the National Policy on the Conduct, Administration and Management of the Assessment of the National Certificates (Vocational) gazetted in September 2007 and the Policy for the National Certificates (Vocational): Qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) gazetted in March 2006.

In terms of national policy, an NC (V) candidate must complete all the required assessment components for each National Certificate (Vocational) subject to ensure a complete result in each subject. In instances where an examination centre has marked a candidate absent on the mark sheet for the Internal Continuous Assessment (ICASS) and/or the Integrated Summative Assessment Task (ISAT), the policy states that the absence of a mark in either of these components will result in the student registered for the particular subject receiving an "incomplete" result. A high number of NC (V) candidates were marked absent on official mark sheets for either or both the ICASS and ISAT components. Such candidates are therefore deemed by the Department of Higher Education and Training to have been officially resulted.

The Department of Higher Education and Training will be visiting all 9 provinces during September 2010 to provide guidance and support in the resulting process to facilitate an improved understanding of the process and how to interpret the results generated.

QUESTION 1948

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/07/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 17 OF 2010)

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether his department has measures in place to identify all (a) unregistered and (b) illegally operating colleges; if not, why not; if so, (aa) how many (i) unregistered and (ii) illegal colleges have been identified, (bb) where were they located;

(2) whether the department has taken any action against these unregistered and illegal colleges; if not, why not; if so, in each case, (i) what action has been taken, (ii) what criminal charges have been brought and (iii) how many cases of false registration of students were identified at each college?

NW2336E

REPLY:

1. (a) No, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) does not have such measures in place. DHET reacts to complaints, reports, allegations from students, parents and the general public with regard to unregistered Private FET Colleges. This is the same process by which law enforcement agencies obtain information about criminal acts.

(aa) (i) and (ii) Investigations sparked by complaints have exposed sixty two (62) private institutions that are not registered as FET colleges and as such are operating illegally.

(bb) The colleges found operating illegally were located in the following provinces: Gauteng (39), Western Cape (6), Eastern Cape (6), Limpopo (4), KwaZulu-Natal (4) North West (2) and Mpumalanga (1).

2. (i) The DHET issued defaulting private education institutions with letters warning that they were not registered and were therefore acting in contravention of the FETC Act (2006). The DHET works closely with the South African Police Service and other law-enforcement agencies, in responding to reports of private education institutions that are alleged operating illegally.

(ii) and (iii) Police recently arrested owners and management of eight (8) private colleges and charges of fraud were brought against them. The cases are being finalised by the courts and this process could reveal the numbers of students who were illegally enrolled. DHET advises identified students to institute lawsuits for refund against institutions that have been found to be operating illegally.

QUESTION 1946

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/07/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 17 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) How many student protests were held at each tertiary institution campus (a) in (i) 2005, (ii) 2006, (iii) 2007 and (iv) 2009 and (b) during the period 1 January 2010 up to the latest specified date for which information is available;

(2) (a) which student organisation led the protest in each case, (b) what were the reasons for the protest action in each case and (c) how long did the protest action last in each case;

(3) whether teaching and academic work was affected by any protest action; if so, (a) how and (b) what are the further relevant details in each case;

(4) what (a) damage to property or (b) violence was reported in each case? NW2334E

REPLY:

1. My Department has always monitored student protests, but not kept records or data on what transpires on individual university campuses. Since the beginning of 2010, my Department established an internal registration monitoring process to ensure that the DHET is informed about unrest at institutions. I have consulted with the university leadership (administrators as well as students) as to the causes of student protest and how these can be addressed by individual institutions taking into account their contexts.

2. Anecdotal evidence suggest that the genesis of student protests does not necessarily reside in any one organisation. Instead, students express their dissatisfaction through the voice of its leaders in Student Representative Councils (SRC). The SRC is enshrined in legislation, through the Higher Education Act (Act 101 of 1997), section 26 (2) (e), as an integral organ to the institutional governance landscape. The main causes of student protests relate to exclusions, whether academically or financially. How students articulate this (and other causes) differs across institutions (and even across campuses within one institution) as the institutional context will determine the degree of dissatisfaction amongst the student body.

3. Universities have, as part of their rules and regulations as stipulated through Institutional Statutes, formal procedures for managing protest action, and these are implemented where necessary. Institutions manage student protests when they arise to specifically prevent the disruption of academic work and examinations. My Department, where necessary, works with the institutions to ensure that disruptions are kept to a minimum, and to prevent further disruptions. Institutions have the responsibility for dealing with time lost during protest action.

4. Reports about damage to property are sometimes received from institutions, or reported in the media. In this case, individual institutions would have to supply reports about specific incidents on their campuses.

QUESTION 1944

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/07/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 17 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

With reference to his reply to question 881 on 17 May 2010, (a) what are the names of the donors of the R1,5 million that was spent on the Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education Transformation of 22-23 April 2010, (b) what amount did each donor contribute and (c) on what date was each donation made?

NW2332E

REPLY:

a) The Summit was jointly funded in kind by the Centre for Education Policy Development (CEPD) and the Joint Education Trust (JET)

b) The total cost of the summit amounted to R1 700 933.17. Funds were provided as follows:

CEPD: R1 201 026.07

JET: R499 907.10

c) As it was a contribution in kind, no actual monies were transferred to the department. Donors managed the payments to service providers over a period of time.

QUESTION 61

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 05/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 4 OF 2010

Mr R Tua (ANC-NC) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether the Government is considering the construction of a university in the North Cape; if not; why not; if so; (a) how far are such plans and (b) what are the timeframes for the completion of such university? CW86E

REPLY:

(a)The establishment of fully fledged universities in the said province remains a priority for this government. In this regard, we have consulted and continue to consult with the National Institute for Higher Education, provincial governments and stakeholders involved in the provincial delivery of higher education programmes in the relevant provinces. Work towards the establishment of universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape will continue this financial year.

(b) I will be appointing two task teams to explore suitable university models for the needs of these provinces and come up with costed proposals and timelines. Professor Cheryl de la Rey and Professor Thandwa Mthembu will Chair these teams and will work together on key issues that will be common to both processes. It is envisaged that the time-frames for completion of the work of the task team will be by the end of 2010.

QUESTION 68

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 02/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 5 OF 2010

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether the provision of bursaries to students is based on the criteria of (a) race, (b) gender and (c) disability; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) Whether access to funds of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) is equally managed and promoted in (a) rural and (b) urban areas; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details in each case;

(3) Whether the pay-outs from the NSFAS cover all necessary fees, including boarding, lodging and books; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details in each case? NO594E

REPLY:

1a) No. NSFAS primarily allocates bursaries to students based on priority skills areas, financial need and academic potential.

1b) No. See point 1a)

1c) Yes. NSFAS administers bursaries for people with disabilities on behalf of the DHET and DoL.

2 NSFAS is equally managed and promoted in both rural and urban environments. NSFAS has in the recent past tried to focus much more on rural communities. This has taken a number of forms - use of SABC Radio vernacular language stations to allow them to reach communities all over South Africa; visits to schools in rural areas; attending career exhibitions in rural areas; a presence on some rural-based university campuses during the university registration period; industrial theatre (in some rural towns); etc. In addition there is a partnership with the Rural Education Access Programme and other NGOs to ensure that access is not urban based purely.

3 No. Allocation to universities falls into mainly two categories. Some universities grant full loans to needy students and others like UCT and Stellenbosch, have adequate funding to grant full loans to needy students. Historically disadvantaged institutions (HDI) like the University of Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu University, which have a larger number of financially needy students, usually adjust loans to needy students, reducing them to spread the funds to more needy students. This is the conundrum of the allocation formula to both institutions and individuals. If the demand is greater and the allocation cannot accommodate full loans, financially needy students obtain partial loans which do not necessarily cover all necessary fees, including boarding, lodging and books. Under current arrangements, NSFAS bursaries are also provided to students registered at FET Colleges.

4 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

I assume that the honourable member is addressing the issue of NSFAS-administered bursaries and not bursaries in general. NSFAS administers the following bursary schemes:

a. On behalf of the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET):

· Bursaries for Further Education and Training students

· Funza Lushaka bursary scheme for teacher education in priority areas. The School of Education at Higher Education Institutions and the DHET identifies successful candidates based on the following criteria: academic ability, eligibility for one of the academic programmes for which the bursary is granted and candidates whose financial position would otherwise exclude them from enrolment for a teaching qualification.

· Bursaries for disabled students

b. On behalf of other government departments:

· Bursaries for training social workers to address its skills shortages via the Department of Social Development. The allocation to the student starts as a loan but is converted to a bonded bursary upon graduation, where the graduate takes up a post in the public sector for a specified period. No specific criteria is attached as the objective is to alleviate the shortage of qualified social workers by offering bursaries to students willing to study social work.

· Bursaries for scarce skills studies are identified by the Department of Agriculture using selection criteria based on academic potential and financial need. The Department of Agriculture selects its bursaries through its National Bursary Committee and require graduates to work for the same number of years that they received the bursary.

· Bursaries from the Department of Labour targets scarce skills areas including bursaries for people with disabilities. The NSFAS selects suitable bursary recipients based on the Department's National Master Scarce Skills List.

· Bursaries of R50 000 are provided to top achievers through the Eastern Cape Provincial Government.

c. NSFAS also administers private sector funded bursaries. NSFAS is not responsible for identifying suitable candidates for the bursaries, but enters into contracts with each private sector partner. Academic admission criteria and conditions applicable on graduation are determined by the donors/sponsors.

QUESTION 69

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 02/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 5 OF 2010

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether there is a correlation between (a) the funds allocated by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to students and (b) the number of learners matriculating annually; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NO595E

REPLY:

1a) NSFAS has developed an allocations formula to determine how its funds are distributed to universities. NSFAS funds are divided between 23 public higher education institutions on the basis of the following formula:

· The disadvantaged student index (DSI), which is calculated for each institution using full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolled undergraduate students, actual student numbers from 2009, weighted by race, namely, African = 3, coloured = 2, Indian = 1 provided by the DHET through HEMIS. Although not weighted, white students are eligible for NSFAS funds.

· The full cost of study (FCS), which is calculated for each institution based on the costs required to cover tuition, registration fees and residence fees including meals per institution.

· The FCS and DSI are multiplied to determine the Disadvantage Students' Cost Index (DSCI).

· The allocation to HEIs in Rands is the Apportionment Factor (AF) percentage for that institution of the total sum available. The AF is expressed as a percentage for each institution as follows: DSCI of HEI/sum of all DCSI x 100.

1b) The allocation of funds to the HEIs is based on the number of disadvantaged students and the FCS at each institution and not the number of learners matriculating in a particular year. Aspiring students who wish to enroll at HEIs must apply for registration at the institution of the student's choice. They would be advised to apply for financial aid if it is required and will be requested to submit to NSFAS the necessary application forms. The HEIs recommend the amount of the aid to be given to students from the allocation of funds (the Apportionment Factor) allocated to the HEI through NSFAS. The HEIs allocates an estimated three quarters of NSFAS funding to existing students and a quarter is reserved for first year students.

QUESTION 1748

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 28/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 15 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) What were the start and end date of tenure in office of every (a) permanent and (b) acting (i) Director-General and (ii) chief financial officer during the period 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2009?

NW2014E

REPLY:

The member is reminded that the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) did not exist between 1 January 2000 and 7 July 2009. The question can only be answered from the time that DHET was established. In addition, a budget for DHET was only established in April 2010, and a Chief Financial Officer was only appointed then.

EMPLOYMENT STATUS	NAME OF OFFICIAL	START DATE	END DATE
(a) (i) Permanent Directors-General	Ms. M Metcalfe	1st September 2009	To- date
( a) (ii) Permanent Chief Financial Officers	n/a	n/a	n/a
(b) (i) Acting Directors-General	Dr M Qhobela	21 July 2009	31st August 2009
(ii) Acting Chief Financial Officers	n/a	n/a	n/a

QUESTION 270

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 2 OF 2010

Ms P C Duncan (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) How many medical graduates graduated from each medical school in each of the five most recent specified years for which information is available;

(2) whether his department has any plans in place to increase the number of medical graduates; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (a) what plans, (b) how many additional medical graduates will result from the implementation of these plans and (c) at what stage of development are these plans? NW286E

REPLY:

(1) Number of medical graduates from 2004 to 2008

Institution	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
University of Cape Town	159	150	185	160	164
University of Limpopo	238	294	239	200	150
University of KwaZulu-Natal	178	298	201	189	224
University of the Free State	167	106	105	129	109
University of Pretoria	180	197	207	198	200
University of Stellenbosch	148	150	170	149	167
University of Witwatersrand	205	247	170	175	189
Walter Sisulu University	119	69	89	97	103
TOTAL	1394	1511	1366	1297	1306

(2) (a) The preparing of growth projections in the health sciences is part of the brief of the Health Sciences Review Committee. This is a joint committee of the Departments of Finance, Heath and Higher Education and Training. It is administered by the Department of Higher Education and Training, and includes as members representatives from HESA and the HPCSA.

The Review Committee has concentrated its work on enrolment and graduation models for those undergraduate health sciences programmes which require access, for clinical training purposes, to provincial hospital services. These programmes include the MBChB.

The Health Sciences Review Committee's enrolment and graduation models for the MBChB have allowed it to construct three scenarios for the period 2008 to 2020 for the eight universities which offer MBChB degrees.

Scenario 1

(b) The Department of Higher Education and Training has allocated infrastructure and clinical training funding to five universities which had indicated that they could increase their new intakes of MBChB students by 3% per annum. On this low growth scenario, the number of clinical students requiring access to provincial hospital services would, by 2020, be 665 (or 16%) higher than the total for 2008. The total of MBChB graduates would increase by only 175 (or 14%) in 2020 compared to 2008.

Scenario 2

This is a medium growth scenario. It assumes that all eight universities will increase their new undergraduate intakes by 3 percentage points above scenario 1. So the first five universities would be given 6% new intake growth targets, and the remaining three 3% growth rate targets. On this growth scenario, the number of students in the clinical years would, by 2020, be 1843 (or 43%) higher than the total for 2008. The total of MBChB graduates would increase by 504 (or 40%) in 2020 compared to 2008.

Scenario 3

This is a high growth scenario. It assumes that all eight universities will increase their new undergraduate intakes by a further 3 percentage points above scenario 2. On this scenario, the number of students in the clinical years would, by 2020, be 3059 (or 72%) higher than the total for 2008. The total of MBChB graduates would, on the scenario, increase by 800 (or 63%) in 2020 compared to 2008.

The Health Sciences Review Committee has begun to determine what the costs would be of these and other enrolment and graduate growth scenarios in health sciences programmes. It has noted that the initial cost demands of growth in the MBChB will be high, even in the years before increased totals of graduates begin to emerge from the system. Costs will have to be incurred in employing additional academic staff as enrolments in the preclinical years begin to grow. Provision will have to be made for additional academic teaching space, particularly class rooms, class laboratories and staff offices.

A major bottle neck in the system will be the demands which increases in clinical training will place on provincial hospital services. As enrolments grow in the clinical years (which would be three years after intakes increase), provision would have to be made for rapid increases in new training beds in provincial hospitals services. Provision would also have to be made for additional clinical supervisors and for additional service staff and running costs in those hospitals which are involved in the training of students.

(c) The Health Sciences Review Committee will complete its work on these enrolment and cost models during the 2010/11 financial year. Its report will be submitted in the first instance to the Minister of Higher Education and Training.

QUESTION 1067

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Mr D C Ross (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

With reference to his reply to question 270 on 16 March 2010, what amount of funding has been given to each medical school for the (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10 and (d) 2010-11 financial years? NW1216E

REPLY:

(1) Earmarked (or designated) funds have been allocated from two sources to universities which have either a medical faculty or dental faculty or both. These are (a) infrastructure funds covering the cycles 2007/08 to 2009/10 and 2010/11 to 2011/12, and (b) clinical training grants covering the cycles 2008/09 to 2009/10 and 2010/11 to 2011/12.

(2) The infrastructure funds made available for 2007/08 to 2009/10 were allocated on the basis of applications received from universities. They had been asked to indicate what funds they would need to implement student enrolment growth plans in the period from 2005 to the 2010. No specific provision was made for the health sciences in this first cycle, but universities could have submitted requests for funds under this category. Applications for funding tended to focus on engineering and technology, the applied sciences, and the basic life and physical sciences. The second cycle of 2010/11 to 2011/12 made specific provision for the health sciences. Universities were asked to submit applications for infrastructure developments which would enable them to increase their outputs of health sciences graduates. Table 1 below sums up the health sciences infrastructure amounts allocated to universities over the 5-year period 2007/08 to 2011/12.

Table 1

Health sciences infrastructure allocations to universities with medical and/or dental faculties (Rands millions)
	2007/08 to 2009/10	2010/11 to 2011/12	TOTAL
University of Cape Town	0	0	0
University of the Free State	0	17.1	17.1
University of KwaZulu-Natal	0	62.0	62.0
University of Limpopo	81.0	84.7	165.7
University of Pretoria	0	32.6	32.6
Stellenbosch University	0	20.2	20.2
Walter Sisulu University	0	25.5	25.5
University of the Western Cape	0	46.4	46.4
University of the Witwatersrand	0	70.3	70.3
TOTAL	81.0	358.8	439.8

(3) Clinical training grants are allocated to universities on the basis of the numbers of students they have in clinical training programmes. These are programmes which require health sciences students to have access to the staff, patients and facilities of provincial health services. Programmes which are eligible for clinical training grants include medicine and dentistry, the professions allied to medicine, pharmacy, nursing, emergency medical care, and clinical and biomedical technology. These clinical training grants are used by universities to appoint additional clinical training staff, purchase clinical training equipment, and to provide new clinical training facilities. Most of these new clinical training facilities will be in small towns and rural areas some distance from the main teaching hospitals. The new facilities will give the medical and dental faculties access to new groups of patients, and will enable them to expand the numbers of students in the clinical training years of their academic programmes.

(4) Table 2 below sums up the clinical training grants allocated to the universities with medical and dental faculties over the 4-year period 2008/09 to 2011/12.

Table 2

Clinical training grant allocations to universities with medical and/or dental faculties (Rands millions)
	2008/09 to 2009/10	2010/11 to 2011/12	TOTAL
University of Cape Town	59.0	66.2	125.2
University of the Free State	39.3	47.3	86.6
University of KwaZulu-Natal	75.3	106.3	181.6
University of Limpopo	61.3	70.4	131.7
University of Pretoria	73.9	73.0	146.9
Stellenbosch University	56.7	60.8	117.5
Walter Sisulu University	20.5	27.5	48.0
University of the Western Cape	25.0	49.8	74.8
University of the Witwatersrand	86.0	96.3	182.3
TOTAL	497.0	597.6	1094.6

(5) The totals in Tables 1 and 2 do not include the undesignated block grants which universities receive on the basis of their student enrolments, their graduate totals and their research outputs. These block grant funds amount totalled R13 300 million in 2009/10, and will be R15 000 million in 2010/11.

(6) Block grants are undesignated in the sense that they are spent at the discretion of each Council to support all teaching and research activities of its university. It is not therefore not possible to indicate exactly how much of the 2010/11 block grant total will be spent on teaching and research in medical and dental faculties. The most that can be said is that approximately 12% (or R1 800 million) of the 2010/11 block grant will have been be generated by the enrolments, graduates and research outputs of these faculties.

QUESTION 1072

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Mrs D Robinson (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a) How many librarians have graduated in each year since 2000, (b) from which institutions did they graduate and (c) what steps have been taken to increase the number of graduate librarians? NW1221E

REPLY:

(a) and (b)

A total number of students at the different universities who have majored in the field of study: Library and Information Science (LIS) and have graduated is as follows:

	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
TOTAL	747	716	478	508	460	435	376	411	486

The table below provides further detail of the 18 universities where students have graduated over the years 2000 to 2008.

Graduates in Library and Information Science by institution

(b) It is acknowledged that South Africa is experiencing an increasing shortage of young people in the LIS profession. Attracting young people to this profession is difficult due to past librarian stereotypes. Moreover, the trend is for businesses to appoint non-LIS professionals to manage their information. Therefore the education of future leaders of the LIS profession rests firmly on the shoulders of the 12 universities that currently offer formal education in mainly Information Science.

QUESTION 1075

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

Mrs M Wenger (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether any amount was (a) budgeted for and (b) spent (i) in the (aa) 2007-08 and (bb) 2008-09 financial years and (ii) during the period 1 April 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available on his department's mini drug master plan; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;

(2) What amount has been allocated to his department's mini drug master plan for the 2010-11 financial year? NW1224E

REPLY:

(1)(a) (i)(aa) No, since the Department did not exist at that time.

(bb) No, since the Department did not exist at that time.

(ii) No, since the Department did not exist at that time.

(2) The Department did not budget for the mini drug master plan for the 2010/11 financial year.

QUESTION 929

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 23/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 8 OF 2010

Mr A M Mpontshane (IFP) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether he has received and studied the review report of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS); if not, why not; if so,

(2) Whether he will make it mandatory for prospective recipients of NSFAS not to pay an upfront registration fee; if not, why not; if so, when;

(3) Whether a student failing in one academic year will still receive funding for another year; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1074E

REPLY:

1 Yes, I received the report and studied it.

2 A period of consultation has commenced which will end on the 30th April 2010. I will present a report with final recommendations to Cabinet in August 2010. It must be noted that both NSFAS and I have written to institutions informing them of the upfront payment facility available from NSFAS and have urged them to utilise this facility.

3 The NSFAS Manual indicates that academic performance determines continued funding by NSFAS. However, a student is allowed to appeal the decision supported by evidence such as death in the family, sick note/certificate and/or, any other circumstances beyond his/her control. The financial aid committee of an institution will have to look at the student's academic history to satisfy itself before a decision to consider the appeal is made, subject to the availability of funds.

QUESTION 1289

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/04/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 11 OF 2010)

Ms A M Dreyer (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether he has received the report of the Public Service Commission (PSC) on the assessment of the Public Sector Education and training authority's PSETA) contribution towards the development of skills and careers progression prospects in the public section; if so , what are the relevant details ; if not ,

(2) Whether he accepts the recommendations based on the findings of the PSC with regard to the functioning of the PSETA; if not, why not if so, what are the details of the (a) dates and (b) timelines for the implementation of the report recommendations?

N1449E

REPLY:

1. The Department has received the report of the PSC on the assessment of its contribution towards the development of skills and careers progression prospects in the public sector and the report is relevant in its entirety given that in the Department's assessment of the PSETA, it has been operating in a unstable environment which resulted in it being a poorly performing SETA.
2. The Department accepts the recommendations of the PSC report. The Department has further commenced on a process to address the poor performance of the PSETA in terms of the relevant legislative requirements as well as approved policies and processes.

QUESTION 155

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 11/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 1 OF 2010

Mr A Louw (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) (a) What was the cost of the advertisement that appeared in a certain newspaper (name furnished) on 21 January 2010 congratulating the Services Seta Learnership graduates and (b) from which budget was the advertisement funded;

(2) whether any other similar advertisement was taken out in any other (a) radio, (b) television or (c) print media; if not, why was it only printed in the said newspaper; if so, (i) which media, (ii) on what dates and (iii) at what cost? NW164E

REPLY:

The SETA Funding Regulations provide for administration costs to a maximum of 12.5% of the total levy income of a SETA, which includes advertising costs. The management of the SETA funds is verified/audited on a regular basis by the Department and the Auditor-General to ensure compliance with legislation/policies.The SETA confirmed that the costs under discussion were from the 12.5% administration budget and not from any training budget.

1 (a) The SETA indicated that the advertisements appeared in the following newspapers at the costs as reflected in the third column of the under mentioned table:

Newspaper name	Date of advertisement	Cost
Sowetan	31 January 2010	R51 217.92 Excluding VAT
City Press	31 January 2010	R139 618.08 Excluding VAT
Business Report	01 February 2010	R185 259.90 Excluding VAT

1(b). The said costs were funded from the Public Relations budget (Administration budget).

2. It was also confirmed by the SETA that similar advertisements occurred as indicated below:

(a) Radio - Durban Local Radio Station: No cost (free)

(b)Television - E TV and SABC: No cost (free)

(c) Print Media - See paragraph 1(a)

QUESTION 162

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 14/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 10 OF 2010)

Mr R A Lees (DA-KZN) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether any classes and teaching took place at Dr C N Phatudi Campus of the Sekhukhune Further Education and Training College during the week of 22 to 26 March 2010; if not, (a) why not, (b) what action has been taken for students in order to catch up on the time lost and (c) what were the financial implications for the (i) students and (ii) campus for this period; if so, what are the relevant details?

CW193E

REPLY:

1. Yes, classes took place at Dr C N Phatudi Campus of the Sekhukhune Further Education and Training College during the week of 22 to 26 March 2010. However, it was only the classes for students who were preparing exams for the 1st trimester which was due to commence on 24 March 2010.The students enrolled on the NC (V) programmes were on recess from 19 March to 6 April 2010.

a) Falls away in the light of the above response.

b) No action has been taken because there was no teaching time lost; hence there was no need to catch up.

c) (i) There were no financial implications for the students.

(ii) There were no financial implications for the campus

QUESTION 1715

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 28/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 15 OF 2010)

Dr J C Kloppers-Lourens (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether her (a) department or (b) any of its entities has signed any contractual agreements with certain companies (names furnished) or any of their affiliates (i) in the (aa) 2008-09 and (bb) 2009-10 financial years and (ii) during the period 1 April 2010 up to the latest specified date for which information is available; if so, (aaa) what is the nature of each contract, (bbb) what is the (aaaa) start and (bbbb) end date of each contract, (ccc) what is the monetary value of each contract, (ddd) what are the details of the process that was undertaken for the signing of each contract, (eee) who else tendered for each contract that was awarded and (fff) what amount did each tenderer quote in each case?

NW1972E

REPLY

(a) None of the following companies are/were on contract with the Department of Higher Education and training:

· 101 Junjus Trading CC

· Blue Nightingale Trading 61

· Ever Roaring Investment, and

· SGL Engineering Projects

(b) Provincial departments and the Department's public entities have their own regulatory Framework regarding this matter. They do not require the Minister's permission to enter into business contracts with companies.

QUESTION 1140

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19/04/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 10 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether his department has established (a) on what the universities spend the funds they receive from the government for their research performance and (b) how much goes back to the researcher and their research account; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1297E

REPLY:

Funding for research outputs is calculated based on research output units, measured on an annual basis, and is included in the block grant allocated to each university. The block grants are utilised at the discretion of the University when the budget of the university is finalised and approved by Council. The total funding for research outputs increased from R1,522 billion in 2008/09 to R2,003 billion in 2010/11.

In addition to the funding of research outputs, research developments grants (earmarked allocation) totalling R129 million have been allocated to 12 universities. For these research development grants, the department requires each institution to submit a proposal on how they will use the grant to improve and strengthen an institutions research capacity. Once the plans have been approved by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, the funds are released. At the end of the year each institution will submit a progress report on how the funds have been spent and the department ensures that the funds spent are in line with what the Minister approved in order to increase its research capacity.

QUESTION 1159

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19/04/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 10 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether the hosting of the Stakeholder Summit on Higher Education Transformation scheduled for 22 and 23 April 2010 at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology will be funded by his department; if not, why not; if so,

(2) whether such funding has been pursued through a tender process; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW1317E

REPLY:

1. The costs of hosting the Summit at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology were met by donor funds and not voted funds.

2. Not applicable. See above response.

QUESTION 827

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 23/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 8 OF 2010

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) With which programme within his department is the responsibility of the compilation of the skills shortage audit vested;

(2) whether this programme works in collaboration with (a) training centres specific to certain industries, (b) technikons and (c) universities of technology in order to ensure that each of the individuals who graduate from these institutions are properly trained and equipped with relevant and marketable skills to secure employment within the fields in which they are trained; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW960E

REPLY:

(1) Historically this work was done by the Employment and Skills Development Services (ESDS) Branch (under the Department of Labour) but will now be located in the Skills Branch of the Department of Higher Education and Training.

(2) The compilation of the national scarce and critical skills list is based on Sector Skills Plans submitted annually by Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs). For the past 5 years, the preliminary draft of the National Scarce and Critical Skills List has been checked with the Skills Committee of government's economic cluster before being published. The Skills Development branch within the Department of Higher Education and Training will be responsible for evaluating SETA sector skills plans and compiling for draft list which will then be submitted to the Human Resources Development, Planning and Monitoring Coordination Branch for verification and publication.

The Council for Higher Education has the task of supporting Institutions of Higher Education to ensure that their qualifications are fit for purpose. The Qualifications Council for Trade and occupations will perform this role for trades and occupations. Until this is fully operational, the SETAs will continue to perform the Quality Assurance function.

QUESTION 306

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 2 OF 2010

Mr D A Kganare (Cope) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a) How many students attended first year studies at public universities in the past five years, (b) how many repeated their first year, (c) how many passed their first year, (d) what is the percentage of students that finish their degrees in under five years and (e) how much on average does it cost the Government for each student in each year in subsidies and student loans? NW323E

REPLY:

(a) Number of first time entering undergraduate students, from 2004 to 2008:

Year	Number of Students
2004	145 238
2005	135 293
2006	140 008
2007	152 125
2008	151 952

(b) This information is not available as institutions have different definitions for years of study. For example some institutions may require a student to repeat the first year if they fail subjects, where as another institution will regard a student in a similar position as a 2nd year student.

(c) Success rates of first time entering undergraduate students, from 2004 to 2008:

Year	Percentage Success Rate
2008	69.2
2007	69.1
2006	68.4
2005	69.7
2004	67.3

Note: This includes contact and distance students. The success rate is calculated by taking the number of courses passed by students at all the public higher education institutions and dividing by the number of courses for which they are enrolled.

(d) Based on a cohort study analysis for 2000 and 2001 first time entering undergraduate students in contact institutions, 40.8% and 40.7% students graduate within five years of study, respectively. Students registered for professional first bachelors' degrees are included in this study, however, the minimum duration of their qualifications may be longer than 4 years, e.g. the MBChB.

Note: The cohort study tracks the first time entering undergraduate students for a particular year in order to determine the percentage of students who drop out and who graduate within the minimum time plus 2 years. For contact institutions a minimum of 5 years data is required for tracking General 1st Bachelor's degrees and for the 4 or more years Professional Bachelor's degrees the study requires at least 8 years of data.

e) The average cost per student is presented in the table below.

Year	Head count enrolled students (A) (thousands)	Total State budget for universities 1) (B) (R billions)	Average State Budget per student (B/A) (R thousands)
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007	685 744 735 741 761	10.8 11.8 13.1 14.8 17.1	15.8 15.9 17.8 20.0 22.5

1) Students of year n determine the State funding of year n+2

The average cost per student has been calculated by taking the total state budget for Universities and dividing by the number of headcount students enrolled in the system. A headcount student is an unduplicated count of all students in the University system. This represents only the cost of the State through the subsidy and does not include private contributions or NSFAS where applicable. It does not include any analysis of the differentiated costs by discipline or institution within the system.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCE

FOR WRITTEN REPLY

QUESTION 307

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 27/08/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 23 OF 2010)

Mr D B Feldman (COPE-Gauteng) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) What strategies did his department use to increase the number of (a) young people and (b) adults who are accessing education at (i) technical and (ii) vocational centres during the period 1 July 2009 up to the latest specified date for which information is available?

CW403E

REPLY:

a) Strategies adopted by the Department to increase the number of young people who are accessing education at:

i. Technical Centres

In 2009, the department extended the phasing out of selected programmes of the National N Certificates: N4-6 and N Diploma qualifications offered at Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges. The extension came as the result of the need for Grade 12 learners to access further learning. The last date for examination of these programmes is November 2012 for N Certificates and December 2014 for N Diplomas.

Furthermore, the department has approved the extension of the phasing out of the National N Certificates: N1-N3 Engineering Studies. The extension period of the engineering studies ends when the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) offers occupational qualifications registered on the National Qualification Framework. Students enrolled on the N1-N3 programmes must be indentured by industry prior to enrolment. This allows industry to continue with their apprenticeship programmes until such time that these are replaced by the QCTO registered occupational qualifications.

ii. Vocational Centres

The department introduced a bursary scheme (NSFAS) for NCV programmes in order to increase the number of disadvantaged young people who are willing to access FET Colleges.

b) The Department has collaborated with provinces and stakeholders to advocate for access to adults accessing education at centres. Part of the advocacy has entailed community radio interviews with AET officials.

Interprovincial meetings have been held with AET officials on advocacy matters to develop contextual messages for adult learners.

When AET learners receive their GETC results, learners are also encouraged to look to Colleges to further their learning.

QUESTION 1596

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 14 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training

1. Whether he will permit the establishment of private medical schools; if not, why not; if so, when will they be established;

2. Whether his department had any discussions with the Department of Health on the establishment of private medical schools; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW1858E

REPLY:

1. In terms of the Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No 101 of 1997) (hereafter referred to as "the Act"), the Minister of Higher Education and Training has the authority to establish public higher education institutions including the establishment of medical schools. The Act however does not empower the Minister of Higher Education and Training to establish "private medical schools".

Section 51 of the Act states that no person other than a public higher education institution or an organ of state may provide higher education unless that person is, in the prescribed manner, registered or conditionally registered as a private higher education in terms of this Act.

Medical schools offer higher education programmes. If such a provider does not fit the definition of a public higher education institution or an organ of state, then that provider is required to establish a private higher education institution which operates as a "medical school" under the authority of the Registrar of Private Higher Education Institutions.

Since the Act permits the establishment of private medical schools if it meets the requirements for registration, the Minister may not prohibit the registration unless there are compelling reasons to do so.

2. No, there were no discussions with the Department of Health because the matter was never raise

QUESTION 1561

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 21/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 14 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training

1. Whether there are enough students in the education sector to meet the annual target of preparing the 15 000 to 18 000 teachers a year as estimated by his department for jobs in the school education sector; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

NW1820E

REPLY:

No, there are currently no sufficient students in teacher education programmes to meet the projected needs of the system.

The number of new teachers required each year is not a simple calculation as there are a variety of labour market forces influencing the teacher supply needs of Basic Education, including internal mobility of qualified teachers in and out of the labour market and foreign educators entering the system. It is estimated that the Higher Education and Training system should prepare approximately 15 000 new teachers annually across specific subjects and phases.

The table below provides an indication of initial teacher education (ITE) graduate output in 2007, and 2008 from the 21 Higher Education Institutions which offer initial teacher education programmes. The information provided in the table was submitted by the Higher Education Management and Information System officer at each institution in 2009, and provides the most accurate picture available. At the time that the information was collected, audited data for 2009 was not yet available. Audited graduate figures for 2009 will be available in October 2010.

Table 1: Graduate output in initial teacher education programmes

	Number of ITE graduates in 2007	Number of ITE graduates in 2008
Total graduates across all universities	5528	6009

It should be noted that these figures do not include graduates who may take up teaching positions without completing a formal initial teacher education qualification. However, the information confirms that the teacher education system needs to expand to at least double its 2008 graduate output over the next few years in order to meet the projected need for new teachers.

It is expected that 2009 figures will show a significant increase in graduate production, as the impact of the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme and the Teacher Recruitment Campaign become more evident. Since the introduction of the Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme there has been a significant increase in the enrolment of student teachers at Higher Education Institutions. The table below shows that the total Full-time equivalent (FTE) enrolment across all years in initial teacher education programmes increased by 25% from 2008 to 2009.

Table 2: Initial Teacher Education programmes: Growth in FTEs from 2008 to 2009

	FTEs 2008	FTEs 2009	% growth
Total FTEs in ITE across all institutions*	27747	34675	25.0%
*UNIVEN data not available

When the first year enrolment alone is considered, there was an increase of 35% in 2009, as compared to first year enrolment in 2008.

The issue of teacher preparation and provisioning is receiving attention in the new, strengthened, integrated Plan for Teacher Education and Development, which is being developed as a result of collaborative work that was started through the Teacher Development Summit held last year. The Plan proposes that institutional arrangements for teacher education and development be strengthened. In particular, it proposes that institutional capacity be increased through increasing the capacity of existing institutions to provide initial teacher education, and developing additional institutions where appropriate/necessary.

QUESTION 1385

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 07/05/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 12 OF 2010)

Dr H C van Schalkwyk (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) received 100% of its part of his department's budget allocated to Programme 2: Human Resource Management and Development in the 2008-09 financial year; if not, why not; if so, (a) what was the allocation for PSETA in Programme 2, (b) what percentage of this allocation was budgeted for (i) skills programmes, (ii) education and training quality assurance and (iii) learning programmes and (c) what percentage of the allocation was budgeted for salaries?

NW1622E

REPLY:

a. The PSETA receives budgetary support for its operations through the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) on an annual basis. The budget amount is determined by the DPSA and PSETA is then advised on the quantum of the budgetary support. The Seta does not take physical delivery of the money, but the money resides at the DPSA and is ring fenced for use by the PSETA. During the course of the year PSETA, through the Office of the Chief Executive Officer submits requests to the DPSA to procure goods and services and any expenditure incurred by the DPSA on behalf of the PSETA is set off against the ring fenced money on a draw-down facility. These expenses are recorded and accounted for as part of the DPSA expenditures in the relevant accounting period. In the 2008/09 financial year the PSETA was allocated a total of R20 575 000.00 to meet its operational expenses for the year. According to the expenditure report generated by the DPSA, PSETA used R14 748 883.00 of the allocated budget and the balance was retained by the DPSA.

The budget surplus that was recorded in 2008/09 (unused balance) was mainly due to the breakdown in relations between the PSETA and the DPSA which resulted in PSETA paying some of its operational expenses using the National Skills Fund (NSF) monies. The breakdown in relations resulted in the DPSA failing or refusing to honour some of the operational expenses that the PSETA had incurred and to avoid facing possible litigation by the service providers PSETA used the unused balance in the National Skills Fund account to meet these obligations on the understanding that the funds will be reimbursed from the DPSA managed and controlled Operational Fund when relations between the two entities healed. There are currently extensive discussions underway as part of the broader SETA Landscape discussions which are intended to heal the rifts and re-establish the PSETA on a widely accepted basis.

b. & c. The allocated funds were proportionately distributed amongst the major operational units as follows:

DESCRIPTION	PERCENTAGE ALLOCATED
Compensation to Employees	30%
Administration	25%
Education and Training Quality Assurance Unit	15%
Learnership Unit	15%
Skills Planning	15%
TOTAL	100%

QUESTION 998

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether any arrests and/or prosecution of students for drug and alcohol-related offences committed on the campus of any of the 23 universities and 50 Further Education and Training (FET) colleges have occurred; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1143E

REPLY:

Honourable Member is requested to note that the information is not available at the moment. It will be requested from the 23 public higher education institutions and the Members of the Executive Councils in the nine Provinces who are responsible for Further Education and Training Colleges and will be submitted once all institutions have replied.

QUESTION 148

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 11/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 1 OF 2010

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) How many (a) first-time first year students have registered at each university for 2010, (b) of these students are on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, (c) are recipients of other bursaries and (d) first year students are registered to study (i) education, (ii) accounting, (iii) engineering, (iv) medicine, (v) social work and (vi) geology;

(2) whether his department has implemented any new measures to reduce the high drop-out rate amongst the first and second year students; if not, why not; if so, what measures;

(3) whether these measures have proven to be effective in other countries and/or institutions; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? NW157E

REPLY:

1(a) Provisional data for 2010 shows that there are 161 184 first time entering students however institutions are still registering students and their 2nd semester enrolments only take place from June 2010. Please note that final audited figures will only be available later in the year.

1(b) This information is not available at this stage due to the requirements for individual loan agreements between each student and NSFAS.

(c) This information varies from institutions to institutions. Institutions are responsible for the disbursement of bursaries.

1(d) Number of first time entering, undergraduate students, in education, engineering, medicine, social work and geology, by institution, in 2008

Institution	Education	Accounting	Engineering	Medicine	Social Work	Geology
Cape Peninsula University of Technology	745	784	1 390	0	0	15
University of Cape Town	30	665	491	223	29	26
Central University of Technology, Free State	219	184	439	0	0	1
Durban Institute of Technology	103	707	1 126	0	33	0
University of Fort Hare	199	203	0	0	86	13
University of the Free State	1 615	303	0	150	32	19
University of Johannesburg	266	1 548	1 110	0	123	22
University of KwaZulu-Natal	626	946	407	213	93	28
University of Limpopo	1 642	72	0	208	51	6
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University	188	497	453	0	0	7
North West University	639	675	222	0	177	0
University of Pretoria	566	793	983	217	71	13
Rhodes University	0	208	0	0	0	15
University of South Africa	4 075	6 387	1 538	0	1 306	2
University of Stellenbosch	73	174	93	267	7	0
Tshwane University of Technology	1 034	960	1 664	0	0	35
University of Venda	269	225	58	0	109	24
Vaal University of Technology	147	524	1 517	0	0	0
Walter Sisulu University	939	672	315	113	93	0
University of Western Cape	77	8	0	0	0	0
University of Witwatersrand	526	494	578	202	27	26
University of Zululand	1 514	147	0	0	90	4
Mangosuthu University of Technology	0	408	868	0	0	0
TOTAL	15 490	17 585	13 252	1 593	2 327	256

Provisional data for 2010 can only be provided in October by institutions, as they are still registering students and their 2nd semester enrolments only take place from June 2010.

2. Institutions are being funded through the Foundation provisional grants to provide additional support and extended programmes to students that are underprepared. These Foundation provisional grants are a top up to address teaching and learning aspects such as staffing, equipment and facilities. Provision is also made in the infrastructure funding to address the improvement of efficiency in the teaching and learning experience. R430 million, R185 million and R1, 585 million have been allocated in the 2010/11 financial year for teaching development grants, foundation provision and infrastructure and efficiency funding respectively.

3. The effectiveness of these abovementioned strategies are monitored through progress reports submitted by each institution. There has been some improvement in the success rates; however it is still to early to determine the outcome of these.

QUESTION 472

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 4 OF 2010

Rev H M Dandala (Cope) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether he developed any plans to establish universities in (a) Mpumalanga and (b) Northern provinces that will make tertiary education easily accessible to the people in these provinces; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW548E

REPLY:

The National Institutes of Higher Education in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape are mandated, through the Higher Education Act, to coordinate the provision of higher education in these provinces. This co-ordinating function is managed through partnership agreements with universities operating in these provinces, i.e. UNISA, Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology and the University of Pretoria for the NIHE in Mpumalanga; and the University of the Free State, Central University of Technology and Vaal University of Technology for the NIHE in the Northern Cape.

The establishment of fully fledged universities in the said provinces remains a priority for this government. Part of this government's mandate is to ensure that universities are established in those provinces which do not have universities. In this regard, we have consulted and continue to consult with the NIHEs, provincial governments and stakeholders involved in the provincial delivery of higher education programmes in the relevant provinces. I will address this further in my budget speech.

Until the proposed model is approved, the National Institute of Higher Education in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape will remain the vehicle through which higher education is delivered in those provinces.

QUESTION 1028

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether he received the forensic audit report and other related documents in respect of the Tshwane South Further Education and Training College; if so,

(2) Whether he intends taking any action with regard to these documents; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1174E

REPLY:

(1) Member James is referred to the provisions of section 46 of the Further Education and Training Act (2006) and respectfully requested to note that the powers to investigate are with the MEC of Education.

The Gauteng Department of Education is keeping the Department of Higher Education and Training informed of the actions they are taking in terms of the FETC Act, 2006 (Act 16 of 2006). I have not received any forensic audit report in respect of the Colleges.

(2) In conjunction with the Member of the Executive Council responsible for the Gauteng Department of Education, I will take appropriate steps after all the reports have been considered.

QUESTION 1029

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

Whether he will close the sector education and training authorities and replace them with apprenticeships operating within well-established industries with recognised training centres; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1175E

REPLY:

I have no intention of closing the sector education and training authorities (SETAs). The member is respectfully requested to consider the functions of the SETA as outlined in the Skills Development Act (SDA). SETA's are advisory authorities which represent our social partners and which develop sectoral skills plans (SSPs) and administer the skills levy in that sector in alignment with the SSP and the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS). They have performed a quality assurance function, but this is to move to the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO).

I will not replace SETAs with apprenticeships as the the functions and purposes of these are not conceptually interchangeable. SETAs are advisory bodies. Apprenticeships are one of the routes to attaining artisan status. The member is respectfully referred to the Annual Reports and Strategic Plans of several SETA's, notably MERSETA, which explain the work done by SETA to support artisan training through both learnerships and apprenticeships systems.

The position in respect of SETA's is that we have now gazetted the proposed new SETA landscape for public comment. The position in respect of apprenticeships is that the DHET will through the QCTO establish the National Artisan Moderating Body (NAMB) as required in the SDA. As indicated in my budget speech, this is a priority

QUESTION 1030

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether any chief executive officers (CEOs) of the sector education and training authorities (Setas) (a) have been (i) handed over to the SA Police Service for investigation, (ii) arrested, (iii) prosecuted and (iv) convicted and (b) are serving prison sentences; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, (aa) which Setas' CEOs and (bb) what are the relevant details in each case;

(2) Whether any money have been retrieved as a result of such investigations and prosecutions; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details? NW1176E

REPLY:

1) I have not been informed of any actions as indicated in paragraph (1) of your question against any SETA or senior officials managing the SETAs.

2) In terms of my response to (1), this falls away

QUESTION 1031

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 30/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 9 OF 2010)

Mr G G Boinamo (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a) How many (i) black, (ii) Indian, (iii) coloured and (iv) white students have (aa) been trained, (bb) graduated and (cc) been placed in the (aaa) Auto, (bbb) plastic, (ccc) Metal and (ddd) New Tyre and Motor Chambers in terms of the Manufacturing Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (MERSETA), (b) how many of each of these categories of Chambers have students with disabilities and (c) what are the costs for each trainee? NW1177E

REPLY:

(a) (i) –( iv) & (aa) - (bb) & (aaa) – (ddd).The following students as indicated in the table below have been trained in the different chambers for the 2009/10 period :

FIELD	GROUP	NUMBERS
METAL	AFRICANS	54
METAL	COLOUREDS	10
METAL	INDIANS	3
METAL	WHITES	3
MOTOR	AFRICANS	23
MOTOR	COLOUREDS	2
MOTOR	INDIANS	1
MOTOR	WHITES	12
NEW TYRE	AFRICANS	2
PLASTIC	AFRICANS	2
PLASTIC	COLOUREDS	3

(cc) The MERSETA has indicated that their data not does not track placements, as it only focuses on training up until when a learner gets qualified. However, the SETA is in a process to implement a system that will track the learners' movements and placements.

(b) The following categories of chambers had learners with disabilities:

CHAMBER	RACE	DISABLED
AUTO	AFRICANS	19
AUTO	WHITES	1
METAL	AFRICANS	18
METAL	COLOUREDS	7
METAL	INDIANS	3
METAL	WHITES	5
MOTOR	AFRICANS	12
MOTOR	COLOUREDS	2
MOTOR	INDIANS	1
MOTOR	WHITES	5
PLASTIC	COLOUREDS	1

(c) The costs of each learner in the different learning programmes are as reflected in the table below:

Learning Programme	Cost per learner
Skills Programme	R190 per credit per learner
Learnership 18.1 Leanership 18.2	Primary Focus Learnerships : R25000 per learner Non-primary focus Learnerships: R18 500 per learner Bonus grants for people with disability R 10 000 per learner Primary Focus Learnerships: R20 000 per learner Non-primary focus Learnerships: R16 500 per learner Bonus grants for people with disability R 10 000 per learner Learner allowance is paid in accordance with the regulations
Apprenticeship	R90 000 per apprentice Bonus grants for people with disability R 10 000 per learner
New Venture Creation learnership Level 2 or Level 4:	Basic Grant R19 000 per learner. Bonus for people with disability R 10 000 per learner
Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)	ABET Placement Assessment: R150 per learner Levels 1 & 2 = R1800 per learning area Levels 3 & 4 = R2 500 per learning area
Training for sector specialists, assessors and moderators	· Assessors R3000 · Moderators R2500 · Mentors R2500 · SDFs R5000

QUESTION 496

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 05/03/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 6 OF 2010

Mr M L Fransman (ANC) to ask the Minister of Higher Education:

What (a) is the total budget of the National Skills Fund (NSF), (b) amount has been spent until November 2009, (c) amount of the 2009-10 budget has not been spent as at 1 November 2009, (d) amount of the 2009-10 budget has not yet been committed to a project as at 1 November 2009 and (e) is the amount of the NSF unspent allocations broken down in each province? NW586E

REPLY:

(a) The total approved 2009/10-budget of the National Skills Fund as at 1 November 2009 was –

R 3,470,479,000.

One of the reasons for the quite high budget amount is because the budget makes provision for an amount of R1,2 billion to support the Training Lay-off scheme as a result of the international economic crisis.

(b) The total expenditure of the National Skills Fund as at 1 November 2009 was –

R 537,363,000.

(c) The unspent part of the 2009/10-budget of the National Skills Fund as at 1 November 2009 was therefore – R 2,933,116,000.

Kindly note that the contractual commitments as at 01 November 2009 amounted to –

R 1,059,426,000. Also note that certain of these commitments are multi-year commitments, for instance the Business Processing Outsourcing and Off-Shoring (BPO&O) training grants linked to the DTI investment incentive programme are spread over a 3 year period from as per the approved incentive period per case.

It should further also be noted that at this point none of the R1,2 billion earmarked for the support of the Training Lay-off scheme was committed or spent.

(d) The 2009/10-budget not yet committed to a project as at 01 November 2009 amounted to –

R 1,174,860,000-00

(e) The amount of the NSF unallocated funds broken down in each province?

Of the abovementioned amount of R1,174,860 uncommitted funds R508,560 have been directly earmarked per province for the training of unemployed people related to the Social Development Initiatives funding programme of the National Skills Fund . The break-down per province are as follows:

Province	Budget 2009/10 (A)	Training contracts awarded at 31 Oct 2009 (Dept of Labour Prov Offices) (B)	Balance of previous years carried forward too 2009/10 (C)	Total Commitments [ B + C = D ] (D)	Total Expenditure (as at 1 November 2009) – payments of claims submitted by training providers (E)	Unallocated Balance [A – D]
Eastern Cape	135,742,393	23,993,011	796,160	24,789,171	2,482,963	110,953,222
Free State	37,339,028	3,380,040	1,410,263	4,790,303	797,415	32,548,725
Gauteng North	42,559,136	5,010,380	1,027,057	6,037,437	74,084	36,521,699
Gauteng South	102,279,675	55,391,395	349,269	55,740,664	2,922,358	46,539,011
KwaZulu Natal	61,502,481	0	105,254	105,254	1,082,035	61,397,227
Limpopo	26,622,028	5,901,751	11,389	5,913,140	221,334	20,708,888
Mpumalanga	30,541,447	5,996,431	431,435	6,427,866	302,588	24,113,581
Northern Cape	22,153,622	14,818,261	146,503	14,964,764	259,750	7,188,858
North West	71,580,333	9,213,062	3,314,258	12,527,320	1,378,707	59,053,013
Western Cape	74,330,120	0	153,146	153,146	153,146	74,176,974
BESD-Entrepreneur Development Programme * Gauteng North * Gauteng South * Northern Cape	23,000,000	11,162,583		11,162,583	0	11,837,417
		(3,814,805)
		(4,168,774)
		(3,179,004)
Daily Learner Allowance	24,521,120	999,056		999,056	999,055	23,522,064
Head Office	624,248	624,248		624,248	624,248	0
TOTAL	652,795,631	136,490,218	7,744,734	144,234,952	R 11,297,683	R 508,560,679

The transfer of the skills development function from the Department of Labour (DoL) to the new Department of Higher Education and Training from 1 November 2009 resulted the uncertainty at the DoL Provincial Offices to continue awarding training contracts for the training of unemployed people. This has since been resolved and now receiving the necessary attention.

A further amount of R500 million and R50 million have been earmarked for the Requests for Proposals respectively for the NSF Strategic Project Programmes and Capacity Building for Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that have been advertised in the media during 2009, and these proposals received are under consideration through the normal procurement adjudication processes. A breakdown per province is only available once the adjudication process has been completed.

The remaining balance of unallocated funds are related to –

(1) R 80 million earmarked for ABET-programmes which has been held back to determine whether the NSF should still continue to fund ABET programmes in the future.

(2) R25, 3 million available for BPO&O training grants. These funds are dependant on applications that the Department of Trade and Industry receive from interested qualifying investors for BPO&O incentives and applications approved by the BPO&O Adjudication Committee. Training incentive grants has since been awarded to qualifying applicants during November 2009 to February 2010 and the current available balance as at end February 2010 is R8, 6 million.

(3) R10 million earmarked for the capacity building of members of the National Skills Authority constituency organisations. This programme is currently receiving attention.

QUESTION 1102

DATE OF PUBLICATION OF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 19/04/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 10 OF 2010)

Mr R B Bhoola (MF) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(1) Whether there are specific criteria for funding poor children to advance their tertiary education; if so, what are the relevant details?

(2) Whether there is a National student Financial Aid Scheme (NASFAS) office in Durban; if not, why not; if so what are relevant details?

NW1099E

REPLY:

1. The National Student Financial Aid Scheme(NSFAS) was established by Government as the primary instrument for providing financial support for poor students who wish to advance their tertiary education. The current distribution model is based on the historical equity profile of students at institutions and the means test to allocate funds to institutions and individuals. Based on an annual estimation of the number of students that are eligible for financial assistance and through the financial means test with joint family income of less than R122 000, allocations are made to each institution by the NSFAS.

Two criteria are important in determining allocation:

- NSFAS funding is dependent on the student being granted and retaining an academic place at a HEI;

- NSFAS funding is dependent on determining the degree of financial need of the family of the student who has been granted an academic place at a public HEI through the NSFAS means test.

2. NSFAS has a national head office in Cape Town but no provincial or regional offices. It must be noted that students apply for NSFAS through public higher education institutions and not through NSFAS directly.

QUESTION 399

DATE OF PUBLICATION IF INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER: 26/02/2010

(INTERNAL QUESTION PAPER 4-2010)

Dr W G James (DA) to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training:

(a) What (i) vehicles, (ii) aircraft and (iii) properties are currently owned by her department and (b) with regard to each item, (i) when was it purchased, (ii) how much did it cost and (iii) for what reason was it purchased? NW472E

REPLY:

(a) (i) Mercedes Benz ML320 CDI and BMW 750i.

(ii) The Department does not own any aircraft.

(iii) The Department does not own any property.

(b) (i) - Mercedes Benz ML 320 CDI – Purchased on 19 March 2008.

- BMW 750i - Purchased on 25 June 2009.

(ii) - Mercedes Benz ML 320 CDI – Purchase price – R576 379.98.

- BMW 750i - Purchase price – R1 110 750.01.

(iii) - Mercedes Benz ML 320 CDI – Purchased as official vehicle for the former

Minister of Education in Cape Town.

- BMW 750i - Purchased as official vehicle for the Minister of Higher Education and Training

It may be noted that following the re-organisation of government after the 2009 elections, the Department is in the process of transferring assets from the Department of Labour, which will be effective as from 1st April 2010.