ATC130627: Report of the Portfolio Committee On Higher Education and Training on the Strategic and Annual Performance Plans 2013/14 Of The Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and Council On Higher Education (CHE), dated 19 June 2013

REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING ON THE STRATEGIC AND ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLANS 2013/14 OF THE QUALITY COUNCIL FOR TRADES AND OCCUPATIONS (QCTO) AND COUNCIL ON HIGHER EDUCATION (CHE), DATED 19 JUNE 2013

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training, having considered the Strategic and Annual Performance Plan (APP) 2013/14 of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO) and Council on Higher Education (CHE) reports as follows:

1. Introduction

The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training considered the Annual Performance Plan and (Medium Term Expenditure Framework) MTEF Budget 2013/14 of the QCTO and CHE on 22 May 2013. This report captures a summary of the presentations made by both Councils to the Committee, focusing essentially on the Annual Performance Plans 2013/14 which were presented in conjunction with the Strategic Plans that were tabled in Parliament on 08 April 2013 for consideration and reporting by the Committee. The report further recaptures observations and recommendations made by the Committee during deliberations on some of the key aspects of the presentations.

2. Background

The Strategic and Annual Performance Plans of public entities were extremely valuable sets of information to the Committee in exercising its oversight role. Engaging with public entities on these documents was very critical in scrutinising allocations of public funds and monitoring their utilisation. The annual performance targets of the entities were also scrutinised to ensure that they were in line with the Department’s mandate of expanding access to post school education and training opportunities for the young people of the country. Moreover, effective oversight and transparency were requirements for effective accountability which was the responsibility of the Committee. This was the overarching role of the Committee to invite public entities to account before it.

Portfolio Committee on Higher Education & Training:

Present: Ms N Gina (ANC), Mr S Makhubele (ANC), Adv I Malale (ANC) (Chairperson), Prof S Mayatula (ANC), Mr C Moni (ANC), Ms D Sibiya (ANC), Dr L Bosman (DA), Prof A Lotriet (DA), Mr A Mpontshane (IFP) and Mr J Dikobo (AZAPO).

Apologies: Ms D Chili (ANC) and Mr S Radebe (ANC).

Support Staff: Mr A Kabingesi (Committee Secretary), Ms M Modiba (Content Adviser), Mr L Komle (Researcher), Ms T Majone : Committee Assistant and Mr F Mohale: Media Officer.

The following were present:

Quality Council for Trades and Occupations:

Ms N Madilonga : Chief Financial Officer and Mr T Lata : Chief Director.

Council on Higher Education:

Mr A Essop : Chief Executive Officer, Ms B Shongwe : Chief Financial Officer and Prof B Taaver : Council Member.

Department of Higher Education and Training:

Mr T Tredoux : Chief Financial Officer, Mr F Toefy : Chief Director Strategic Planning, Mr M Lumka : Chief Director SETA Coordination, Ms M Erra : Director, Ms P Whittle: Director, Ms N Nqaba : Parliamentary Liaison Officer Minister’s Office, Mr S Zondi : Parliamentary Liaison Officer Deputy Minister’s Office, Ms P Sekgobela : Assistant Director Director General’s Office and Mr B Bingwa : Intern.

3. Summary of presentations

3.1 Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO)

· Ms N Madilonga : Chief Financial Officer informed the Committee of the apologies submitted by the Chief Executive Officer who was due to arrive in the country the following day and the Chairperson who was admitted in hospital for surgical procedures.

· The Committee raised concern regarding the format of the presentation submitted by the QCTO in that, it did not articulate on specific targets and programme of action as required by the Committee. Subsequent to this concern, the Committee was not prepared to proceed with the presentation without the accounting authority of the QCTO present. It was proposed that the QCTO should revise the presentation so that it can articulate to specific requirements of the Committee.

· The QCTO welcomed the proposal of the Committee and indicated that it would liaise with the Department to improve the layout of the presentation. It was further noted that the QCTO was undergoing a very difficult transitional trajectory in determining its mandate. It was agreed that a new date for the meeting with the QCTO would be set and communicated accordingly.

3.2 Council on Higher Education

Mr A Essop : Chief Executive Officer led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues:

· The Committee was informed that the CHE did not have a Council Chairperson and the process of appointment of the new Chairperson was spearheaded by the Department. The Deputy Chairperson also submitted an apology for the meeting owing to other commitments.

· The core functions of the CHE included: providing advice to the Minister on any aspect of higher education; quality assurance; qualifications framework and to publish information and reports on state of higher education.

· Proactive advice on the role of public higher education colleges (Agriculture and Nursing) was provided to the Minister.

· Based on monitoring the state of higher education; it emerged that 50% of young people in higher education drop-out without completing their degrees and only 30% of students from all backgrounds completed their degrees in regulation time. The Council held a view that there may be a gap between schooling and higher education and thus established a task team to investigate the causes of dropout.

· The CHE planned to conduct research on: 20 years review of the state of higher education; institutional governance and management investigating whether the current tools (independent assessment and placing institutions under administration) were effective in improving governance and management; the state of provision of private higher education; role of National Benchmark Tests ( NBTs ) in partnership with the Council for Quality Assurance in General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi); changing nature of the academic profession and funding formula which would be different from the one commissioned by the Minister.

· The CHE requested higher education institutions to work together on sharing of best practices to improve student success in higher education. Deputy Vice-Chancellors of Academic Learning and Research in universities were engaged on this matter and it would be concluded in July 2013. However, the main challenge was that currently universities operated in a competitive way and were not keen to collaborate. The CHE planned to convene a Seminar on higher education in September 2013 and the Committee would be invited.

· The challenges of monitoring and evaluation including administration had since been addressed and capacity had improved.

· The Council completed a cycle of institutional audits and in December 2012, it approved the Framework for Quality Enhancement.

· The Council anticipated a request from the Department for accreditation of programmes for the two new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape . However, the challenge was how to accredit them owing to the six months period required in completing the accreditation process.

· The process for the review of Bachelor of Social Work (B.SW) degree was underway and would be completed by mid 2014.

· Budget 2013/14: The total allocation for CHE in 2013/14 was R46 million and majority of the allocation R41 million came from the Departmental grant. The total personnel cost for the year under review was R25.8 million and goods and services amounted to R19.8 million. The CHE required additional funding to fulfill its mandate and it would utilise its surplus to complement the shortage.

4. Observations

4.1. The Committee noted the following progress made by CHE:

· The Council provided proactive advice to the Minister given that it had research capacity to do so.

· Monitoring and Evaluation Directorate had been fully capacitated to conduct monitoring and evaluation activities.

4.2 The Committee identified the following concerns:

· There were delays by the Department in the appointment of the new Chairperson of the CHE Council.

· The programmes to be offered by the two new universities in Mpumalanga and Northern Cape were not yet submitted to the CHE for accreditation to be ready for 2014.

· The Further Education and Training (FET) college lecturer qualification had not yet been submitted to the CHE for accreditation.

· The mismatch in the financial statements of the CHE presented to the Committee and requested that they be corrected to reflect the full budget that includes roll over of surplus funds.

4.3 The Committee commended the proposal by University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in making isiZulu compulsory for all students and proposed that other higher education institutions should consider the promotion of African languages.

5. Recommendations:

The Committee recommends that the Minister should:

· Finalise the process of appointing the Chairperson of the CHE without further delays.

· Ensure that the programmes of the two new universities are submitted to the CHE for accreditation to be ready for 2014.

In addition, the Committee further recommends that:

· Accreditation of Further Education and Training (FET) college lecturer qualification be prioritised.

6. Conclusion

It can be noted that the APP presented by CHE reflected an improvement in the entity’s evaluation and monitoring role which was a serious concern for the Committee in the previous years. The entity’s capacity had been augmented in order to fulfil its mandate with the limited funding it had. The CHE was robustly advised to move towards providing more pro-active advisory role to the Minister. The financial statements presented by CHE reflected reasonable financial management although there were reported cases of under spending in the previous financial year which remained a concern for the Committee.

Report to be considered