NEHAWU.

Student Representative Council: Mr U Msuthu: President, Mr R Sigqibo: Deputy Chairperson, Mr B Motsie: Secretary and Mr N Quntana: Education and Transformation Officer.

3.7 Department of Higher Education and Training representation Ms T Futshane: Acting Chief Director Vocational and Continuing Education and Training, Mr A Singh: Director, Ms B Swart: Director University Education, Mr D Maluleke: Deputy Director, Ms N Balfour: Deputy Director Eastern Cape Coordination and Ms P Sekgobela: Acting Parliamentary Liaison Officer Director-General's Office.

4. Summary of presentations

4.1 Walter Sisulu University a) Background Dr S Matoti, Director, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: WSU was established on 01 July 2005 in terms of the Higher Education Act No. 101 of 1997, as amended. The new university was named in honour of an icon of the South African liberation struggle, the late Walter Sisulu. Between 2002 and 2005, the South African higher education landscape underwent an extensive merger and incorporation process to bring about a more equitable dispensation to meet the requirements of a fast-developing, new democratic nation. The existing 36 universities and technikons were merged in various ways to produce 23 universities divided into three categories: . Traditional academic universities, . Comprehensive Universities (which offered both academic and technological qualifications) and, . Universities of Technology.

WSU was particularly uniquely positioned to play a powerful role in the national government's new focus on rural development. Over 25 000 students (6 078 first time candidates) and approximately 2500 staff lived and worked across four campuses with 13 delivery sites in Mthatha, Butterworth, East London and Queenstown. WSU consisted of 89% undergraduate and 4% postgraduate enrolments. The racial composition of students was 99.2% African and 56% were females.

Now into its seventh year of existence, WSU was, in October 2011, placed under administration at the request of the Council, Management and WSU stakeholders. An Administrator, Prof L van Staden, was appointed by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr B Nzimande for a period of two years to lead WSU's turnaround. Therefore, WSU was undergoing a massive turnaround strategy to improve infrastructure and review academic enterprise, financial sustainability, human resources and drive change management.

b) Admission Policy Mr K Maphinda: Director of Governance and Academic Administration led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Registration as a student of WSU was conducted according to the General Student Rules as specified in the General Prospectus and as approved by Senate. . The general requirement for admission to degree programmes was a Matriculation endorsement of the National Senior Certificate. The general requirement for admission to diploma / certificates programmes was a senior certificate or NSC (endorsed for diploma / certificate admission). . An applicant who held a senior certificate and a three-year recognized diploma and had been granted a matriculation exemption by the Matriculation Board was admitted to a Bachelors Degree course irrespective of age. . The university had a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) policy in place to admit experienced candidates who lacked the NSC qualification. c) Enrolment Plan Dr S Matoti, Director, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Based on the 2010 figures, WSU had 26 734 headcount enrolments of which 6078 were first time entering undergraduates. . WSU consisted of 89% undergraduates and 4% postgraduate enrolments. Approximately 57% were enrolled in undergraduate diplomas and certificates and 32% in undergraduate degrees, 2.4% were enrolled in postgraduate to below Masters degree qualification, 1.3% in Masters degrees and 0.1% in Doctoral degrees. The university did not offer distance education. . The majority of students were enrolled in Business Management (32%), followed by 28% of enrolments in Science, Engineering and Technology, 23% in other Humanities and 17% in Education. . The headcount totals should be 26 700 in 2013, graduates should increase to 4906 from 3551 in 2010 and the targeted success rate for 2013 was 73.4% compared to 68% in 2010.

d) Transformation Charter Dr S Matoti, Director, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The Transformation Charter was a product of broad consultation of different stakeholders within the university. The Transformation Indaba was held in 2009 and stated that there was a need for a transformation programme to be implemented over a five year period. . WSU accepted all students from different races, regardless of their gender, cultural background, language, economic and social background. . WSU developed six strategic initiatives to transform the university, namely; a learning and teaching charter and research agenda, fostering equity and non-discrimination, an engaged university, creating an excellent student life experience, resource mobilization and creating a WSU culture and identity.

e) Management of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) bursary Mr T Mashalaba, Director Financial Accounting, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . NSFAS loans and bursaries made up 82% of WSU student fee income. The total allocation of the NSFAS funding for the 2012 academic year was R251 million and 5654 students were not allocated NSFAS bursaries owing to the huge demand. . The challenges in funding were extensive owing to the demand for financial assistance which exceeded the supply. . WSU was using very old ITS version system for the capturing of student data who qualified for NSFAS. Other institutions were using Integrator II which was fast and very effective. . The Financial Aid Office of the institution was in a poor condition. The documents were being kept in card boxes underneath the tables, photocopy and printing machines were not properly functioning, more than 50% of the computers were bought before 2002 and used old programmes, furniture in the office was in poor state and 18 staff members had been on contract for the past five years. . The shortfall of the NSFAS funding was R28 million and the university required an additional R78 million to cater for all the needs of students.

f) Student success and drop out rate Prof L van Staden, Administrator, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The success rate of the university was 68% in 2010 and among the lowest in South Africa. The national benchmark success rate was 80% and the university targeted a 73% success rate in 2013. The throughput rate was 14% as compared to the national benchmark of 25%. Academic performance in terms of teaching output was poor. . The university had a foundation learning and development programme that provided opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds to access higher education. . The inadequate student pass rate of the university was affected by various factors such as under-preparedness, poor financial backgrounds and other social challenges.

g) Success and challenges of the university Ms A Church: Acting Director Marketing, Communications and Development led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . WSU had more than 25 000 students with 2500 staff members. Half of the population of the Eastern Cape was educated by the university. The university was the only institution of the three higher education institutions with a Medical School in the province. . The university was working with the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) to produce Chartered Accountants and 100 students were already enrolled for the programme. . WSU had a research chair in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and various community engagements on HIV programmes in rural areas. . A major turnaround strategy had been submitted to the Minister. The university was financially bankrupt and 80% of its budget went to salaries of personnel staff. . The merger of the university was incomplete. Currently, there were three payrolls of staff from the three merged institutions. There was no harmonization of conditions of service of personnel staff. . The administrator submitted a proposal of R1.7 billion to overhaul the entire institution. There was a serious backlog of dilapidated infrastructure and student residences were not conducive to learning. . The two legacy institutions before the merger were also bankrupt; hence the university had been operating on a deficit for the past five years.

h) National Tertiary Educators Union (NTEU) Prof B Nakani, Chairperson, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Lack of communication and consultation with the university stakeholders remained a serious concern for the union. There was a complete disregard of human resource management policies by management. WSU employed 45 directors who were not involved in teaching and there was extensive use of consultants by the university. . The merger of the three institutions was only on paper. Operations on different sites were still separate and the Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) did not cater for articulation from vocational education to degree programmes. . High academic staff turnover remained a serious concern for the union.

i) NEHAWU Ms M Yamaphi: Chairperson, NEHAWU, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The union was extremely concerned that the Committee came at a very late stage to the university when the situation was critical. Since the appointment of the Administrator in October 2011, the situation in the university had deteriorated. . A huge gap existed between the Technical Task Team of the Administrator and the university stakeholders. A stakeholder's summit convened by the Administrator was held in East London for two days. It was meant to develop a roadmap for a turn-around strategy for the university. . The report of the Administrator on the stakeholder's summit identified key focus areas of which some of the Technical Task Team members did not have experience. NEHAWU wanted experienced people to be appointed to lead those areas since the current team of the Administrator was failing. . There was no improvement in student registration and unfortunately a student died during this period owing to student protests. . The human resource department was managed by a consultant who was not fully dedicated to the university. NEHAWU proposed for the dismissal of consultants in the Technical Task Team. . The human resource management policies were not implemented by the Technical Task Team. Certain students from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) were appointed to senior management posts without having the necessary experience. . Inadequate implementation of supply chain management policies remained a serious concern. There were appointments of companies without following the proper tendering procedures. . There was a conflict of interest in the company (Fastrack) which was awarded a tender to turnaround financial systems of the university, since the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) owned it. . The consultants employed by the university were being paid large fees without completing their duties efficiently. The consultants did not transfer their skills to staff members so that they can be capacitated. Most of the consultants used the university credit card and they made duplication payments. . An amount of R460 000 was paid to a Pretoria company that designed the SRC constitution and some consultants had a vested interest in the company.

Recommendations of NEHAWU: . The merger of the university should be reviewed. . A team of highly experienced experts should be appointed and services of consultants should be terminated by 30 June 2012. . The Administrator should review his terms of reference and perform accordingly. The deadline to meet his targets was 30 September 2012. . The harmonisation of conditions of services should be prioritised by the Administrator and his team. . A retention strategy should be developed to address the high staff turn over experienced by the university. j) Student Representative Council (SRC) Mr S Gavu, Premier of the SRC, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The SRC was concerned that the Administrator came from an institution (Tswane University of Technology) that was also under administration and that WSU had become a colony of TUT. The student leadership was not invited in the stakeholder's summit held in East London by the Administrator. . Finance: The finance department was currently headed by consultants who worked three days a week in the university and were unable to address all financial queries of students. . Student Affairs: The report of the Independent Assessor noted serious concerns regarding the management of student affairs at WSU. The challenges of students got worse since the Administrator was appointed. Former students of TUT occupied positions of managers in this department without the necessary experience. Inadequate student support services remained a serious concern. . Academic Enterprise: The current infrastructure was unable to accommodate the number of students registered in the university. The majority of Computer Laboratories were dysfunctional, with very few computers (100 computers for 7000 students). . Human Resources: A shortage of lecturers remained a serious concern for students. The students had never met the Administrator and were not aware of his Technical Task Team. Certain staff members had been appointed as consultants. Senior managers who were employed before the Administrator was appointed still occupied their positions. . Safety and Security: Three students lost their lives within the campus owing to crime this year alone. The three security companies hired by the university were not competent to protect students from criminals.

k) Visit to residences The Committee observed the following during its visit to student residences: . The conditions at the student residences were not conducive for learning. . The buildings were old and required urgent refurbishment. . The geysers were not functioning properly and students had to bath in cold water. . The roofs of some residences were leaking which posed serious challenges during the rainy season. . There were no elevators in any of the residences on Campus for students with disabilities. . Some of the kitchens shared by students did not have functioning electric stoves. . The showers and toilet facilities were in very bad condition.

4.2 University of Fort Hare a) History and context Dr M Tom: Vice-Chancellor led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The university was founded in 1916 as a non-racial higher education institution to meet the needs of the black population. It became designated as a university for blacks in 1985 and remained a centre of anti-apartheid resistance until 1994. The first black Vice-Chancellor was appointed in the university in 1991. . The university experienced a financial and administrative crisis in 1998. During this period, there was a decline in enrolments due to the financial crisis. Recovery plans began in 2000 and by the year 2001, the university had increased its enrolment to more than 10 000 students. . In 2004, the university became the only historically black university to incorporate a campus of a historically white university (Rhodes University) following a national restructuring of higher education. . The university was the only higher education institution in the world to produce five different leaders of African countries. Some of the well known students included; Dr N Mandela, President R Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Hon Y Lule, Archbishop D Tutu, Mr R Sobukwe, Mr C Hani and many other leaders. . The university was situated on the south-eastern coast of South Africa. It had three campuses straddling a distance of 120km, from Alice to East London. The university served one of the poorest regions of South Africa, helping to bring students from areas sidelined from development into the mainstream of the national economy. . Alice Campus: The buildings in the campus were old and needed extensive refurbishment. Lecture venues were old, outdated and inadequate. Residences needed renovation and an additional space for 2000 beds. The library was too small and the university planned to build a new library to celebrate its centenary in 2016. The university had a Dairy Farm which aimed to benefit nearby communities. There was also a Nguni Project with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) to purchase cows to the value of R2.7 million to be given to local communities. . Bisho Campus: The campus was developed specifically to train and develop public servants for the province. The campus was small, new and modern, opened in 1990. . East London Campus: This campus was incorporated from Rhodes University in 2004. It was a small campus in the downtown area of East London which consisted of well maintained and modified buildings. The campus was currently beyond its capacity. There was a shortage of large lecture venues and a lack of residences remained a serious concern. . Enrolments: The university had a total headcount of 11 982 students in 2011 of which 9208 were undergraduates. In terms of demographics, 94% students were African, 4% White and 2% Indian. Female students made up 56% of the student population and 87% of students were South Africans and 10% were Zimbabweans.

b) Transformation Plan, Graduation Rate and Staff Profile Dr J Mjwara, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Institutional Support, led the presentation, which highlighted the following key issues: . The objectives of the transformation plan of the university were to meet the learning needs and aspirations of learners, to address development needs of society and provide the labour market with qualified and caring professionals, to contribute to the socialization of enlightened, responsible and critical citizens and to contribute to the creation, sharing and evaluation of knowledge. . The barriers to transformation included; the perception that transformation was for certain people, inconsistent governance, a failure to set realistic time-frames, a lack of institutional buy in and a lack of resources. . The pass rate of the university was 83% of the registered courses; the graduation rate was 23% above the national average of 21%. . Based on 2010 figures, permanent staff headcount was 712 of which 429 were professional staff. Of the 292 instruction research professionals, 33% had PhD, 24% had Masters degrees and 25% other qualifications. The ratio of FTE students to FTE instruction staff was 1:29. . The total allocation of the NSFAS bursary at UFH increased to 19.3% from R104.3 million to R124.5 million in 2012.

c) Unions Mr T George led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The union was extremely concerned with the dilapidated infrastructure of the university. The university's inability to attract and retain best students and academic staff remained a serious concern. . The geographic location of the Alice campus was a concern since Alice was a small town with inadequate social activities. The town was under- developed and 70% of the houses in the town were owned by the Department of Public Works. The union would like these houses to be allocated to the academic staff of the university owing to the lack of adequate accommodation in the area. . There was serious biasness towards the East London campus in terms of infrastructure development resulting in the Alice campus being ignored. . The current funding formula did not take into account the historical background of UFH. There was a need for a redress funding to develop the infrastructure of the university. . The university should be declared a heritage site since it had historical buildings that were part of the history of the country. . The relationship between the management of the university and the union was cordial. Management had an open door policy and the union participated in council meetings.

d) Student Representative Council Mr S Mbewu, President of the SRC, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Registration: The process of registration in the university was very chaotic at the beginning of the year. There were serious allegations of corruption being investigated which included the sale of application forms to students by support staff. . Accommodation: The majority of students registered in the university were from very poor backgrounds and deep rural areas. The university residences were in a very poor condition and not conducive for learning. A student had died due to a fire which broke out in one of the residences. There was an urgent need to refurbish and expand the residences. The university did not own all the residences in East London and private owners charged exorbitant prices for accommodation. . NSFAS: The current allocation of the NSFAS bursary was not sufficient to cater for all the students needs. Many students living in university residences did not have a food and book allowance and, as a result, some of them dropped-out of the university.

4. 3 Buffalo City FET college a) Historical Background and context Mr D Singh, Principal, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Buffalo City FET college was established in 2002 as a result of the merger of three Colleges, namely, East London College and its St Marks Campus, Border Technical College and Knox Bokwe Careers College in Mdantsane. . The Border Technical College premises had since closed down and its Business Studies programme absorbed into the East London Campus and its Engineering Division into St Marks Campus . The college had two specialized campuses, namely, the School of Business based at the East London Campus, the School of Engineering based at the John Knox Bokwe Campus in uMdantsane and the School of Occupational Training based in Southernwood. . The college had a plan to open another campus at the Greater Kei Local municipality which would focus on Agriculture and Tourism. . The college currently served the surrounding Buffalo City and Amathole District Municipality and attracted students from Mdantsane, East London, King Williams Town and Zwelitsha. A significant number of students were also attracted from Cofimvaba, Umtata and Butterworth which were accommodated in the College's hostel facilities.

b) Admission Policy . The purpose of the admission policy was, inter alia, to provide a support structure and a frame of reference for the College to apply an admissions and registration policy.

. To determine authority, development, approval, and issues pertaining to the admission of learners at College; to provide guidelines for the Buffalo City College Further Education and Training College (hereinafter referred to as college) to admit students without unfairly discriminating in any way, including on the grounds of race, ethnic or social origin, socio-economic status, gender, sexual orientation, religion, belief, culture, language, pregnancy, HIV/AIDS status or disability; and to determine minimum admission requirements in respect of specific college programmes.

. To determine the number of students who may be admitted for a particular college programme and the manner of their selection.

. To determine the minimum requirements for re-admission to study at the College.

. To refuse re-admission of a student who failed to satisfy such minimum requirements for re-admission.

. To provide for the cancellation of registration of learners in terms of the policy of relevant college policy, e.g. Finance, Teaching and Learning Policy and Attendance Policy.

c) Headcount Enrolments 2011/12

. During the 2011 academic year the college had 2,567 students enrolled for NC(V) across the three Levels and 4, 035 students enrolled for the Report 191 Programmes for N1 -N6. . For the 2012 academic year the college had 2624 students enrolled for the NC(V) Programme and 1461 students enrolled for the Report 191 Programmes. Of the 1461 Report 191 students 737 are registered for Engineering studies at N2 - N6, and 724 for Business and other programmes. The college currently has no N1 Engineering students.

d) Staff Profile

. The college currently had 301 staff members, 170 of these are employed on a full time basis by the Provincial Department of Education, 69 employed are full time employees employed by the College Council and 62 are temporarily employed by the College Council.

e) Partnership with industries

. The college had formed partnerships with the South African Revenue Services (SARS) and Bunono Engineers who offered work-based experiential training to learners. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SARS was signed in March 2012 and the MoU with Bunono was still in draft form. . Eskom offered bursaries to the Report 191 Engineering students as well as learnerships to the same students. . The relationship with the ETDP SETA was to train the lecturers to obtain a formal teaching qualification though the Vocational Education Orientation Programme (VEOP).

f) College challenges

. There was currently no Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in the college. . There was no seed capital to start new projects. . There was a lack of specialist experienced staff e.g. IT, Auditor, Accountant, artisan trainer. . There was a lack of student accommodation. . There was no new staff establishment by DHET for the college. . There was a resistance to change by some staff members. . The late release of exam results by the Department resulted in student protests. . There were outstanding certificates - NCV and 191. . There was no PERSAL system at the college.

g) Unions Mr M Mfazwe: Deputy Branch Chairperson of SADTU led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Since the promulgation of the Further Education and Training Colleges (FETC) Act No 16 of 2006, employees employed by the college council were affected the most. There was no harmonization of the conditions of service between the state and college council employees. . The working conditions in the college remained a serious concern for the union. There was a shortage of lecturers in relation to the growing number of students. . The labour unions of the college had a good relationship with college management and were consulted on critical issues affecting the college. h) The Student Representative Council Mr M Zwide, Deputy President, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . SRC Workshop: The SRC of the college had a workshop in Port Alfred where it discussed its implementation plan. Out of the workshop deliberations, the SRC developed its community outreach programme and training and development programme to capacitate its members. . Relationship with management: The SRC had a cordial relationship with the management of the college. Management had an open door policy to discuss any critical issues with the college stakeholders. The SRC was able to resolve challenges with management of the college and it also participated in the governance of the college. . Results: The late release of results was the main concern for all students of the college. Students who had completed their National Certificate Vocational NC(V) last year had not yet received their certificates and this disadvantaged students in terms of their progress to continue with their studies or seek employment. . NC(V): Students were seriously concerned with the NC(V) qualification since it was not recognised by industries and some universities did not accept students with NC(V). The Department should advocate the NC(V) and make industry aware of its importance. . Accommodation: Shortage of accommodation remained a serious challenge for the college. Majority of students in the college came from rural areas outside East London and were unable to obtain accommodation in the college. There was currently no residence policy in place at the college.

4.4 Lovedale FET college a) Student Representative Council Mr L Bolana, President of SRC led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . The SRC was extremely concerned with current leadership of the higher education and training landscape of the country. . The late release of the NC(V) and Report 191 results remained a serious concern for students of the college. . Students had a serious challenge with the transport grant from NSFAS. Certain students did not obtain the R6000 allocated for transport costs and were struggling to travel to the college on a daily basis due to the high cost. . The NSFAS bursary allocation for students was inadequate. The bursary did not cover meal vouchers for students staying in residences. Majority of students received the bursary late during the academic year which caused some to drop out. . Students were being taught by unqualified lecturers who lacked a sound knowledge of subjects resulting in a high failure and drop out rate. b) Unions Mr E Mefu, the FET Coordinator of NEHAWU led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Uniformity in the conditions of service between state-employed and college council employed staff remained a serious concern. The contracts of college employed staff were different and they did not obtain benefits enjoyed by state employees. . The college employed staff members who have been on contract for more than 10 years. The shortage of staff remained a serious concern for the college. Lecturers were overburdened with work owing to the high student / lecturer ratio. . The late delivery of textbooks affected learning and some textbooks had not yet been delivered to the college. Training at the college was biased towards lecturing staff while support staff were not offered any formal training. . College staff did not belong to any bargaining council and their conditions of service depended on the decisions of council. The college council was not fully functional and did not prioritise the needs of its employees.

c) History and context Mr N Stofile, Principal, led the presentation which highlighted the following key issues: . Lovedale started as a mission station in 1824, on the Tyume River in Alice. John Bennie of the Glasgow Mission Society of Scotland founded Lovedale through the influence of Dr John Love, after whom the mission was named. . In 1838 a small dwelling and church school were established at the mission and by the end of this year the school had 132 pupils. The educational institution of Lovedale was officially opened on 21 July 1841. The first principal was Rev. William Govan, after whom Govan Mbeki, former member of the African National Congress (ANC), was named. . In 2002, a merger between three institutions, namely, East London College, Zwelethemba College and Lovedale Community College gave birth to Lovedale FET College. Today, the Lovedale FET College consists of three campuses (Alice, King Williams Town and Zwelitsha), each one addressing particular needs of the community.

d) Challenges Student Challenges . Absenteeism owing to the lack of transport funds and delays in NSFAS processes. . Irregular attendance during assessments. . Insufficient career guidance and support. . The lack of academic support and a foundational programme for high risk students.

Lecturer Challenges . The lecturing staff, especially in engineering studies had challenges in teaching methodology. . The majority of lecturers were incapable of balancing theory and practical components of the NC(V) curricula. . The lack of planning and managing of the actual teaching and delivery of the curricula. . The lack of support from industry and local business in forming partnerships for lecturing staff.

Administrative challenges . Insufficient classrooms to accommodate increased student enrolments. . College inability to employ staff members on a fixed contract owing to the new labour regulations, which meant that the college cannot retain its staff members. . The Department's FET college bursary scheme allocation was not sufficient. . Administrative assistance from the district office was non-existent. . Absence of PERSAL for the college made it difficult to manage staff appointments and withdrawals.

Bursary Administration challenges . The students' lack of understanding of what bursary and registration forms were designed for. . Students submitting incomplete forms, which in turn delayed the bursary process. . Students not informed timeously about the outcome of their bursary application . That students would only receive 90% of the NSFAS bursary owing to top slicing. . The late submission of the required documents from students.

e) Achievements . The increased and beneficial partnerships with various organizations and industries . The intense and ongoing lecturer training by the Province, the Department and the Education and Training Development Practices (ETDP)