6. Summary The four days oversight visit to three FET colleges and two universities in the Eastern Cape was progressive for the Committee in its mandate of visiting the majority of higher education and training institutions in the country. The Committee was received well by all the institutions it visited and the requested documents were submitted on time by the institutions. In most of the institutions visited by the Committee, the challenges were very similar and required extensive investment in resources. Challenges such as the shortage of accommodation, the demand for financial assistance, poor pass rates in the NC(V) programme, student protests, unqualified lecturers, late releases of results by the Department and unemployability of FET graduates were experienced in the majority of the institutions visited. The Department which accompanied the Committee during the oversight visit acknowledged that it was partly to blame for the lack of advocacy of the NC(V) programme and delays in the release of the results for FET college students. Despite the fact that the NSFAS bursary scheme had tripled in the past three years, the demand for financial assistance in the institutions visited was massive. This was partly contributed by the location of the institutions which were in rural areas and the majority of students who came from poor family backgrounds. This further contributed to the increase in the drop out rate since the NSFAS bursary did not cover all the students needs. 7. Recommendations The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training requests that the Minister of Higher Education and Training ensures that the following recommendations are considered, and where possible, implemented within one month of the adoption of this report: