. Funding: What emerged strongly during the oversight visit was that the demand for financial aid exceeded the supply in all institutions visited. The Committee recommends that the National Skills Fund (NSF) should allocate more resources to needy institutions to reduce the backlog of shortage of NSFAS bursaries. . Conflict of interest: The Department should investigate the conflict of interest by consultants at the Walter Sisulu University in accordance with the provisions of the Higher Education Laws Amendment Act, No 21, 2011 which regulates the conduct of members of the council, members of committees of the council and employees of a public higher education institution engaging in business with the relevant public higher education institution. . NC(V) Results: In all the FET colleges visited by the Committee, the issue of the late release of results by the Department was highlighted as a key concern. The Department should improve its capacity to ensure that results at FET colleges are released timeously. . Curriculum Review: The NC(V) results in all the FET colleges visited were very poor. It is under these findings that the Committee proposes a curriculum review of the NC(V) as it was failing many young people. . Articulation from FET colleges to institutions of higher learning: Articulation continued to remain a thorny issue for students who wished to further their studies at institutions of higher learning. The Department should explore ways of standardizing requirements for articulation since currently institutions of higher learning apply different rules when dealing with admissions through NC(V) certificates. . The lack of access to the PERSAL system by FET colleges: The Department should ensure that FET colleges are to access PERSAL to ensure their knowledge of personnel expenditure. . Delay in delivery of textbooks: Certain FET colleges did not receive some textbooks six months into the academic year. The delay of the delivery of textbooks to colleges negatively impacts the quality of teaching and learning, creating high failure rate in the NC(V) programmes. The Committee recommends that the Department ensures that textbooks are delivered on time. . Racism: There were serious allegations of racial tensions in the Port Elizabeth FET college. The Department should urgently address the issues of race relations at the college in order to improve social cohesion and make the college non-racial . Accommodation: Shortage of accommodation was a norm in most of the institution visited. The Committee recommends prioritisation of rural- based institutions to be allocated more funding to address the challenge of accommodation. . Experiential Learning: Work placement opportunities for NC(V) graduates remained a serious concern. The Department should develop a policy that will assist FET colleges to have strong partnership with industries to improve workplace learning for FET college graduates. . FET college lecturers: Unqualified lecturers in FET colleges were partly to blame for the poor pass rate of the NC(V) programme. The Department should develop adequate lecturer development programmes to capacitate FET college lecturers. . Advocacy of the NC(V): It appeared from the interactions with stakeholders at the colleges that the NC(V) was poorly marketed by the Department and it was therefore recommended that the Department should market vigorously the NC(V) especially to the industry. . Withholding of results: The Department should ensure that poor students who owed FET colleges / universities outstanding fees are allowed access to their results and pay back their debt once they are permanently employed. . The Department of Public Works (DPW): The DPW should assist the University of Fort Hare in transferring the houses of its academic staff under the university's assets. . The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC): The University of Fort Hare had historical buildings with rich history and its application for a heritage site should be fastracked by the Department of Arts and Culture. . The Establishment of better communication channels: It was observed that there was mis-communication between the Department, NSFAS and FET colleges which resulted in confusion of who and how to claim the 30% up-front payment for student bursaries. The confusion resulted in the delay of the transfer of the 30% up-front payment of NSFAS allocation to the PE FET College. Students could not receive their transport money and meal vouchers on time. The Committee recommends that the Department and the NSFAS communicate any information relevant to the colleges on time. . Implementation of the Further Education and Training Colleges Amendment Act: It was discovered that employees of the Port Elizabeth FET College, especially the senior management, were doing business with the college. They defended their practice by claiming that there was no law that prohibited these practices. The Committee recommends that the Department ensures that all the FET colleges start adhering to the provisions of the Further Education and Training Colleges Amendment Act especially the provisions that regulate the conduct of members of the council, members of committees of the council and staff of a public FET college to engage in business with the relevant public college as enacted. . Adherence to procurement policies: It was also revealed that the PE FET College senior management procured services for the college without following college procurement policies. The Department should investigate these allegations and also ensure that procurement policies are in place and are adhered to by all the Colleges. . PhD production: The Committee was informed that the University of Fort Hare had increased its PhD graduate outputs from 10 in 2007 to 23 in 2011. However, there was a concern that the majority of these graduates particularly in scarce skills were non-South Africans. The Committee recommends that the Department through higher education institutions invest in the recruitment and support of South African PhD candidates to ensure that the country meets the target for high- level skills.