The three day oversight visit to the UZ, DHET, TUT, and UFS was very fruitful and provided sufficient insight into some of the underlying challenges that affect higher education institutions and the skills development sector. It was evident throughout the visits that most HEI's faced common challenges related to transformation, throughput rate, student accommodation and financial assistance to needy students. On the other hand, the skills development sector was lagging behind in terms of reaching its millennium goals and targets by 2020 and this affects the masses negatively. In theory, there are various measures in place to implement government's objectives to reduce illiteracy and half unemployment by 2014. However, the critical challenge is the implementation of these policies due to bureaucratic challenges within the three spheres of government. A huge amount of investment has been made in skills development over the past 16 years of the new democracy. However, to date, little has been achieved with the resources at hand. The involvement of the SETAs has achieved little in addressing the shortage of skills and illiteracy in the country. One of the common challenges observed during the oversight visit is that, more funds were needed to effectively address the challenge of the skills sector.