SOUTH AFRICA
Despite South Africa’s higher education system being at an unstable, bottom end of a massification phase, the country can be proud of the system becoming racially diverse.
Furthermore, there are greater opportunities for black students and students from working class backgrounds to access higher education, while 60% of the student population are now women.
This is according to Professor Shireen Motala, who holds the Department of Higher Education and Training and National Research Foundation South African Research Chair in Teaching and Learning at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She was one of the speakers at a recent colloquium titled, ‘Expanding access to higher education when the capacity of public universities to enrol students is limited’, hosted by the Council on Higher Education (CHE).
The CHE publishes information regarding developments in higher education, including reports on the state of higher education, and promotes the access of students to higher education institutions, among others. It also serves as an advisory body to the South African minister of higher education and training.
Institutions are strained
Motala, who presented the preliminary findings of her research, which is yet to be completed, said: “We are in a system in transition, facing the pressures of moving from an elite system (pre-democracy) to a mass system …”
This phase brings with it intended and unintended consequences, “whereby student enrolment is growing but institutions are strained”.
The higher education system in South Africa has about 1.15 million students with a 23% participation rate. The government’s National Development Plan’s (NDP) target is 30% enrolments by 2030.
Meanwhile, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) provides bursaries to about 70% of university students, but is riddled with challenges, including poor administration and allegations of corruption. It is viewed as taking away funding from other education priorities.
For Dr Whitfield Green, CEO of the CHE, the 23% participation rate is “much lower than what our NDP aspired to set out and certainly much lower than what we need if South Africa is to become a leading technological and industrial player on the continent and in the world.
“For this to happen, we need specialised skills and knowledge that only higher education provides, and we need a sufficient number of higher education graduates to lead this change.”
The higher education system is under severe pressure as the demand by school leavers to access universities is greater than the amount of space available, coupled with financial constraints and a youth unemployment rate of above 40%.
Furthermore, government subsidies have declined in real terms as they have been below inflation, while NSFAS funding (currently ZAR40 billion, or US$2.3 billion) is equivalent to the block grants allocated to universities.
A highly inefficient system
However, according to Motala, there have been exponential increases “with 70% of university students being black African … (which) is significant demographic progress”, while there is some success in terms of increasing graduation and reducing dropouts, but “we still have a highly inefficient system”.
Research shows that:
• Real participation rate of black youth (18-29 years) in higher education is just 5.5% compared with 17.7% for whites;
• There is a high dropout rate of 32.4% across universities;
• Only 56% of students complete a three-year degree within six years;
• A completion disparity exists: only 32% of black African students graduate within the expected timeframe versus 64% of white students;
• In terms of enrolment by race, in 2016 there were 760,022 black African enrolled students which increased to 897,138 in 2021; and
• White enrolments, which were 172,283 in 2016, dropped to 119,766 in 2021.
About the drop in white enrolments, Motala said: “This signifies whites’ departure from the public higher education system.” She was not sure where they were going to.
Female enrolment
Dr Charles Sheppard, the director of strategic intelligence and data analytics at Nelson Mandela University, raised a red flag about the drop in the number of male student enrolments in higher education. “Higher education is basically dominated by female enrolment.”
In 2023, 63% of students enrolled were female, with 37% males. This differs from the 2022 census, where the number of males and females was roughly the same.
There is a low throughput and high dropouts among male students, Sheppard said. “Research needs to be done to identify the underlying factors” to address the issue as this affects their social mobility. “This is going to become a huge socio-economic problem.”
For Green, “We should be improving success in higher education so that there is better throughput in closer to regulation times with minimum dropouts. When students stay longer completing their qualifications, they occupy spaces that could be taken up by new students.”
Equal outcomes
The system is not doing well in terms of equal outcomes, said Motala. “We have a fair amount of equity mechanisms in schools with no fees and fee exemption and NSFAS provision. Why is it that inequality in our society appears to be so intransigent and difficult to shift in a country that most probably has the highest Gini coefficient (making South Africa the most unequal country based on income distribution) in the world?”
Reasons could be around the NSFAS allocation criteria and how it is administered. There is also the issue of class precarity, where the emerging middle class accesses higher education but finds it difficult to stay in because they do not have years of generational wealth behind them.
“There is a significant number of black students entering the middle class – seeking entry into higher education. They are in a precarious situation if a parent loses their job or their social grant disappears.”
Motala asserted that the high dropout rates and long completion times mean that the country has a system that deploys resources “but we are not getting the outcomes we want. This is due to the issue of financial barriers, academic under-preparedness and institutional cultures that continue to marginalise many students.”
However, “the big issue is (that) massification without adequate resources leads to high dropout rates and low throughput rates, coupled by scenarios of large class sizes which we see at the moment, unpreparedness of students, academic exclusion and weak institutional support which has eroded quality and equity”.
Changes in the higher education system have in some ways led to stratification: the middle class access the research-intensive universities (Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch, Cape Town, Pretoria and KwaZulu-Natal – which are seen as prestigious and highly recognised); while others opt for the more teaching-intensive universities, said Motala.
Student debt has grown enormously to ZAR17 billion in 2022. “The big issue is impaired debt – ZAR10 billion cannot be recovered, which puts huge strain on the quality of learning being provided,” she said.
Student distribution
One of the big challenges South Africa’s post-school education and training sector is experiencing is the distribution of student numbers between universities, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and community education and training (CET) colleges.
There are close to 600,000 students in TVET colleges and 97,000 in CET. Motala said more students need to be enrolled at these colleges, but there continues to be a stigma around them (they are perceived as being inferior in quality).
Furthermore, there is “weak articulation between TVETs, CETs and universities, which limit opportunities” to study there.
Motala said that representative parity is needed. South Africa needs to have more courageous policies and investment, while good governance “is incredibly important”.
What is needed is a link between student funding and student success – “Incentivise throughput, not just enrolment. We need to look at what happens in terms of students in the institutional setting and the issue of strengthening academic support, psycho-social support, looking at inclusivity and taking on many of the demands students made during the decolonial protests.”
This could foster a sense of belonging among students which might help with their progression. There is also a need to develop an integrated post-school education and training sector. “The issue of investment in schooling quality is particularly important in grades 10-12, which will provide better preparation for learners in tertiary education, reducing dropout risk.”
Motala called for an enhanced data-driven co-ordination, using real enrolment and data for planning across the different entities across government and parastatals. “We do need to have systemic accountability that continues to be a huge issue – continuous monitoring of enrolment equity indicators which will guide targeted policy interventions.”
Private higher education
On the other hand, private higher education providers are increasingly absorbing excess demand, according to Dr Linda Meyer, the managing director of the Independent Institute of Education, Rosebank College, which is part of Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company, ADvTECH.
She said the “sector continues to expand steadily, now representing a significant share of the higher education market”.
The market represents 322,438 students and the majority are African (67.3%), “reflecting widening access”, with white students (15.4%) and Coloured/Indian/Asian students making up the balance. Meyer said private higher education institutions are agile and can rapidly scale programmes to address national skills priorities.
Furthermore, they play a critical role in absorbing unmet demand where public universities and TVET colleges are at capacity. Regional responsiveness ensures that local economic and labour market needs are met.
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