Latest news with #studentfunding
News24
02-07-2025
- Politics
- News24
SASCO demands immediate removal of Higher Education Minister, Nobuhle Nkabane
Funding for higher education remains a significant crisis in South Africa, impacting countless students. As they grapple with securing financial support for their studies, the last thing they need is for those in positions of authority to worsen their challenges. The South African Students' Congress (SASCO) is the third organisation to call for President Cyril Ramaphosa to axe Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane, following similar demands from the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF). SASCO is accusing the Minister of incompetence and alleged corruption that threatens to extinguish the last hope for many students seeking financial aid. Read more | Former Transnet executives granted R50 000 bail each for fraud and corruption The organisation's concerns are centred around the Minister's alleged inability to effectively manage the department, resulting in failures, delays in student funding, and a general lack of accountability. One of the many key issues highlighted by SASCO is the alleged illegal appointment of chairpersons to 21 Sector Education and Training Authority (SETA) boards, some of which included ANC politicians. The organisation claims that these appointments have contributed significantly to the challenges faced by students, including delays in funding and a lack of transparency in the allocation of resources. SASCO has also expressed deep concern over the systematic exclusion of students from accessing higher education, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The organisation argues that Minister Nkabane's policies and actions have perpetuated a two-tier education system, where only a select few have access to quality education, while the majority are left behind. In light of these concerns, SASCO is calling for Minister Nkabane's immediate removal even though no replacement has been yet found as they believe that removing her is necessary to restore stability and functionality to the Higher Education Sector. .Talking to eNCA on Sunday June 29, 2025, at the ANC's Luthuli House headquarters, SASCO President Alungile Kamtshe threatened to mobilise students and take them to the streets to put pressure if the Minister isn't removed immediately by this week 'We're going to start and consolidate students, remember that students are on recess currently after mid-year exams so once they get back on campus, we're going to do students mass meetings so that we mobilise them,' he stressed. 'This Minister has undermined public intelligence, literally, it's only her who's clever and everyone else is stupid, and through observation by South Africans it is clear that this Minister is not fit for office,' he added. In response to SASCO, Minister Nkabane briefed the media on Monday, June 30, 2025, pertaining Thursday's budget vote and maintained that she's not 'shaken' by the calls. 'There's nothing that I can say because it is the prerogative of the President to appoint, re-deploy or deploy, so I cannot say anything,' she stated. The DA has pledged to vote against the Department of Higher Education's budget until Ministers facing allegations of poor governance or corruption are held accountable. The story is still under development.
The Guardian
27-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Claire Callender obituary
As an expert on student funding and graduate experiences of indebtedness, my sister, Claire Callender, who has died of cancer aged 71, made significant contributions to the debate about student funding at a local and international level, and played a central role in government policy and public discussion for three decades. At the time of her death Claire held joint professorships at UCL Institute of Education and Birkbeck, University of London. She was appointed OBE for services to higher education in 2017. She was born in London, a twin of Ne'eman, and the daughter of Lydia (nee Berkman) and Martin Callender, who had been a Lt Col in the British army in India during the second world war and went on to become an economist and management consultant. The war and the Holocaust cast a giant shadow over the family, and had a profound influence on Claire, shaping her sense of Jewish identity and her lifelong dedication to social justice. Claire attended Notting Hill and Ealing high school and completed a degree in social administration and sociology at Bristol in 1979. After a period as a community worker in the Beit She'an Community Centre in Israel, she received her PhD in gender and social policy at the University of Wales in 1988. When tuition fees were introduced in 1998 into what had been a free higher education system, Claire became a staunch advocate of maintenance grants and dedicated herself to drawing attention, in public and to policy makers, to the challenges that resulted from student debt. Claire's first chair appointment was at London South Bank University as professor of social policy (1998-2008) and early in the Blair years she spent time in the Cabinet Office on secondment as head of research in the women's unit. She reported to numerous parliamentary select committees, and all the major reviews of student funding that took place in the UK after 1997, including the most recent review, the Augar report of 2019. In 2006-07 she was a visiting scholar at the Harvard graduate school of education, and was a Fulbright New Century scholar in 2007-08. Her post as professor of higher education policy at Birkbeck began in 2008, followed by the professorship of higher education studies at the Institute of Education (which later merged with UCL) in 2010. In 2014, under the leadership of Simon Marginson, Claire was named deputy director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) and was central to CGHE research management. Claire's contributions to research scholarship included more than 125 books, reports and chapters, more than 30 peer-reviewed journal papers, and numerous conference and seminar presentations. She was renowned for her generosity as a mentor to young researchers, and for the warmth that she evoked in old and new acquaintances. With her longtime partner, Annette Zera, an educationist, Claire loved to travel - there was not a corner of the globe they hadn't visited – and she also enjoyed cooking, gardening and going to the theatre. Claire is survived by Annette, Ne'eman and me.
The Herald
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Herald
Should NSFAS stop funding institutions that fail to account for student money?
Higher education minister Nobuhle Nkabane says universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges owe the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) R11.94bn for the 2017 to 2023 academic period. Universities account for R10.46bn of the debt, while TVETs owe R1.48bn. The amounts are still being reconciled, with institutions expected to sign agreements on assets and liabilities related to student accounts. NSFAS is preparing reconciliations for 2024. This comes amid ongoing challenges with NSFAS funding and student accommodation, highlighted by recent protests at the Northern Cape Urban TVET College over delayed allowances. The DA has urged NSFAS to use recovered funds to ensure students receive allowances on time and to prevent midyear defunding, which forces students to abandon their studies or face hardship.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
University fees: Students would 'bear the brunt' of proposed rises
Students in Northern Ireland would "bear the brunt" of a rise in tuition fees of over £1,000, called for by university is according to Ben Friel, the president of the National Union of Students and Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI).Leaders of Northern Ireland's five universities and university colleges have called for student tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a have written to the leaders of the five main political parties asking for tuition fees to rise to £5,831 a year from the current £4,750. The joint letter is signed by the heads of Queen's University Belfast (QUB), Ulster University (UU) and the Open University in Ireland (OU).It has been supported by a separate letter from the principals of St Mary's University College and Stranmillis University College. Why do the universities want a rise in tuition fees? The leaders' letter said that about a third of young people leave Northern Ireland to study elsewhere "due to the continued Northern Ireland Executive policy on funding".The letter said there has been a "real-terms loss caused by a legacy of sub-inflationary uplifts" in funding for higher education."Applying an inflation increase from a 2021 baseline alone, which part-recovers the hitherto unallocated inflationary uplifts to the current Northern Ireland fee, would see an inflation-corrected fee of £5,831," the letter added that the pressure was "compounded by the reduction in international student numbers and associated income"."Without urgent intervention, the region's skills pipeline, research capacity, and innovation-led growth are at serious risk-undermining productivity and long-term economic recovery," the letter an accompanying statement to BBC News NI, the leaders urged the Executive "to acknowledge that tuition fees have not kept pace with inflation, and to rectify this position." What do students pay in tuition fees elsewhere in the UK and Ireland? The letter also pointed out that fees in Northern Ireland are lower than those in England and Wales, where students currently pay £9,250. This will go up to £9,535 in the next academic students in the Republic of Ireland pay a maximum of €2,000 (£1,695) a year in fees, while Scottish students who remain in Scotland to study do not pay tuition Northern Ireland tuition fees have risen from £3,685 a decade ago to £4,750 in 2024/ vast majority of students take out a loan to cover their annual tuition fees and living costs, which they then pay back when they begin working after graduation. What do students leaders think? Mr Friel, of the NUS-USI, said the rise in fees called for by the universities meant "asking students to bear the brunt of a broken system"."It's the fundamental principle of how we fund education and treat it as a country," he told BBC News NI."Education is seen as a burden to the budget at the moment, but it needs to be seen as an investment for our future and our young people."Mr Friel said that students were already facing financial pressures, and skipping meals."Nearly one in five students are using a foodbank," he said."We can't be putting more burden on students at a time like this." He said he empathised with some of the universities' concerns about funding."They want and need to raise revenues and the only way they have to do that at the minute is off the back of students," he said."We can't keep throwing money at a broken system, we're wasting students money, we're wasting public money."Mr Friel said that any rise in tuition fees could deter students from lower-income backgrounds, especially, from going to said that while the end of fees should be a "long-term" goal, he was a "realist"."I know it's not going to happen in the next two, three, four years," he said."Long-term I think we should always be aiming for that." What happens now? The university letter has gone to the leaders of Sinn Féin, the DUP, UUP, SDLP and Alliance Party.A tuition fee rise of the amount wanted by the universities would have to be approved by the Stormont education is the responsibility of Economy Minister Caoimhe university letter has received support from a number of business leaders, who said "a tipping point" had been reached."We believe that it is time for the funding model to be refreshed, so that it continues to reflect Northern Ireland's distinctive needs, protects access for local students, and enhances the region's economic attractiveness to both domestic and global investment," their statement said.
