Universities SA expresses concern over protests

USAf released a statement on the same day students around the country resolved to close down all institutions of higher education over fees.

According to USAf, this week's protest action will determine how the sector manages the rest of this fractured academic year.

"It is of paramount importance to individual students, their families, to society and the economy that this academic year is not lost. It is important that each university finds its individual path to return to a period of academic stability, so fundamentally necessary for good student performance," it said.

USAf said it is deeply disturbed by the continuing damage to the academic programmes and the infrastructure of many of universities.

"There is growing anxiety that the academic project of 2016 is in serious jeopardy. While we are committed to the idea that students have every right to engage in protests and activism in their quest for fee-free higher education, we are also increasingly despairing of the nature of these protests. Damage sustained by the university sector in the last year due to student protests is estimated to have now exceeded the R600 million mark," it said.

Students took to the streets following the announcement by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande that universities determine their own fee increments for the 2017 academic year.

It said there are three key elements in Nzimande's statement that allowed USAf to align with it.

"First, it partially addresses the need for an 8% increase in income to the universities for 2017. Had there not been such an increase, all of our universities would have been in dire financial straits next year. If the increase had been at the 6% level, half of our universities would have had to initiate serious cuts, possibly including retrenchments."

"Second, this is the first time that the state, in the funding of universities, has recognised a priority in meeting the needs of that group of students we refer to as the 'missing middle'."

"Third, the provisions of the Minister's statement, together with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) - as imperfect as it may currently be - do address the need for students from the poorest families," it said.

USAf's Chief Executive Officer, Professor Ahmed Bawa said if #FeesMustFall was about advancing the cause of access to universities for the poor, then the Ministerial announcement on the 2017 tuition fee adjustments was a direct response to the poorest of the poor, and to the so-called missing middle students. 

"Given the interim nature of the Minister's intervention, the current shutdown at some institutions is extremely difficult to understand," he said.

In the interest of stability and continuity of quality teaching and learning, Prof Bawa appealed to parents who are financially able to pay for their children's university education to continue doing so, while the state partially meets the needs of poor but academically deserving students.

"USAf will continue to work with its university members, with the Department of Higher Education and Training and other national players and stakeholders to salvage what remains of this fractured academic year."