(a) The development of an integrated and sustainable programme as a key strategy to overcome the piecemeal and uncoordinated policies of apartheid.

(b) Institution of a people-driven developmental process as a mechanism to build a democratic society and overturn the legacy of the structural adjustment approaches of the past, focussing on the urgent need to achieve a balance between meeting basic and high-level needs.

(c) Nation-building grounded in an integrated and sustainable programme as a basis for eliminating the separation of our society into a "first world" and a "third world"; grounded also, in the vision and values that inform the "I am an African" imperative chronicled in President Mbeki’s epoch-making speech.

(d) Linking reconstruction and development, and thereby counter the view that growth and development, or growth and distribution are processes that contradict each other.

(f) Developing all our human resources by providing quality education and training to all "from cradle to grave". Everything must be done to break the vicious circle of poverty - inferior education poverty on the one hand and wealth - superior education - wealth on the other. Working-class children should not be educated and trained for working-class jobs.

(g) Building the economy. Failure in the past to develop fully the potential of the majority of the people of this country has had a detrimental effect on economic growth and nation-building.

· a competitive fast-growing economy which creates sufficient jobs for all work-seekers;

· a society in which sound health, education and other services are available to all; and

· an environment in which homes and places of work are productive".

· "promote equity of access and fair chances of success to all who are seeking to realise their potential through higher education, while eradicating all forms of unfair discrimination and advancing redress for past inequalities;

· meet, through well-planned and co-ordinated teaching, learning and research programmes, national development needs, including the high-killed employment needs presented by a growing economy operating in a global environment;

· support a democratic ethos and a culture of human rights through educational programmes and practices conducive to critical discourse and creative thinking, cultural tolerance, and a common commitment to a humane, non-racist and non-sexist social order;

· contribute to the advancement of all forms of knowledge and scholarship, and in particular address the diverse problems and demands of the local, national, Southern African and African contexts, and uphold standards of academic quality". (White Paper: 1.14)

· "To provide focused leadership by prioritising poverty reduction in all the programmes and priorities of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, as well as national macro-economic and sectoral policies;

· To ensure empowerment of the poor in poverty reduction strategies;

· To work for improvements in curriculum development, quality improvements and access to ICT;

· To promote networks of specialised research and higher education institutions".

· "Review levels of expenditure on education by African countries, and lead the process of developing norms and standards for government expenditure on education;

· Set up a task force to accelerate the introduction of ICT in (educational institutions);

· Set up a task force to review and put forward proposals for the research capacity needed in each region of the continent.

· To develop strategies for utilising the scientific and technological know-how and skills of Africans in the diaspora for the development of Africa".

(a) Basing the analysis and recommendation on inadequate at times inaccurate data. In its own words: "The National Working Group recognises that the indicators and benchmarks do not reflect properties, such as leadership, management, governance and academic standards, which can only be assessed through qualitative judgement and peer review. The National Working Group also recognises that the methodology used to derive some of the indicators, such as graduation rates, is open to discussion. This is largely due to the limited availability of appropriate data because of shortcomings in the old SAPSE management information system".

(b) Indifferent application of indicators and benchmarks, appropriate for normal and stable societies, to a fragmented and inequitable system. Consequently, the Report misses the opportunities to propose a Growth, Development and Redress Strategy for Higher Education in South Africa. Such a strategy would be in keeping with the letter and spirit of the RDP and GEAR.

(c) Inconsistent use of indicators and benchmarks in determining unitary mergers and regional collaborations.

(d) Failure to trace apartheid-induced disparities to their pre-1948 colonial origins, a failure that in the analysis and recommendations virtually endorses the colonial landscape of higher education with the elitist and urban (in fact metropolitan) bias) Small wonder, therefore, that the pre-1948 universities are left almost untouched, left indeed to retain their elitist and metropolitan bias.

(e) Failure to design a set of strategies that would ensure that the principles of diversity and differentiation are not co-opted to entrench class differentiation and perpetuate unequal or uneven development, a phenomenon quite common in third-world countries undergoing "democratic transitions".

(f) Indiscriminate creation of hybrid institutional and organisational forms, without heading international advice that such forms are seldom neither cost-effective nor efficient. They usually fail to satisfy "the fitness for purpose" indicators and benchmarks.

(g) The perpetuation of the false dichotomy between research, teaching and community service against current practice in cutting-edge universities in which the three classical function of universities are integrated.

(h) The provincialisation of higher education which goes against the grain, particularly of university education, disregarding the very nature and purpose of research and education.

(i) The lack of a strategy to use opportunities in higher education for the consolidation and enhancement of historical memory. The University of Fort Hare is a case in point.

(a) Clear, comprehensive and integrated strategies should be developed to address the following challenges facing Higher Education in South Africa, as outlined in the National Plan for Higher Education, namely:

(b) In addressing each of these challenges, there are certain considerations that require urgent attention.

(b) Strategies to ensure comprehensiveness and accuracy of data.

(a) Leadership Administration and Management Capacity:

The report notes without further analysis that there is a strong correlation between strong leadership and management in an institution and its stability.

After 1994 many South African universities saw their leadership, administration and management being challenged as the process of transformation got underway. Many vice-chancellors tried to translate the meaning of the new freedoms to their constituencies while at the same time demanding for payment of fees, responsibility and maturity on the part of students. Staff was expected to be more accountable and efficient Institutions embarked on mobilising consensus while attempting to instil a culture of learning.

Transformation issues put vice-chancellors and their administrations on the spotlight. Government policy put pressure on all institutions to transform and provide an education in line with the new South Africa while maintaining credibility in the international arena. An analysis of the experiences of different universities would have shed light on the levels of success at this critical period in higher education in South Africa.

Institutions should be judged on progress made since 1994. An analysis of middle management at HDI’s can provide a good basis for projections. Many administrators have graduated with higher degrees or are registered for higher qualifications. Progress has also been achieved in making administrators more accountable.

The success of these initiatives varies. In the Limpopo Province for example, the University of Venda for Science and Technology has through its previous and current strategic plans carefully articulated plans to achieve structural and functional adjustments in its management and administration. The university in its current plan clearly spells out how it intends to align its focus with the goals of the National Plan for Higher Education, putting emphasis on greater system efficiency for improved graduate output and capacity building in administrative, management, governance and academic structures.

The extent to which institutions have put together mechanisms for transformation of its leadership style, administrative functions and management in order to create an enabling environment for a transformed more inclusive higher education would have provided a good starting point for comparisons.

(b) Governance

The National Working Group has identified that "one of the major factors that has impacted on institutional stability in some institutions is the lack of clarity on the role and function of the different governance structures such as council, management, senate and Institutional Forums".

The governance system in any university is based on its statutes, which define the institutional framework of policies, governance structures and management systems and procedures. The effectiveness of the governance framework is primarily based on the manner in which various governance structures function in their hierarchical and horizontal interrelationships, the nature of the policies and functions they discharge and the efficiency in which they carry out such functions. Student governance is also important in ensuring effective functioning of a university.

Key questions that may be asked relating to governance is the progress in relation to:

All these factors provide a stable environment in which the university may function.

If this variable had been taken into consideration it would have provided an important measure for university viability.

(c) Staff Productivity

The National Working Group notes that "The South African landscape lacks any national norm for measuring contributions and commitment of staff".

The key issues in staff productivity are quality of teaching, research and community work. Staff productivity may be closely tied to quality assurance mechanisms that the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC) has been charged to look into. One of their objectives is to develop a framework that includes an explicit focus on the quality of teaching and learning activities, research and community service. The National Group on Higher Education benchmarks considered research output only (which is an important indicator) but did not factor in issues on the quality of teaching. For example, recent reports have shown how many universities have embarked on offering taught masters degrees. The graduates in these programmes in some instances have not been able to find employment nor places for Ph.D work and yet their universities record high graduation rates for subsidy purposes. Evidence exists to show that the quality of teaching in certain fields was of a higher quality in some institutions whose programs are to be downsized.

Staff productivity must also take into account contributions and relevance of the work of a staff member in addressing problems in the community in which they serve. This was not factored in the recommendations.

The National Working Group noted the need to address academic staff remuneration because of the widening disparities between the public and the private sector. These disparities have created an environment whereby higher education has lost staff to either the private or the public sector.

The National Working Group proposed landscape is likely to worsen the problem due to a number of reasons:

It is important to note that some academics are leaving due to uncertainties associated with the restructuring process and are positioning themselves in institutions that are not likely to be affected by these changes.

The question of competitiveness of university salaries, salary structures and viability of retention policies was not analysed in arriving at the recommended landscape.

(f) Self Perception of Institutions

The National Working Group note that "there are a number of institutions that have perceptions of themselves and of their medium term capacity which is completely unrealistic". They further support the ministry’s exercise in approving appropriate program mixes and rolling plans.

A university’s mission and program mix is the best indicator of its potential for success as an institution of higher learning. The mission and vision of a university provides a good yardstick of its intentions within given frameworks. The strategic plans and three-year rolling plans further provide good instruments through which a university’s viability may be measured. It is therefore incomprehensible that these did not play a major role in the National Working Group’s decision making process. There seems to be a contradiction in that, what the ministry approved as good programs, the committee recommends their scaling down to technikon type programmes.

(g) Academic Year

The National Working Group believes that there is generally a lack of optimal use of time, space and human resources at many higher institutions in South Africa, and that many academic staff are often absent from campus. They further observe that campus facilities were not optimally used throughout the year.

If the National Working Group had analysed the space, academic year, teaching loads, etc. they would have found that many HDI’s had provided quality education with minimum facilities, and under very strenuous conditions. This should have been included in determining the capabilities of different institutions.

(h) Consolidation of Quality in Secondary Schools

Graduation rates are determined by the quality of first year entering students. Many HDI’s have admitted students with very poor backgrounds and taken them through an undergraduate training successfully. As a result many students from HDI’s have found admission in HWU’s Masters and PhD programs. Recent graduates in fields such as environmental science, agriculture, the sciences and business, have easily been absorbed into the job market and reports from many of these employers have been good.

Under the new landscape university education is likely to exclude the majority of students from poor backgrounds. These students normally thrive in smaller institutions - a function likely to be lost with the establishment of larger universities.

(i) The impact of HIV/AIDS on Education

The impact of HIV/AIDS on higher education cannot be overestimated. Studies indicate that the majority of AIDS related death occur between the ages of 15 to 49. A recent study commissioned by the government showed the following impact on higher education (CHE 2000/2001)

In 2000 about 0.7% of students were predicted to have AIDS. 2010 could rise to 3.7%.

Lower enrolment rates and graduation rates are likely to impact on higher education negatively. The National Working Group recommends that studies be undertaken to establish trends. It is our opinion that the study commissioned by the ministry in year 2000 on impact of HIV/AIDS on higher education provides a fairly good picture of the dilemma that higher education is faced with. This study should have been used as a guide in establishing the higher education landscape.

(j) Private Higher Education Provision

Private higher education institutions have rapidly increased in the last ten years. By August 2001, nine institutions had been registered while 10 were given conditional registration. This has at times impacted negatively on public institutions especially when they are established in the vicinity of public institutions offering similar programs. At times public institutions have entered into alliances with these private institutions and did not necessarily offer high quality education.

An analysis of this sector, in relation to the proposed Size & Shape of Higher Education, should have been taken into consideration by the National Working

Group.

· "Facilitate economic growth that produces employment.

· Maintaining existing services and addressing backlogs.

· Develop infrastructure and maintain existing infrastructure.

· Building the administration".

· Mining

· Agriculture

· Tourism

· Trade"

 "To work for improvements in curriculum development, quality improvements and access to ICT;

There is consensus between the Universities of Venda and the North that higher education in the Limpopo Province should be reconfigured. In a recent meeting between the representatives of the two institutions held during a higher education summit organised jointly by the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA) and the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Historically Disadvantaged Tertiary Institutions of South Africa (ASAHDI), consensus was reached on specific ways to reconfigure higher education in the Limpopo Province.

· that the University of the North should be retained and developed as a separate and independent comprehensive university offering a broad range of academic and profession qualifications

· that the University of Venda be retained and developed as a separate and independent university focusing on "specialised" teaching and research in the basic and applied sciences for developmental purposes

· that a comprehensive technikon be established to offer comprehensive vocational and professional training and qualifications

Colleges of education, nursing and agriculture, should be incorporated either with universities

and technikons depending on the kind of qualifications intended.

The proposed configurations would make equity sense as required by all macro- and micro

developmental policies. It would satisfy, also, the appeal for more research activity in rural

development. A reading of the National Integrated Rural Development Plan, the National

Innovation System in the White Paper on Science and Technology, the Provincial Growth

and Development Strategy, the White Papers on Agriculture, Water Resource Management,

Forestry, Minerals and Mining, Telecommunications, SMME’s soon confirms this urgent

need. It would also be in line with higher education trends in NEPAD states and other

developing countries.

(iv) Senior Appointments, Linkages, Student Recruitment