Stellenbosch University Tells MPs of Commitment to Transformation, October 14 2009
The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education was yesterday briefed by the University of Stellenbosch's Management, Council and student leaders about progress on transformation, particularly on language and admission policies, at the university.
Expressing the concern of the Portfolio Committee on the challenge of the shortage of skills required by the economy and student dropouts at the South African universities, the Committee's Chairperson Mr Marius Fransman attributed the blame among others to lack of transformation at some universities.
"We are within fifteen years of democracy but the through-put in terms of graduates our universities deliver is unsatisfactory" Mr Fransman said.
He also expressed the dissatisfaction of the committee on the 44% failure rate at the universities.
He further said that government contributes a lot of money through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to ensure that the historically marginalised children also get access to universities, but the country is still faced with shortage of skills.