University Registrations
and Enrolments 2015
Portfolio Committee on Higher
Education and Training
18 February 2015
Presentation Outline
•
University Enrolment Planning and Spaces for Firsttime entering students in 2015
•
Status of Registrations as at 10 February 2015
•
Central Applications Clearing House (CACH)
•
NSFAS and its challenges during registration
•
Student unrest over the Registration Period
•
Teaching Development Grant initiatives to improve first
year experience
•
Way Forward
2
Enrolment Planning Process
• The Department negotiates enrolment figures with
universities in cycles.
• The previous cycle resulted in a national enrolment plan and
output targets for the 2011 to 2013 academic years. For the
current cycle, a longer term planning view of 6 years with a
mid-term review, in order to ensure better integrated planning
at universities was implemented.
• The planning for the 2014 – 2019 academic years has been
negotiated. The Ministerial Statement on Student Enrolment
Planning 2014/15 to 2019/20 for Universities (Sept 2014)
indicates targets for the system and individual institutions for
this cycle.
• The slides show enrolment figures for the total number of
First Time Entering (FTEN) students and total enrolment in
scarce skills areas.
3
First Time–Entering (FTEN) Students and FTEN Students
Enrolled in Scarce Skills Areas (2012 - 2015)
Actual
(Audited)
Actual
(Audited)
Projected
target
Projected
target
Ave annual
increase
2012
2013
2014
2015
2012 - 2015
Total FTEN
169 765
158 389
195 745
204 450
6.39%
Engineering
13 659
13 904
15 653
15 792
4.95%
Life and
Physical
Sciences
10 606
11 785
12 386
12 534
5.72%
Animal and
Human
Health
8 213
8 344
10 110
11 040
10.36%
Teacher
Education
20 042
21 798
18 263
21 166
1.84%
HEAD
COUNT
Total Enrolment in )Scarce Skills Areas
(2012 - 2015 Academic Years)
Actual
(Audited)
Actual
(Audited)
Projected
target
Projected
Target
Ave annual
increase
2012
2013
2014
2015
2012 - 2015
Total
enrolments
953 373
983 698
1 002 110
1 020 190
2.28%
Engineering
69 657
73 518
71 714
73 147
1.64%
Life and
Physical
Sciences
39 742
42 811
42 172
43 012
2.67%
Animal and
Human
Health
40 697
44 046
44 779
48 250
5.84%
Teacher
Education
94 637
103 917
99 097
106 286
3.95%
HEAD
COUNT
5
Registration in 2015
• Registration closing dates vary across the system from
23 January 2015 to 31 March 2015 for first semester
modules and year courses
• Registrations are of 3 types: year courses; first
semester; second semester (individual headcount
enrolments in the academic year can occur at different
times in the year – therefore final preliminary
registrations for the 2015 academic year will only be
available in August 2015; audited data will be available
in October 2016)
• Currently institutions have not yet finished registering
and therefore the registration numbers are not yet
available
6
Central Applications Clearing House (CACH)
• In 2015, the CACH service operates in January and February.
The service operates from Mondays to Sundays, 8am to 8pm.
• CACH is accessed via a toll-free number at 0800 356 635 or
by sending an SMS with name and ID number to 49200
• CACH is also accessible from the website:
http://cach.dhet.gov.za
• The CACH toll-free service line provides five options:
1. Application support (CACH Centre)
2. Financial support (NSFAS Centre)
3. Career support (Career Centre)
4. Artisan support (NADSC Centre)
5. PSET support (DHET Centre)
7
Central Applications Clearing House (CACH)
• The CACH service is now in its third year of operation.
• The service is growing consistently each year:
- The 2013 placement ratio was 5%
- The 2014 placement ratio was 21%
• The preliminary placement ratio for 2015 will be
conducted in March after the service closes and will be
confirmed later in the year after second semester intakes
are made.
• The placement ratio is set to grow through expanded and
intensive interaction with all universities, TVET colleges
and SETAs.
8
Central Applications Clearing House 2015
• The CACH service has expanded from a service for
prospective
university
students
to
a
Post-School
Education and Training (PSET) service.
• The prospective applicants may not find place in a
university and need to consider all other possible and
related programmes in PSET.
• CACH therefore aims to capture prospective applicant
information in order to compile a CACH Register (CR) for
each university, TVET college and SETA in South Africa.
CACH 2015 Progress to Date – 6 Feb 2015
• To date, CACH Centre has handled 17 122 calls as
compared to 10 908 calls in 2014.
• The users of the service range from those who
achieved a 24% average to those who achieved a 93%
average for their Grade 12 final examinations
• A CACH Register is provided weekly to all universities,
SETAs as well as TVET colleges until the end of
February
• The service also provides qualification specific lists to
private providers who have had those qualifications
verified.
10
CACH 2014 (blue) and 2015 (red) Call Volume
Comparison
11
CACH Channels Utilisation
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
Telephone
Website
SMS
CACH User Profile:
Regretted versus Not regretted
13
CACH user profile:
Endorsement Distribution
14
CACH user profile:
Grade 12 Final Examinations Results
15
CACH user profile:
Learning Fields of Interest
16
16
CACH user profile:
Provincial Distribution
17
CACH User Profile: Race
18
CACH going forward
• The CACH service must remain responsive to the needs of
prospective applicants and institutions.
• The service experienced a significant spike in call volumes
this year, which indicates a significant increase in its use.
Use of the service is expected to grow again in 2016
• The most important success indicator will be the placement
ratio. This ratio is expected to improve year on year as
trusting relationships, with institutions are formed through
the provision of accurate and timely data.
• The Department will continue to expand and enhance
CACH as the prototype for the development of the full
Central Application Service, and the focus on supporting
the full PSET through CACH will be further enhanced for
2016.
19
NSFAS Application Process
• NSFAS’s new loans and bursaries management system
became operational on 7 October 2013 and is being tested
with 6 universities and 5 TVET colleges (in 2014 and 2015).
• The closing date for 2015 NSFAS online applications for 5
pilot universities (excluding UNISA) was 16 January 2015.
• 2015 NSFAS online applications for the TVET colleges
closed on 30 January 2015.
• NSFAS started notifying the majority of pilot institutions
students on application results on 20 January 2015.
• Closing dates for application from continuing students at
non-pilot institutions varies from June to October 2014 and
in the case of new undergraduate applications from June
2014 to mid March 2015.
20
NSFAS Challenges
DHET MTEF allocation: 2012/13 – 2015/16
• NSFAS budget increases between 2011 and 2014:
– 69.3 % in 2011/12; 27,7 % in 2012/13; 9,3 % in 2013/14;
5,9 % in 2014/15; and 4.6 % in 2015/16).
• Demands still exceeds funds available.
2012/13
2013/14
2014/15
2015/16
R’000
R’000
R’000
R’000
Universities
3 377 902 3 693 295 3 914 893 4 094 978
TVET colleges
1 734 834 1 988 434 2 107 739 2 204 695
5 112 736 5 681 729 6 022 632 6 299 673
21
NSFAS Challenges
1. NSFAS Shortfall (problems across the system)
• The key issue raised by students and student bodies: many
deserving returning and first year students are unable to
register due to insufficient NSFAS funding.
• Insufficient appropriated funds for NSFAS to support all
qualifying students at Full Cost of Study (FCS) (threshold of
R122 000 pa):
• Continued increases in institutional fees linked to
inflationary costs above NSFAS increases will erode the
number of students supported.
• NSFAS will not be able to maintain current university
student numbers without an additional injection of R1 billion
(increasing at inflationary rates) in the baseline
22
NSFAS Challenges
• MTSF targets: can only commit to support 205 000
university students per annum through NSFAS drawing on
all available resources.
• Some institutions “Top slice” or cap awards, therefore
NSFAS students have outstanding debts and cannot
register.
• Current numbers include topslicing and does not support
FCS for all eligible students (if FCS implemented it will
mean even fewer students can be supported).
• Additional allocation of R10.2 billion required to fully fund
all qualifying NSFAS students in the 2015 cohort (all
eligible new students) in loan advances.
23
NSFAS Challenges
• High expectations amongst students that funding for poor
and working class students to cover FCS must be made
available by government (based on Polokwane resolution
and widespread belief that higher education is a
fundamental right): threat to the stability of institutions due
to increasing student protests and demands
2. Disbursements by universities
• Disbursements of funds in non pilot institutions:
inconsistencies in allocating NSFAS funding across
system – each institution has different processes
• Universities allocate loans linked to availability of funding
using their own criteria.
24
NSFAS Challenges
• Some universities only fund students with best academic
results and a zero Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• Failure of students to pay the EFC results in debt and
the student not being able to register the following year
• Universities allow students to sign Loan Agreement
Forms, knowing that they have depleted their allocation,
and then over claim from NSFAS - therefore students are
under the impression that they were funded. Students
become aware of this when they cannot access their
results or are told that they have outstanding debt.
3. B.Tech funding: only available where it is a
requirement to register with a professional council to
practice the profession.
25
NSFAS Challenges
4. NSFAS administration:
• Weak recoveries by NSFAS. Students who have
benefited form higher education studies and graduated
are not all paying back – need to improve recovery rate
• Weak NSFAS fund raising strategy
• Weak regulations governing allocation of funds at
institutional level (no NSFAS Guidelines sent to
institutions in 2013 and 2014)
• Ineffective administration of donor funding
• Lack of an effective NSFAS communication strategy
• Challenges with the high level of queries to the NSFAS
call centre still remains
26
NSFAS Challenges
5. Allegations of fraudulent practices
•
Reports of applicants, their parents and financial aid
officers involved in fraudulent and corrupt activity.
•
Terms of reference, for a forensic investigation to
identify fraudulent activity with respect to NSFAS, has
been developed and advertised
•
Audit to be carried out during 2015.
•
DHET will consider outcome of forensic audit and will
prosecute where appropriate
27
Student Unrest
• The HE sector was affected by a wave of student protests
in 2014, both at the beginning of the year and again at the
beginning of the second semester, forcing some institutions
to suspend their classes and/or close their campuses.
• Some protests became violent, leading to arrests, injuries
and damage to property.
• Institutions affected: UL, VUT, MUT, UKZN, UFH and TUT
• At TUT, the strike that took place in August/September
2014 culminating in students burning 18 vehicles belonging
to the University at Soshanguve campus.
• Issues that led to the strikes or protest actions include:
admissions; access to student accommodation; academic
and financial exclusions, as well as the expectation that
university education should be free for poor students.
28
Student Unrest: Interventions
• The Department conducted a series of workshops in
October 2014 for the Student Representative Councils
(SRCs) student political formations, and Management
and Institutional Forums (IFs).
• The workshops informed student leaders of
developments regarding CACH, Central Applications
System (CAS) and NSFAS; and provided them with an
opportunity to interact with current issues and to provide
inputs as the way forward.
29
Student Unrest: Interventions
• The workshops included three breakaway commissions:
– Conflict management between Student leadership
and Management
– Preparation and readiness for the 2015 registrations
– Political tolerance among student leaders
• It was hoped that the workshops would iron out any
issues that would arise during the 2015 registration
period.
30
Student Unrest: Interventions
• In September 2014, a joint meeting between DHET,
UCCF-SA, HESA and SAUS was held.
• All the parties unanimously agreed that student protests
or demonstrations that result in destruction of university
and private property, and infringe upon the rights of
others to peaceful assembly, cannot be condoned or
tolerated.
• The parties agreed on a set of measures to be explored :
a) Acknowledging that most of the protests were linked to
inadequacy of NSFAS funding allocations to
universities and the administration thereof; each
university should consider developing and publishing,
in the spirit of transparency, a NSFAS plan before the
end of each academic year;
31
Student Unrest: Interventions
b) Universities were urged to consider developing, in
consultation with relevant structures, a protest policy,
which will spell out the rights and responsibilities of all
parties during protests and demonstrations.
c) To shorten the length of student protests after all
internal avenues have been exhausted and where it is
practicably possible, consideration should be given by
universities to establish a Conflict Resolution
Committee, as a sub-committee of Council with only
external members with mediation expertise and
experience. Such a Committee should be used by a
Vice-Chancellor (VC) as a last resort, as part of a
deadlock-breaking mechanism between University
Management and Students.
32
Preparation for 2015
• The Minister met with HESA (all university VCs) and
NSFAS to discuss a sector wide response in 2015
• The Minister met with the Education Alliance and student
formations
• Outstanding fees and financial exclusions:
– Institutions are making arrangements urging students
to pay back
• Challenge remains: Students are demanding that they
be admitted regardless of lack of funds (e.g. Wits,
UKZN, WSU and VUT) – the situation remains volatile
• Issue of BTech funding by NSFAS remains a challenge
• Student accommodation is also a challenge
33
Enhanced Teaching & Learning Support for
New Entrants
Institutional Teaching Development Grant proposals for 2014
& beyond, highlights:
• the central contribution of ‘First Year Experience’
initiatives, providing a wide range of student support
initiatives
• establishment & consolidation of Writing Centres as a
central component of language development support
• dramatic expansion of tutorial and mentoring programmes
• growing acknowledgement (with concomitant action) of
the urgent need for the professionalisation of teaching,
particularly at undergraduate level.
34
Way Forward
• Apply Now! Campaign to assist in relaying message to
prospective PSET students, that in future late applications
will not be considered, will be implemented again in 2015;
• Better Career Advice in schools is also linked to the Apply
Now! Campaign and Career Development Service operated
by DHET;
• In 2016, CACH will focus on assisting students who have
applied but have not been accepted into an institution of
their choice and need to be re-directed to other PSET
opportunities; and
• The Enterprise Architecture for the Central Applications
Service will be developed during 2015 for piloting in 2017
and implementation in 2018.
35
Thank you