Director: Daniel C. Levy

Reality of Private Higher Education in South Africa

(Entry by Mahlubi Mabizela)

PROPHE Summary:

Private further education and training is not a new phenomenon in South Africa. It was, for the first time, regulated by the Further Education and Training Act of 1998. Not only did the Act regulate the sector but provided it with legitimacy which had been lacking in the past. The legislation; the phenomenal growth of further and higher education private providers in the 1990s; disadvantaged groups seeking skills in large numbers; globalisation and international focus on skills driven and dependent economies, combined to draw attention of policy makers and analysts on private providers of education. Indeed, the sector has grown phenomenally from 1994 and largely comprises black students older than 25, predominantly males and more likely in employment. It largely offers humanities and social sciences, which are less expensive to offer than are most other fields of study. Private post-secondary education institutions are also perceptively labour market responsive and are mainly 'for-profit' businesses. Private further education and training is a convergence point, not only for public-private education; business enterprise and labour market; but also of school education, post-secondary further education and training and higher education with respect to courses offered and in terms of academic staff who are largely drawn from the public sector.

For the full story (shown with permission), see EdInvest News, January 2006, "Private Technical and Vocational Education in South Africa: Current Realities - Future Challenges," by Salim Akoojee, Chief Researcher, Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa.
http://www.ifc.org/edinvest/

PROPHE Observation:

Private post-secondary education in South Africa has been loosely regulated in the past, leading to a laissez faire situation which, in turn, led to private colleges venturing into higher education. Thus, legislations of the sector in the 1990s, when much focus was paid to private provision of post-secondary education, appeared to be first time introductions by the government. Historically, to some extent, private further and higher education sectors and the public higher education sector have been intertwined, in the sense that they have been offering courses belonging to institutions of either sector. Moreover, some private colleges have historically been offering courses ranging from school education to further education and higher education, and some still do. Hence, in South Africa, private further education also largely implies private higher education. This intertwining partly contributes to the complexity of legislating private post-secondary education, as clear definitions, with parameters, of what is meant by higher education and further education have to be provided. The legislation currently is lacking in this regard. The key factor here is not about growing the sector but about ensuring its relevance (in terms of curriculum and human resources development) to the labour market; provision of quality programmes and social development needs. Quality assurance of the private further and higher programmes is being attended to by established relevant bodies, although for private further education the process has been unfolding very slowly. While these processes of legislation, quality assurance and official registration are driven separately by the Department of Education, the nature of private further and higher education institutions suggests that these processes be combined, but time will tell.