The spectacle of thousands of students spewed into street corners by institutions under the guise that they do not have enough space is not just stressing but calamitous for the economic future of our society. Rather than turn away students so brazenly as we have seen, Institutions must find innovative ways to increase access, says Sasco.
Photograph by: BAFANA MAHLANGU
"Among these, institutions must rent buildings in towns and turn them into temporary lecture halls. This would increase access to institutions by thousands and would decrease the number of students turned away. This is also not new. Institutions do it with accommodation where institutions such as DUT and Mangosuthu University of Technology rent buildings in town to accommodate students," says Sasco president Mbulelo Mandlana.
Mandlana says: "We also call on the Department of Higher Education and Training to also lift the ceiling it places on institutions with regards to students' intake. If this is done, we are convinced that institutions who reject students by hiding behind the woodworks of the Ministry of Higher Education and Training would be exposed for what they are".