The Growth Institute, a specialist education company, writes:
We must take the emotions and populism out of the free education debate.
For many years, universities have followed a practice to award merit bursaries to high- performance students. This means that anyone who passes an academic year with an average of 75 per cent or more per subject got a rebate on their tuition for that given financial year.
Not many students are aware that they actually qualify for such merit bursaries. In fact, in a snap survey undertaken by Growth Institute, it was found that 60 per cent of students did not know about merit bursaries.
Putting an emphasis on merit bursaries can inculcate a sense of achievement. It has been proven repeatedly that a ‘free without obligation’ reward system does not promote achievement. It does the opposite by promoting entitlement without any willingness to achieve.
To make free education a reality, students must take it upon themselves to achieve high marks so that more merit bursaries can be awarded.
Universities do get subsidies from the state based on the number of students that graduate at each level. As of next year, the state will pay more for each post-graduate (honours and above) student that finishes his/her studies. The state wants to see more post-graduates coming out of the system.
In view of the change in emphasis by the state, funding models for undergraduates must be reconsidered. Universities carry many students who have to repeat study years. Those repeaters keep newcomers out of the tertiary education system. There should be no reason why repeaters have to be rewarded for their underachievement.
Economies that excel in the Global Competitiveness Index expect high performance from students. Those who underperform should be culled from the system so that more high performers who are unable to pay for their studies are given a chance.
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