The recent announcement by National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) that they intend modifying their criteria to require beneficiaries to pass at least 75% of their modules to continue receiving funding, has predictably drawn a hostile and vocal reaction from students and their representative organisations.
Threats of making institutions ‘ungovernable’ came thick and fast, and the usual political party suspects and radical social commentators climbed on the bandwagon.
The simple truth is that the entire higher education space has become a political football to be booted around, with scant regard to the students interests and the benefits to the country as a whole.
ALSO READ : Good Business Basics: More needs to be done to mitigate rolling power outages
In most countries, developed, developing and in-between, free tertiary education is regarded as a privilege and not a right, and is generally reserved for the highest achievers and performers.
While every effort must be made to identify and resource these candidates from the entire pool of those eligible, once they have been granted the privilege, there should be no hesitation in holding them to a strict assessment protocol to ensure they perform.
Surely it is self evident that funding a student beyond the allocated period to complete a course makes no economic sense.
The next critical consideration is ensuring that NSFAS funds are directed to areas of study that will meet the requirements of the economy, be they technical, managerial or research.
Churning out swathes of graduates with soft, generalised skills is a recipe for disaster, as our pool of unemployed youth with university degrees shows.
Companies do not have the resources or appetite to employ ‘generalists’ and take the time to turn them into specialists. They expect graduate employees to be able to ‘hit the ground running’ and begin making an immediate contribution to the organisation.
A considerable amount of public funds is applied to the NSFAS scheme, and it is not unreasonable to expect citizens to demand a reasonable return.
I believe this is a step in the right direction to achieve this. Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity.
The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
