By BAKANG MOKOTO
30 August 2024- The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training has called upon universities to apply greater scrutiny when appointing vice chancellors and council members. The committee said they should also ensure that the appointees have a high regard for ethics.
The chairperson of committee, Tebogo Letsie said they were briefed on progress made by the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) and Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), in dealing with various administrative challenges. Letsie said the briefing concerning the state of affairs at Vaal University of Technology now that it is no longer under administration, while the Mangosuthu University of Technology is still under administration.
“We welcome the progress made by VUT in appointing a vice chancellor and chancellor. However, it remains concerned about the continued high number of vacant positions at senior management level, especially the post of registrar.
“The committee expressed concerns about the state of affairs in student residences, which has forced many students to opt for private accommodation. This is causing the university to lose out on much-needed revenue,” he said.
According to Letsie, the committee further called upon VUT to report contractors, who do not finish infrastructure development projects to the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), so that these contractors are blacklisted from any further involvement in projects in the post-school education sector. He added that the committee further resolved that the university should consider using the services of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for their Student Representative Council elections and that these elections should be held manually.
“Meanwhile at the Mangosuthu University of Technology, we welcome the appointment of Professor Nokuthula Sibiya as the first female vice chancellor in the university’s 45-year history.
“The committee further welcomed assurances that the remaining senior posts at MUT will be filled by the end of September. The DHET told the committee that recent suspensions at MUT indicate a culture of victimisation, however the administrator seems to be on course in turning the institution around,” said Letsie.
He said they need to move away from a period of independent assessors and it can’t be that predominantly black-run institutions are the ones that always fall under administration. Letsie said the committee plans to have a meeting with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), with a focus on student accommodation challenges to find solutions to improve the services offered to students.
The Guardian 