The Democratic Alliance has proposed a new funding model for crisis-hit universities which face closure amid ongoing demonstrations from students demanding free education.<\/p>\n
The political party noted in a statement on Thursday that higher education in South Africa is on the brink of collapse.<\/p>\n
“Should our universities not re-open in the next week, it is highly probable that the academic year will be postponed,” the DA said, echoing the sentiments of several vice-chancellors<\/a>.<\/p>\n “This is not just a crisis for the students who want to study, and those who do not have the funds to, or for our universities which are tasked with producing world-class research, but for our entire country and our collective future. We dare not under-estimate it,” the DA said.<\/p>\n To address the higher education funding crisis, and to ensure that its\u00a0belief that no person is denied an education because they are poor, the political party proposed the following:<\/p>\n It further proposed that the following basis and financial support as follows:<\/p>\n The DA said that the effect of this approach would be to make university \u201cfree at the point of access\u201d to poor students, while still enabling universities to retain a high level of funding and quality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “To be clear, the DA does not support Universal fee-free higher education,” the party stressed.<\/p>\n “This would translate into a subsidy for the better-off and would deprive the fiscus of funds which could better be spent on supporting poor students. Universal fee-free education might, in fact, deepen inequality in South Africa and reduce the funding available to provide for the poor.”<\/p>\n ANC already delivers free education: Mantashe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Four scenarios for higher education in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
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\n <\/th>\n Annual household income<\/th>\n <\/th>\n Award<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n R0 \u2013 R200 000<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n Full cost of study<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n R200 000 \u2013 R350 000<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n 66% of the full cost of study<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n <\/td>\n R350 000 \u2013 R500 000<\/strong><\/td>\n <\/td>\n 33% of the full cost of study<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n More on education<\/h3>\n