{"id":823720,"date":"2025-05-12T09:31:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T07:31:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=823720"},"modified":"2025-05-12T13:42:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-12T11:42:56","slug":"most-south-african-universities-must-be-closed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/823720\/most-south-african-universities-must-be-closed\/","title":{"rendered":"Most South African universities must be closed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt says that most public South African universities should be closed, and that the government should allocate more funds to private institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt, the chief economist at Efficient Group, told RSG that South Africa has one of the worst primary education systems in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not due to a lack of money. The South African government allocates a significant portion of its budget to education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the second edition of South Africa\u2019s 2025 Budget, the country will spend R509 billion on learning and culture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes R332 billion on basic education, R55 billion on the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, and R48 billion on university transfers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt argued that South Africa has far too many universities. \u201cEveryone wants a university degree while there is a big shortage at other skill levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnly approximately 10% of the population should attend university, and it is crucial that these institutions produce high-quality graduates.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa has nineteen public universities and seven universities of technology, totalling 26 state-owned institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of these institutions are poorly run, with qualified audits or such messy financials that audits could not be finalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country also has 126 registered private tertiary education institutions. Many of these institutions are private universities. \u201cThe private universities are improving all the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt highlighted that private universities face challenges, including high fees and a lack of campus life compared to traditional institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another problem is that private universities do not make significant contributions to research, which is a crucial aspect of the academic field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, public universities also face challenges. \u201cOver the years, the quality of public universities deteriorated significantly,\u201d Roodt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSouth Africa still has brilliant universities, but as a whole, the quality of state-owned universities has gone backwards.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to improve South Africa’s tertiary education system<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
Economist Dawie Roodt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The way forward, Roodt argues, is that public universities should be more selective in admitting students, and private universities should receive more support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One proposal Roodt supports is that South Africans should get educational vouchers which they can spend at an institution of their choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That will support the best institutions, as most people will use their vouchers to attend quality universities rather than poor ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also level the playing field between state-owned and private universities, which will foster healthy competition in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another suggestion is that the state should also provide funding to private universities for research, similar to public universities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe state gives a lot of money to public universities when they produce published research papers,\u201d Roodt said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe government should offer the same incentives to private universities to encourage them to produce quality research.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roodt said South Africa should face the reality that many of its public universities are poorly run and underperforming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with other sectors, like healthcare, schools, and security, the private sector is ready to step in and provide quality tertiary education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are already many quality private universities, including Stadio, Akademia, and the Independent Institute of Education\u2019s Varsity College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe should close down many of our public universities and give the money to private universities,\u201d Roodt said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Renowned economist Dawie Roodt said that most public South African universities should be closed, and that the government should allocate more funds to private institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":823782,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[1459,2562,22511,22510],"class_list":["post-823720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-dawie-roodt","tag-efficient-group","tag-private-universities","tag-south-african-universities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823720"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823725,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823720\/revisions\/823725"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}