As distress hits thousands of private higher education institutions under the embattled Education Investment Corporation Limited (Educor) group, which has been de-registered by the Department of Higher Education, Science and Technology, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) has allayed fears over credibility of qualifications previously issued by the institutions.
IOL reported Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Prof Blade Nzimande on Tuesday said before taking the bold step of de-registering the institutions under the Educor group, his department has been inundated with complaints from students and staff.
Nzimande said the de-registration was due to the failure of the colleges to issue audited financials as required in law.
“Over the last few days, the department has been receiving a flood of media queries on our decision to cancel the registration of four Educor institutions, namely, City Varsity, Damelin, City Campus, and Lyceum Colleges. I must say, by the way, that this is an unfortunate situation, as some of these institutions have such a long history in our education landscape. There are many people who have graduated from these institutions,” Nzimande said in Pretoria.
The decision to cancel the registration was announced by the Director-General of the department, Dr Nkosinathi Sishi, in a government gazette published last week Friday, dated August 19.
The minister said the institutions had shown huge compliance failures, prompting the department to come to the decision to de-register them.
“In addition to failing to submit evidence of their financial viability to the department, the four Educor brands can be deemed as dysfunctional. This is mainly measured against the daily complaints and grievances received from students, most of which remain unresolved.
“If I am not mistaken, one of the complaints I remember receiving was that students were given marks based on exam scripts that were never marked because the lecturers were no longer at work, because they were not being paid. This is the worst sin that can be committed by an education institution - public or private. You just cannot lie and give student marks based on scripts that were never marked or as if there was an exam that was written,” said the minister.
On Wednesday, in an interview with broadcaster eNCA, Makhapa Makhafola from the statutory body SAQA said graduates from the doomed institutions need not worry.
“When students are registered by any institution that is recognised in terms of certain programmes, their students are automatically captured in what we call the national learners’ database which is a responsibility of the South African Qualifications Authority. Any student that is registered or have achieved before the current challenges, they are on our (database) and they are recognised in terms of those achievements,” said Makhafola.
“The closing of an institution only applies when they are not supposed to operate or take any new students. Those who are in the pipeline, they are indeed on the national record database within SAQA which will be responsible to oversee.
“Those who have achieved through these institutions, they are indeed captured and it is something that the students can verify with us regarding being registered, regarding particular qualifications,” he said.
The SAQA official added that before closing its doors, the Educor institutions have a responsibility to ensure that current students are absorbed into other institutions of higher education, which are accredited, to complete their studies.
On Tuesday, Nzimande said for several years, his department has been inundated by students at Educor campuses complaining about the poor quality of teaching and learning; lack of proper administrative support; poorly qualified staff; corruption and bribery; lack of response for requests for refunds; lack of professionalism; exploitation of poor students; non-payment of staff salaries and underpayment of staff salaries.
The minister was briefing the media in Pretoria regarding the de-registration of four Educor colleges, namely Damelin, City Varsity, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum College as private higher learning institutes.
“These four institutions failed to comply with the requirements of the (Higher Education) Act and the regulations. Firstly, they failed to fulfil the requirement for registration as contemplated in Section 2b of the Act; they failed to discharge their responsibilities as required by the regulations,” said Nzimande.
“In particular, the Educor institutions have failed to submit their annual financial statements and the tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 years as proof of their financial viability. As government, we make sure that these institutions are financially viable. It is part of the requirements that they have got to meet.
“We are now moving into the 2023 cycle. The four Educor institutions were required to lodge an appeal with the minister on or before the September 26 last year. They then requested an extension to February 28, 2024.”
Nzimande said the Educor institutions were seeking a further extension.
“They think I must be among the kindest of ministers to keep on granting extension after extension, where they know that they are supposed to comply in terms of the law,” he said.
IOL