Presentation to portfolio committee of higher education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Presentation to portfolio committee of higher education and training Presenter: S Mlotshwa President: SACPO Date: 28 August 2019

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training TABLE OF CONTENT Background Allocation of upfront payments to TVET colleges in 2019and challenges experienced Roll-out of the student-centred model in the TVET Progress with the payment of outstanding allowances General Challenges experienced from NSFAS

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Background The TVET sector is in general financially constrained due to the following - Colleges largely provide for students from poor families The infrastructure structure grant is tied up in the Department There is an increased demand for access in the TVET sector which is not reciprocated by increased funding Lack of the appropriate funding framework for TVET colleges The prevailing funding pressure continue to place pressures on the personnel budget of the colleges and consequently constrains the ability of college to cater for college operations

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Background There were notable challenges experienced with the NSFAS online system, which resulted in most colleges reducing their enrolments numbers in the previous year. Most colleges were not able to recover part of the remaining 20% of the programme costs from the scheme due to challenges experienced from NSFAS  Insufficient funding allocation, particular for financially needy and academically deserving students is a major challenge Delays in disbursements has also caused student unrest in most colleges

Allocation of upfront payments for 2019 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Allocation of upfront payments for 2019 This allocation is made by NSFAS to ease the financial pressure to the colleges Upon receiving it, the colleges the colleges are to use it for student tuition fees and their allowances They may only be utilised for funded students There are difficulties in utilising these funds at the beginning of the academic year due to a tedius process which often results on some students not being funded There has been an improvement for the current year and most colleges have received their upfront payment

Allocation of upfront payments for 2019 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Allocation of upfront payments for 2019 There are some allocations for both 2017 and 2018 in other colleges that cannot be allocated to students accounts, due to lack of disbursement list from NSFAS. In most instances, colleges have received their upfront allocations, however they cant be allocated due unavailability of the provisionally approved list As a result the accounts of students are still in Debit

Allocation of upfront payments for Previous years: Challenges 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Allocation of upfront payments for Previous years: Challenges Funding decisions were delayed in some colleges which resulted in upfront payment not utilised New students bursary applications that NSFAS could not retrieve from their systems which resulted on a student not being funded Returning students who were not funded at the beginning of the academic year due to delays in student exam results Students not signing their Schedule of Particulars on time, which resulted on institutions not paying the upfront allowances

Summary on upfront payment : Status Quo 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Summary on upfront payment : Status Quo Allocation of upfront payments made Upfront payments from previous yeas Challenges with disbursement of upfront payments Payment for the current year has been paid to majority of the colleges, however there are colleges that have still not received their upfront payment e.g. Flavius Mareka and Motheo in the free state Payments from previous years are still outstanding in majority of colleges, although resolved in some of the colleges -The upfront payment created student expectations thinking that they will be receiving allowance from that In some cases where disbursement are not done for 2019 due to incorrect calculations by NSFAS Type 4 and 5 students were declared to NSFAS but not funded Some students on the 2019 remittance lists have cancelled their registration The remittance list of students always arrive three or more weeks late after the enrolment

Roll out of the new student centred model in the TVET sector 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Roll out of the new student centred model in the TVET sector The system was introduced to ease the administrative burden and reduce delays in funds to students The system proved to be good in theory, however the planning and readiness of NSFAS was not as good A lot of processes were changed during the implementation stage of the model Lack of training and technical problems experienced have given rise to the student protests

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Roll out of the new student centred model in the TVET sector: Challenges Current effect of the 2017 and 2018 backlog could negatively impact on utilisation of the 2019 allocation; Data integration challenges delay sharing of data between Colleges and NSFAS; Inadequate capacity to manage the significant increase in bursary funding; Network challenges during high volumes processing; Non-responsiveness of NSFAS to queries lodged by Colleges; Late disbursement of allowances; and Delayed and inconsistent messaging to Colleges and students. Poor communication from NSFAS to institutions regarding disbursement of funds 

Summary on the Roll-out of student centred model : Status Quo 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Summary on the Roll-out of student centred model : Status Quo Challenges experienced in rolling out the student centred model Improvements to be considered with the Student centred Model Lack of staff capacity is a serious challenge Late payments of student allowances which creates student unrest The online application open window period for third trimester combined with the following year created confusion System congestion Students not uploading complete documents which led to unfunded status Students forget their login credentials and change their contact numbers Some of the returning students were not migrated on time to the new system System unable to handle the volume of applications and uploading of documents Vetting of students takes too long Online application process were not aligned to TVET enrolment cycles Colleges to improve on the data capturing process NSFAS to speed up their payments processes The should be a regular report on why some students are not paid and what should be done to avoid that NSFAS must deploy their officials to colleges or give Bursary administrators access to the system The current TVET work stream works better as colleges have dedicated personnel who are able to respond to their issues Colleges to perform the vetting of students themselves

PAYMENTS OF OUTSTANDING ALLOWANCES DUE TO STUDENTS IN THE TVET SECTOR 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training PAYMENTS OF OUTSTANDING ALLOWANCES DUE TO STUDENTS IN THE TVET SECTOR Colleges have submitted allowances of all students that are funded and qualify for 2019 with the registration forms via ITS and the portal However, colleges are yet to receive any communication from NSFAS if the allowances were approved or not. Allowances were already paid to returning students who were funded and qualifies) There are students who qualifies for allowances but due to their funding not yet confirmed by NSFAS, they could not get allowances. (Students are in need of the allowances and are struggling.) Students are being evicted from their residences and this have and could lead to protests and poor academic results.

Summary of outstanding allowances due to students 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Summary of outstanding allowances due to students Have outstanding student allowances being paid Challenges experienced with payment of student allowance Progress made in resolving issues of student allowances This is partially implemented, some students have been paid and some students have not been paid Allowances are not paid on time Some students have not been paid since January 2019 Students to update their information from the system as this cannot be done on their behalf Inaccurate data that is caused by the colleges due to lac k of bursary clerks in some campuses The system showing that students receiving allowances whilst they have not Lack of submission of banking details by students Students are still demanding their 2018 unpaid allowances NSFAS not sending remittance list on time for 2018 as a result colleges cannot pay students without remittances In some instances the 2017 year was not closed off and that impacted on funding decisions for 2018, the 2018 funding process has yet to be finalised and issues resolved in some colleges Majority of the allowances are been paid monthly Constant communication with NSFAS has assisted colleges so far Information osters, sms sent to students nd addressing student masses

Any other challenges experience by the college related to the NSFAS 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Any other challenges experience by the college related to the NSFAS Challenges still experienced by colleges Payments from previous years are still outstanding and accounts have not been cleared which affects the cash-flow of all college turnaround time still a challenge Colleges are battling to get the appeal results 2017 closeout report still outsatnding in majority of the colleges Icorrect information given to students through the NSFAS Call Centre Lack of response from NSFAS when college officials are sending requests Delays in funding decisions Students that have been declared have not received their allowances for 2019 Appeals and the appeal window is a challenge as NSFAS doesnot provide enough time for student appeals. There is lack of clarity around appeals submissions and feedback from NSFAS NSFAS cannot link automatically link the supplementary results and any delayed results

CONCLUSION: COLLEGE READINESS FOR 2020 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training CONCLUSION: COLLEGE READINESS FOR 2020 The colleges have to contend with all the challenges mentioned above and prepare for 2020 regardless SACPO has since done the following to ensure readiness to 2020 Conducted fruitful discussions with NSFAS and DHET and strides were made. NSFAS will pay project management fee to colleges to administer student allowances Participated in the review of bursary rules and guidelines Colleges are now discouraging walk-ins and implementing early registrations in the prior year

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Recommendations NSFAS must improve their bursary application portal urgently Urgently improve on the funding decision process of returning students Communication between NSFAS and TVET’s need to be improved NSFAS to assign a delegated persons to work with each TVET college or pay colleges the management fees Give TVET’ colleges access to download registrations already uploaded, as NSFAS promised to send them weekly to no avail Most importantly, NSFAS must pay the agreed management fees so that colleges are able to capacitate their bursary offices

Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training 2019/10/05 Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and training Thank you