Establishing a public-private partnership platform for funding higher education in South Africa

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the current model for funding higher education in South Africa, and assess the level of risk associated with it. This investigation was conducted using qualitative methods where a total of 17 participants were interviewed using different media such as face-to-face, telephonic or Skype interviews. These participants were made up of multiple stakeholders who were relevant for the study from government, private sector, higher education and students. The findings from the study were that the existing higher education funding model was advancing an unsustainable model for free education for qualifying students, as a transition from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)1 grant model. What was also evident was that there were on-going efforts to develop an alternative model through a public-private partnership (PPP). In this study, a PPP model was developed based on findings from the interviews conducted. This model is used to demonstrate how it may ideally play a critical role in progressing societal impact2 through developing a highly educated society and ultimately, the eradication of the triple challenge of inequality, poverty and unemployment. It can be concluded that there is an urgent need for a model for societal impact, and different stakeholders have roles to play where students ensure throughput so more students can be funded. The government can establish policies that will govern the process, and the private sector can provide funding and additional support towards developing society. Keywords: higher education, public-private partnership, free education, societal impact 1 NSFAS is a financial aid scheme which seeks to provide higher education funding to South Africa’s financially needy student population (Pillay, 2009). 2 Societal impact in this context refers to the overall well-being or uplifting of a particular community.