Skills & EducationProposedLong TermScience, Technology and Innovation

NRF Postgraduate Bursary Reform: Value and Industry Co-funding

Theme: Human capital development

First raisedOct 2024Last discussedApr 2025Dormant — not discussed in 12+ months4 meetings on the record ↓

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Assessment

Growth Impact3/5

Feasibility4/5

Responsible: DSI / NRF / DHET

Feasibility Assessment

High. Bursary value increase is a budget line item within DSI/NRF appropriations. Industry co-funding leverages the existing Section 11D R&D tax incentive framework.

Description

The NRF funds approximately 30,000 postgraduate students annually but bursary values of R80,000–R120,000 for doctoral students in 2024 are insufficient for urban cost of living and uncompetitive with international programmes, contributing to brain drain. Reform proposals include doubling doctoral bursary values to R180,000–R250,000, introducing industry co-funding requirements for applied research areas (mining, fintech, agri-tech), and linking bursary allocations to DSI Decadal Plan priorities. The NRF Amendment Act (2019) created the framework for industry partnerships; implementation has been partial. Parliamentary Committee on Science BRRRs noted South Africa's PhD production rate of 45 per million population is below the AU target of 100 per million by 2025, with bursary inadequacy as a cited cause of slow growth.

Parliamentary record

4 meetings

Committee sittings this reform was drawn from, most recent first. Each row opens the meeting on this site; the PMG link goes to the source record.

Status History

tracked since Mar 2026

Recorded as Proposed when status tracking began — held since at least Mar 2026.
Mar 2026

Data as of 2026-08-24 · latest PMG meeting 2026-08-21