Interaction with the Department and NSFAS on 2026 placements and funding; with Deputy Minister

Video The Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training met in Parliament to receive briefings from the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) on registration and enrolment in the post-school education and training system for the 2026 academic year, as well as on student funding. The Department reported that the 2026 registration period had been comparatively stable across the post-school education and training system. All campuses were operational and academic programmes were underway. Contributing factors to the improved registration period included NSFAS adhering to agreed payment timelines, the establishment of a sector-wide war room that enabled real-time monitoring and rapid resolution of issues, the decentralisation and improved accessibility of NSFAS within institutions, and a tripartite agreement between students, NSFAS, and institutions on accommodation oversight. Committee oversight visits to institutions in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape were also cited as contributing to system stability. Enrolment growth of over 10% in first-time entering students was recorded for 2026, against available university spaces of only 235 000. The Department noted that enrolment plans were designed to support managed growth while ensuring infrastructure and human resource capacity kept pace, with plans underway for new institutions, digitisation, and a central application service. The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector recorded 144 489 first-time entering student registrations against a target of 170 000, with total enrolment across all programmes standing at approximately 538 828. A national open learning platform was under development and projected to accommodate approximately 260 000 additional students over the next two years. Community Education and Training (CET) colleges opened on 14 January 2026 in line with the basic education calendar, with the sector remaining broadly stable. However, two serious incidents at Tshwane City College, namely a student suicide and a rape, were reported. The Department noted that examination irregularities had been identified at several TVET centres, with a mop-up process concluding by 28 February 2026 and final results released on 20 March 2026. Key systemic challenges highlighted included a persistent and growing student accommodation shortage, student debt among self-paying students affecting registration, delays in the appeals process, staffing constraints at TVET colleges, and the absence of a comprehensive student funding model to address gaps including students exceeding the N+1 rule, those pursuing second qualifications, and postgraduate students. NSFAS reported that its central strategy for the 2026 academic year had been to adhere to a comprehensive academic timetable and honour commitments to the sector. Funding decisions for first-time entering students had been published prior to the release of matric results, and continuing students had been informed of their academic progression outcomes before returning to campus. As at the reporting date, NSFAS had disbursed approximately R6.4 billion to universities and R1.4 billion to TVET colleges, with registration data received for approximately 352 000 university students and 198 000 TVET students. On appeals, NSFAS reported substantial improvement in processing times, with all appeals on the NSFAS side expected to be concluded by the end of March 2026. The majority of appeals emanated from continuing students who had not met academic progression criteria. NSFAS indicated its intention to conclude all appeals before the close of the registration cycle in the 2027 academic year. On student accommodation, NSFAS reported that a legal review had identified irregularities in the procurement process leading to the appointment of solution partners. Legal advice had recommended that NSFAS build internal capacity before terminating those contracts to avoid disrupting student accommodation. NSFAS confirmed it had built the payment capacity to take over disbursement of accommodation allowances directly and was committed to removing all middlemen from the system. A supplementary accommodation disbursement on 25 March 2026 was expected to achieve approximately 80 to 85% coverage of accommodation providers, with shortfalls attributed primarily to failures in banking detail verification. The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was conducting an investigation into student accommodation, including a national audit of all accredited beds. On decentralisation, NSFAS reported plans to establish a national head office in Tshwane from the start of the 2027 academic year while maintaining a regional office in the Western Cape. Phase one would see NSFAS staff placed at 56 institutions, with 76 institutional support practitioners, 9 regional accountants, and 152 graduate interns to be appointed. The total cost was estimated at R103 million against projected savings of R72.2 million, yielding a net cost of approximately R33 million to be spread over two financial years. On the missing middle loan fund, NSFAS reported that 1 500 loan applications had been approved for 2026, a significant increase of approximately 24 loans disbursed in each of 2024 and 2025, though still well below the target of 25 000. Low uptake was attributed to policy constraints, including a R600 000 household income cap and a 70 % Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) requirement, as well as insufficient marketing and communication. An automated loan disbursement system was expected to be operational by 1 April 2026, with policy amendments planned for the 2027 academic year. Members expressed serious concerns about the conduct of institutions that had received NSFAS funds but delayed disbursing allowances to students, describing such conduct as unacceptable and potentially criminal. They noted instances where institutions had misled students by claiming NSFAS had not paid when funds had in fact been received, and alleged that institutions were holding NSFAS funds in interest-bearing accounts and profiting at the expense of students. Members called for a full account of when NSFAS funds had been received by institutions and when allowances had been disbursed to students, with any interest earned to be directed as financial relief to students. Members raised serious concern about the situation at the Durban University of Technology, where protests had erupted over unpaid student allowances and where a private security company, Izikhova Security, had allegedly been procured through irregular processes and had been filmed manhandling and assaulting protesting students. They called for an investigation into the procurement of the company and consequence management for the personnel involved. Members questioned NSFAS extensively on the student accommodation crisis, including the continued reliance on solution partners despite confirmed procurement irregularities, the slow pace of contract termination, and the eviction of NSFAS-funded students by accommodation providers. They also probed the financial rationale for NSFAS decentralisation, questioned whether the full picture on labour resistance had been disclosed, and asked for clarity on the functions to be performed at the proposed Tshwane head office and the retained Western Cape regional office. They questioned the low disbursement figures under the missing middle loan fund and probed NSFAS on whether the loan system was still being managed through spreadsheets, what policy changes were planned to increase uptake, and what concrete steps would be taken to ensure the fund reached its intended beneficiaries. Members raised concern about the Department's failure to present preliminary university enrolment figures for the 2026 academic year, noting that both the TVET branch and the Community Education and Training branch had provided such figures, and that NSFAS itself had already received registration data for approximately 352 000 university students. Members challenged the Department's practice of including community college spaces when responding to questions about post-matric access, noting that approximately 50% of community college students were still pursuing a matric certificate, and called for honest and disaggregated reporting on post-matric spaces available across the system. Members raised a specific allegation of ghost student accommodation claims at Motheo TVET College since 2023, called for a full demographic breakdown of the 45 students who received scholarships to study in China, and questioned what the Department had done to address the employment of foreign nationals in academic leadership positions at the University of the Free State (UFS). They also drew attention to an Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) report, which had found significant discrepancies between the number of beds for which accommodation providers had been paid and the number of beds physically available on site, including one instance where a provider had been paid for 300 beds but only 75 were found on site. They expressed the view that solution partners, having been responsible for both accrediting and paying accommodation providers, could not credibly claim ignorance of the discrepancies.