The start of the second National Higher Education Summit got underway at Durban’s International Convention Centre, today, 15 October 2015. Delegates in attendance are from government, tertiary institutions, vice-chancellors, NGOs, various educational sector, Premier, Senzo Mchunu, deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Higher Education and Training, Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor and Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training, Mduduzi Manana.

The aim of the summit is to bring together key stakeholders in for a critical dialogue on the higher education system. This follows from the 2010 higher education summit that took place at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Since then there have been many changes in institutions and in the system as a whole.

Welcoming guests to the Kwazulu-Natal province and to the three day summit was Premier Senzo Mchunu, who mentioned that we have five established universities which makes us very fortunate as well as conscious of what is taking place at tertiary institutions currently.

He added that he has no doubt the summit will be a success. “It is remarkable that KZN is hosting such an important summit for the country and it’s important to note that as a province we have five universities. This summit has come at a relevant time where there are several concerns about higher educational concerns in our province,” said Premier Mchunu.

Delivering the keynote address was Deputy president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, who added that investment in education is governmental priority which is guided by the constitution.
“Access to higher education should be a right not a privilege. Transformation is a challenge and will be for many years so I applaud all the delegates for coming to the summit to deal with these issues as it is a great platform to share experiences, where knowledge is generated and where we can look forward to our educational sector transforming and being transformed”, he said.

He also reiterated that the further issues that will be discussed at the summit will be access to funding, families of students, curriculums , research and he also wished all delegates to be critical and self critical and do all that they can to help the process of transformation.

Day one of the summit will also entail critical dialogues from Durban University Technology’s principal and vice-chancellor, Professor Ahmed Bawa, together with other stakeholders from the DHET panel. They will talk about and tackle issues pertaining to post-school education and training’s vision of a transformed higher education system.

-Waheeda Peters, Sihle Ndebele & Mxolisi Ntanzi

Pictured: Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking at the start of the second National Higher Education transformation summit.