Tertiary sponsorship reforms imminent
Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday March 21, 2017 15:45
This is subsequent to a Pitso that was convened last year to explore sustainable and inclusive tertiary education financing.
Making the disclosure at the opening of the eighth Botswana Human Resource Development Skills Fair and Career Clinics in the capital yesterday, the Minister, Alfred Madigele reiterated the need for a comprehensive review of the current tertiary education funding model.
He added that Government’s prioritisation of education is increasingly under scrutiny on account of competing demands, hence the need to come up with a more sustainable funding model.
He added that alternative funding models are in the interest of higher education access and equity “which we all desire for our children”.
Last year, the Ministry and the HRDC convened a Pitso to solicit input from various stakeholders on the development of funding models that will be inclusive and sustainable.
The Pitso explored policy options such as upfront tuition fee policies - based on the assumption that those parents who afford should take the responsibility to cover some portion of their children’s higher learning costs.
Dual tract tuition fee policies and deferred tuition fee system were also explored. The former, Madigele explained, will see a certain number of free, or very low-cost University places awarded by Government on the basis of academic merit, while other places will be available to qualified, but lower-performing students on a tuition fee basis.
“Deferred tuition system is whereby the burden to repay is left to the sponsored individual on an income contingent basis once their income has reached an agreed upon level,” he said. The deferred tuition regime gained traction and support.
Other ways to improve access and equity include taking se rvices such as the career fair to the people. For the past seven years, skills fairs and career clinics have been held in the capital only, but for the first time the event was this year taken to Francistown.