Business Day
*More funds for wider range of students --- Nzimande* *Karl Gernetzky, Business Day, Johannesburg, 11 October 2011 *THE R5,5bn National Student Financial Aid Scheme would increase the funds available for loans and bursaries and widen the definition of students eligible , Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said yesterday.
Speaking at the release of the scheme's annual report, Mr Nzimande said the unqualified audit that the scheme received in the 2011 financial year was an "outstanding achievement and vindicates my decision in December 2010 to restructure the board" of the scheme.
However, Democratic Alliance higher education spokeswoman Junita Kloppers-Lourens hit out at Mr Nzimande, saying the credit for the unqualified audit should go to the scheme's former CEO, Ashley Seymour, who was fired in April this year after a year in the position, for allegedly failing to take action that would have prevented a disclaimer.
By the time he was fired, "all the good work was done" and the minister was clearly moving Mr Seymour, who was highly competent, out of the way in order to appoint his "cronies" into positions at the scheme, she said.
"It was he (Mr Seymour) who had the action plans; it was his initiative and it was he who appointed people to do the work properly," she said.
In the past the scheme has been criticised for poor management and underspending.
A report by a ministerial committee led by Prof Marcus Balintulo that reviewed the scheme at the start of last year concluded it faced "serious systemic, structural, organisational and policy problems".
Mr Nzimande restructured the board in December and instructed the scheme to address five issues raised by the auditor-general in the previous year's disclaimer. A turnaround strategy enacted by the scheme had resulted in "extraordinary steps" to fix years of neglect and mismanagement of the scheme, he said.
Collette Caine, a member of the scheme's board, said this turnaround strategy required recalculating the 1,8-million loans the scheme had made since its inception in 1999. This had revealed a number of problems.
Stephen Smith, chairman of the scheme's audit and risk committee, said that over the years about 34000 students had been overcharged on interest, and R78m had been allocated to refund them.
He acknowledged that some students had been undercharged on their loans, as their repayments went directly into servicing the capital amount, rather than the interest. However, these students would not be expected to repay the scheme, he said.
Mr Nzimande said the department would now focus on attaining the scheme's far-reaching goals. This was mainly to provide, within three years, all students from poor backgrounds with access to further education.
Mr Nzimande said the department was looking at extending the system of converting the loans of final-year students into bursaries once they graduated, by including earlier years of study.
Currently, the loans cover only part of the cost of studying so that more students can benefit.
The scheme would also address the problem of ensuring funds previously expended were not wasted, for example providing R200m as grants for students who had completed their studies but not graduated because of outstanding educational debt.
A further R50m had been provided for postgraduate students who required financial assistance to complete their honours, masters and doctoral degrees.
This was part of the government's plans to increase the number of PhDs, Mr Nzimande said. These students, however, would enter into loan agreements with the scheme and the money they repaid would be earmarked to fund future postgraduates.
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