Comrades, students, ladies and gentlemen

I would like to thank SASCO for the invitation to address this Student Assembly. This forum reminds me of my days when I was a student at UCT and campaigning in 1987 for election to the SRC under a Nusas ticket of "Education for an African Future".

I remember that one of the issues that we had campaigned around in earlier years was the fact that law students were required to do Latin as a subject whereas there was no requirement that law students study an African Language.

Latin is no longer a requirement I but I know that it is also not compulsory that law students who do not have an African language, complete a first-year course in an indigenous African language. That was an issue that we mobilized mainly progressive white students around in the 1980's with some success.

I mention this because I believe that when we engage in a discussion on the transformation of Higher Education, we would tend to focus on issues of access, funding and progress towards equity in regard to the composition of student, academic and non-academic staff at our institutions. This is correct and should be central to our focus.

However, I have a sense that we do not always give the same energy to a focus on the curriculum issues in Higher Education and ask ourselves the question as to whether, for instance, our students are being prepared to critically engage with debates around the causes of poverty and unemployment for example and the impact of globalisation on our country and our continent.

As institutions on the African continent I believe it is critical that opportunities are created for students and the higher education institutions as a whole to engage with these issues. The challenge of course is how these debates find their way into the curriculum across faculties.

And that is why it is critical for the ongoing transformation of higher education that we have strong, vibrant and progressive student organizations where these issues are not only discussed but taken forward through SRC's, at University Council, and in national fora on Higher Education.

It is within organization that we learn lessons of accountability, democratic practice, mandate and values of non-racialism, non-sexism and democracy. Thus, part of my challenge today is for the strengthening of student organization with a particular focus on leadership development and political education.

Before proceeding to make some comments on the transformation of higher education, I want to express my condolences to the UCT community for the tragic loss of Professor Kevin Rochford who was shot and killed outside his home in Little Mowbray last night. I believe that Professor Rochard was recently married and my deepest sympathy is extended to his wife and other family members.

This incident along with others at this university and in our communities on a daily basis is a call to action to deal harshly with crime and violence but also to address the underlying causes, which contribute to a culture of violence in our society.

The right to education of many learners at our schools is being affected by vandals, criminals and the conduct of certain learners whose behaviour is simply unacceptable.

Prof Saleem Badat, former Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Higher Education and current Vice-Chancellor of Rhodes University said in a recent speech and I quote :

"? the attempt to transform higher education occurs within the context of a formidable overall challenge of pursuing economic development (including restructuring economic relations to address inequitable historical patterns of ownership, wealth and income distribution), social equity and the extension and deepening of democracy simultaneously. For good political and social reasons, one or other element of this triad cannot be eliminated or postponed and tackled sequentially. They have all to be pursued simultaneously."

It is clear that existing inequalities based on the legacy of racial and gender discrimination, coupled with the economic inequality created by apartheid colonialism and economic exploitation impact on the material situation we still find ourselves in.

We need to locate the debate on higher education transformation within the context of our commitment to a developmental state and its ability to ensure that institutions funded and supported by the state, contribute to our goal of creating a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist South Africa.

While a developmental state seeks to intervene to ensure accelerated and shared growth, it is also focused primarily on meeting social needs, building social cohesion by promoting the values of a caring society and also ensuring that our people enjoy safety and security in their homes, communities and places of learning.

I am not suggesting that higher education simply becomes an extension of the democratic state but I believe it is critical that our universities are continually reminded of our national priorities and challenged to contribute to the resolution of these challenges in our teaching, our research and the work done in the communities that we serve.

I believe that the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Western Cape Provincial Government and the Vice-Chancellors of the four Higher Education institutions in the Western Cape is an example of how the state and higher education can work together to realize, in this case, our provincial growth and development strategy, Ikapa Elihlumayo and the Home for All vision for the province.

Professor Jonathan Jansen in an article titled "Changes and continuities in South Africa's higher education system" published in "Changing Class - Education and Social Change in Post Apartheid South Africa" argues that "? whatever the nature and combination of reasons, humanities went into serious decline in the last decade, leading several universities to retrench humanities academics, to restructure humanities faculties and to terminate certain humanities programmes?".

He argues that the government's plan to shift the balance in enrolments between the humanities; business and commerce; and science, engineering and technology, from the established ratio of 49:26:25 per cent to 40:30:30 per cent is puzzling since this has already happened at great speed and without government intervention.

It is clear that the shift in enrolments are not only influenced by government priorities but also quite directly by market forces, which impact on the choices that students make based on career and salary prospects.

It is clear that government needs to intervene as it is doing via the Joint Initiative for Priority Skills Acquisition (JIPSA) programme to deal with the shortage of scarce skills, which impact directly on sustainable growth of our economy.

Thus the fact that National Student Financial Aid Bursaries (NSFAS) bursaries have since last year been made available to students at FET colleges enrolling for the NCV courses for the first time, is evidence of government's intervention to ensure that the vocational skills required by our country are actually produced.

We must however be aware of certain unintended consequences, which may arise as a result of the redirection of government resources and also the impact of what Professor Jansen describes as "a powerful view eminating across the world that higher education should be regarded as simply another form of economic trade".

It is possible for government to intervene and we have seen the impact of the Fundza Lushaka Teacher Bursary scheme (which is service-linked and guarantees placement within provincial education department schools) on the increase in the number of high school leavers, enrolling to become teachers.

Thus, funding for research and teaching, can, and I believe should be directed at academic pursuit, which advances the acquisition knowledge which for example contributes to resolving global and African challenges of under-development, poverty and unfair global trade practices.

Thus we need to examine the state of our humanities faculties and ask whether we should not be doing more to boost teaching and research in this area. My point is that despite the realities of the market and the commercialization of knowledge, it is possible for a developmental state to use its resources to advance the public good.

I believe that Higher Education should be willing partners in this endeavour. Ultimately the challenge is how to produce graduates in commerce, science and technology who are not only technically skilled but are also conscious of the potential they have to develop solutions, which will benefit the poor and marginalized.

We need students across all disciplines who are both internationally competitive and committed to contributing to peace and development of our continent. They also need to be critical young people, confident to challenge prevailing wisdoms at all levels of our society.

Access is a critical issue when we measure the progress of transformation in higher education. Professor Badat on progress which has been achieved, says:

"As a country we have increased and broadened participation within higher education to advance social equity and meet economic and social development needs, a crucial goal given the legacy of disadvantage of black and women South Africans, especially of working class and rural poor origins."

Student enrolments have grown from 473,000 in 1993 to some 737,472 in 2005. There has also been an extensive deracialisation of the student body at many institutions.

Whereas in 1993 African students constituted 40% (191,000), and black students 52% of the student body, in 2005 they made up 61% (449,241) and 75% respectively of overall enrolments (CHE, 2004; DoE, 2006).

There has also been commendable progress in terms of gender equity. Whereas women students made up 43% (202,000 out of 473,000) of enrolments in 1993, by 2005 they constituted 54.5% (402,267 out of 737,472) of the student body (CHE, 2004; DoE, 2006).

There has been a welcome internationalisation of the student body, overall and at various institutions. Foreign student enrolments increased from 14,124 in 1995 to 51,224 in 2005, constituting about 7% of the total student body.

Students from the South African Development Community bloc increased from 7,497 in 1995 to 35,725 in 2005. Students from other African countries increased from 1,769 in 1995 to 7,586 in 2005. Students from the rest of the world totalled 7,913 in 2005.

This is significant progress given that - in educational terms - not so long ago we had universities for different racial groups: eg. UWC for Coloureds; Stellenbosch for mainly White Afrikaans speaking learners.

As MEC, although we have no competency and authority over higher education, we have a responsibility to provide HEI's with capable learners. A very disturbing trend is the number of learners who enroll at Higher Education but actually drop out before completing their degrees.

It is not only the quality of learners leaving the school system that is an issue, but also other issues such as sustained academic support at universities, financial and social challenges that mainly disadvantaged learners face.

This is where I believe student organizations need to focus - how do institutions of higher education and government support learners from especially disadvantaged communities to manage the different challenges they face.

I am in no way suggesting that students should not also accept full responsibility for their own progress and put in the time and hard work required. However, we know that sometimes students leave simply because they struggle to find money for registration fees and transport. A detailed examination of student support services at our institutions is needed.

I believe that the debate we are having today will be enriched by the fact that at the ANC's National Conference, there was a resolution taken that education must be prioritized as one of the most important programmes for the next five years.

This resolution was followed by the January 8th Statement where the so-called non-negotiables for education were spelt out. I wonder whether this audience is aware of the Polokwane Resolution, which called for no-fee schools to be expanded to 60% by 2009 and to progressively introduce free education for the poor until undergraduate level.

In these resolutions may lie some of the answers to issues of throughput that I have referred and I believe the manner in which the resolution is implemented will have a significant impact on the transformation of higher education.

What is required is a national debate not only on the funding of education at all levels, but also the non-negotiable inputs that are required to achieve quality education. These inputs are not only about resources, they are also about the accountability of parents, teachers and learners.

Transformation of Higher Education must thus be measured not only by increasing access but our success in maintaining high throughput rates. This is a fundamental challenge to all of us working in primary and secondary education, where it is clear that the majority of learners from working class and rural communities, are not performing at levels required in literacy and numeracy by our national curriculum in grade 6.

For example, according to our latest diagnostic testing conducted on all our Grade 6 learners in the Western Cape, it is clear the vast majority of learners from low-income homes perform two to three years below the level appropriate for their age.

In our poorest quintile of schools, less that 2% of our learners are able to perform at the levels required by our curriculum for numeracy. We have however seen a steady improvement in literacy, the most marked improvement in our former DET schools, but the performance of our learners is still at unacceptable levels.

This insufficient foundation in terms of literacy and numeracy has an impact on all further learning. It means that when learners complete GET they do not have the basic language and mathematical skills to successfully access and complete FET courses and to continue into higher education.

These economic conditions will also dictate how many learners enroll at HEIs. The number of foreclosures in South Africa has increased by 300%. This means a number of unstable home environments.

Poverty will also impact on the fabric of society and the likelihood of more single parent households, higher divorce rates, gangsterism and other social evils. All this presents unprecedented challenges to the state in terms of human and financial resources.

Where do you deploy your resources and where will it be most effective in terms of addressing the challenges of the day? The notion of perspective is critical here. What can education do? What is an acceptable pass rate under these conditions? What kind of targets do we set? How do we increase access to higher education.

Data on about 1,500 students who enrolled in grade 8, 9 and 10 in 2002 was analysed, and it was shown that there were large differences in the probability of grade advancement between youth of different population groups, with White graduation rates considerably higher than African graduation rates.

Eighty-six per cent of White youth in 9th grade in 2002 had reached grade 12 by 2005, with the corresponding rates 29 per cent for Africans and 42 per cent for Coloured youth.

These results again highlight the importance of both ECD and the quality of GET in improving schooling outcomes as well as providing the youth with better opportunities for further or higher education and training.

Time has not allowed me to focus on issues such as the prevalence of racism at some of our institutions, funding of Higher Education and the role that our universities play in our communities and issues of governance. These are issues I am sure we can pick up in the debate.

My appeal to students at higher education is focus on:

• support to students, which will ensure better throughput
• a critical focus on curriculum issues by actively participating in student councils at faculty boards
• challenging the university in regard to extension work in communities and the allocations of university budgets for this work
• vocal support of attempts by government to introduce community service for students
• strengthening student organization and the reproduction of student leaders who will remain committed to transformation beyond landing their first corporate or government job
• getting involved in community work and projects such as the bra wam / sis wam mentorship projects and also tutoring programmes of organizations like Shawco and SASCO

Aluta Continua,
Thank you very much