South African education minister Kader Asmal is fighting an impassioned defence of his bold restructuring of higher education after cabinet accepted his plan for large-scale mergers. The number of institutions will be slashed from 36 to 21 and two new institutes will be created in provinces with no university or technikon.

The consolidation would not lead to decreased provision, he pledged, as all existing sites would continue to operate, "although in new institutional and organisational forms".

Professor Asmal has promised debt relief for institutions in financial trouble so as not to jeopardise newly merged institutions.

A New Institutional Landscape for Higher Education in South Africa was passed by cabinet the second time around, after Professor Asmal abandoned plans to merge the famous Fort Hare 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ with Rhodes 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, and the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Western Cape with a technikon.

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The plan flows out of a report by a working group, and is in line with the National Plan for Higher Education, which identified five key goals and strategic objectives:

* Increased access and graduates that meet human resource needs n Equity and redress

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* Diversity

* Greater research capacity

* Restructuring to overcome "the fragmentation, inequalities and inefficiencies of the apartheid past".

There are three mergers already under way - Natal and ML Sultan technikons in Durban, South Africa's major distance providers, and the takeover of a local campus of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the North by the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Free State. Vista 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ is being broken down and its many campuses incorporated into several other institutions.

The number of universities will be slashed from 21 to 11. There will also be six technikons, four "comprehensive institutions" and two national higher education institutes, in Northern Cape and Mpumalanga provinces, that will coordinate existing programmes in colleges.

Professor Asmal said this "is not a technical exercise to rearrange existing institutions into different configurations. Rather, it is an exercise that will allow for the expansion of the system and turn it around to face the challenges of the African century".

The plan is to increase the participation rate of 20 to 24-year-olds from 15 to 20 per cent over the next ten years, requiring recruitment of an extra 200,000 students, supported by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

In Eastern Cape, the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Port Elizabeth will merge with Port Elizabeth Technikon to become "comprehensive".

Border and Eastern Cape technikons will merge and take over the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Transkei in Umtata. Rhodes will remain intact, but its East London campus will be swallowed by Fort Hare, which will also take over Transkei's medical school.

In the Free State, the local university and technikon will remain intact.

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In Gauteng, Wi****ersrand and Pretoria universities will be retained. Rand Afrikaans 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ will merge with Technikon Wi****ersrand to become a comprehensive institution.

Technikons Northern Gauteng, North-West and Pretoria will join. Vaal Triangle technikon is unchanged.

In KwaZulu-Natal, Natal and Durban-Westville universities will merge.

The newly merged Durban Institute of Technology will join with Mangosuthu Technikon and the Umlazi campus of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Zululand, which will become a comprehensive institution.

In Limpopo, there will be a merger between the universities of the North Venda and Medical 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southern Africa. In the Northwest, North-West and Potchefstroom universities will merge.

In the Western Cape, the universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Western Cape will remain intact, but the dentistry schools of the last two will be located at UWC. Cape and Peninsula technikons will merge.

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Details: itutional_landscape_he.htm

CHANGES TO SOUTH AFRICAN LANDSCAPE

The number of institutions will be slashed from 36 to 21, and two new institutes will be created in provinces that have no university or technikon.

Vista 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ is being broken down and its many countryside campuses incorporated into several other institutions.

Eastern Cape

* 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Port Elizabeth will merge with Port Elizabeth Technikon

* Border (East London) and Eastern Cape (Butterworth) technikons merge and take over the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Transkei in Umtata

* Rhodes 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ (Grahamstown)

* Fort Hare (Alice) absorbs Rhodes' 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ's East London campus and Transkei's medical school.

Free State

* 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Free State (Bloemfontein)

* Technikon Free State (Bloemfontein) Gauteng

* 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of the Wi****ersrand (Johannesburg)

* 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Pretoria

* Rand Afrikaans 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ (Johannesburg) to merge with Technikon Wi****ersrand into a comprehensive institution incorporating the East Rand and Soweto campuses of Vista 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ

* Technikons Northern Gauteng, North-West and Pretoria will merge (Pretoria)

* Vaal Triangle technikon unchanged KwaZulu-Natal

* Universities of Natal (Durban and Pietermaritzberg) and Durban-Westville will merge

* Durban Institute of Technology merges with Mangosuthu Technikon (Durban) and the Umlazi campus of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Zululand, which will become a comprehensive institution Limpopo

* Universities of the North Venda (Sovenga) and Medical51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Southern Africa will merge Northwest

* Universities of North-West (Mmabatho) and l Potchefstroom (Potchefstroom) will merge Western Cape

* Universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Western Cape (Bellville) will remain

* Cape and Peninsula (Bellville) technikons merge Distance education

* Merger of Technikon SA, the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of South Africa and the distance education campus of Vista 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.

In the Western Cape, the universities of Cape Town, Stellenbosch and Western Cape will remain intact, but the dentistry schools of the last two will be located at UWC. Cape and Peninsula technikons will merge.

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