Higher Education Act, 1997 (Act No. 101 of 1997)NoticesFunding of Public Higher Education (November 2003)5. Implementation of the New Funding Framework |
The Ministry is committed to ensuring that the implementation of the new funding framework does not have a de-stabilising effect on the higher education system. This would be done through a number of strategies in the first triennium, i.e. 2004/05-2006107. The key features of these strategies are outlined below.
| (5.1) | Calculating Block Grants during the Transition |
| (5.1.1) | Calculations will be made for each institution of the total subsidy grant, which it would receive in 2004/05, if the block grant allocation in the national higher education budget were to be distributed according to the provisions of the current formulas for universities and technikons. This will be considered to be the baseline grant B of the institution. |
| (5.1.2) | Calculations will then be made for each institution of the new formula grant N, which it would receive in the new funding year 2004/05 under the provisions of the new framework. N divided by B will then be expressed as a percentage, and will be restricted to a range determined by the Minister of Education. |
| (5.1.3) | The final grant F to be awarded to an institution will be its baseline grant B multiplied by the range-restricted percentage determined by dividing B by the institution’s new grant funding total N. |
| (5.1.4) | The base line B for each subsequent year in a triennium will be the final grant of the previous year multiplied by the increase provided in the MTEF budget for block grants. A calculation will be made of the institution’s new funding total N for that year, and a new range-restricted percentage will be derived by dividing the new N by the new baseline B. The final grant F for an institution for this new year will be its new baseline grant multiplied by the newly determined percentage. |
| (5.1.5) | The Minister of Education will determine the specific strategies that are to be employed during the implementation phase of the new funding framework. These strategies will deal with both merging institutions and non-merging institutions. |
| (5.2) | Planning Restrictions |
| (5.2.1) | The funding implementation strategy outlined in 5.1 above is based on an assumption that there will be stability, during the triennium 2004/05 to 2006/07, in the shares which institutions have of total FTE student enrolments in the public higher education system. The strategy assumes further that changes in the relative shares which institutions have of block grant totals will occur only if some are able to increase their shares of research and teaching output totals. This implies that institutions must, during the initial implementation period, attempt to keep growth in their FTE student enrolments to at most 5% per annum for contact programmes and 0% for distance programmes. |
| (5.2.2) | The Minister of Education may make adjustments to the approved funded FTE student places of institutions, which exceed these guidelines. |