Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Blade Nzimande says the department will prioritise infrastructure development at previously disadvantaged universities.
They believe this will ensure maintenance backlogs are addressed and the quality delivery management is improved at these institutions.
Nzimande attended the official opening of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Education Faculty Building and the Unibell Student Residence on Monday.
They described the scale of UWC’s infrastructure projects as significant and will add tremendous value to the university. These projects will improve the institution's academic focus and the living and learning experience of its students.
Nzimande also praised UWC for its focus on precinct development. They explain that the university’s adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure will breathe new life into older buildings.
I like what you are doing as UWC as one of the significant challenges we have is what do we do with old buildings?… some of them go back to the 1960s.
Nzimande said the readaptation of old university buildings also buries the intention of the apartheid government which sought to deny the majority of South Africa access to quality education.
[Universities] were built to give poor education thinking that the white minority regime will survive by depriving the majority of education. We are burying that, we are continuing to do that.
The minister was impressed with the rate at which UWC’s science faculty is being developed. This includes the Life and Chemical Sciences buildings, the South African Institute for Advanced Materials Chemistry building as well as the Computer and Mathematical Sciences (CAMS) building.
The Unibell student accommodation is part of Phase 1 of the Student Housing Infrastructure Programme (SHIP), of which the UWC is allocated 2,720 beds.
SHIP seeks to provide 200,000 beds at South Africa’s 26 public universities and 100,000 beds at the country’s 50 Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges over the next decade.
The minister explained that many universities and TVET colleges have not been able to make sufficient investments in the maintenance and expansion of their student housing portfolios. This was primarily due to financial constraints.
Nzimande says the SHIP project will assist these institutions, which will ensure quality teaching and learning and a conducive student living and learning environment.
