Blade Nzimande slams Educor for gross compliance failures ...
Blade Nzimande said Educor failed to ensure students' exams were marked. (Papi Morake/Gallo Images)
Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has slammed the parent company of four private higher education institutions for misrepresenting its student numbers.
Addressing a media briefing on Tuesday, Nzimande said the four institutions - City Varsity, Damelin, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum College, all owned by Educor - had a student enrolment of 13 096 in 2022 but Educor claimed it had 50 000 students.
According to its website, it stated it was the largest private education supplier in southern Africa.
Educor manages 10 educational brands across its more than 60 campuses and sites in South Africa and internationally.
In a notice carried in the Government Gazette on Friday, the Department of Higher Education's director-general, Nkosinathi Sishi, published his decision to cancel the registration of the four institutions.
This followed Educor's failure to submit audited financial statements for the 2021 and 2022 annual reports.
READ | Students in limbo as higher education dept deregisters Damelin, Lyceum College and CityVarsity
Nzimande said Educor would be given a period in which to phase out registered students and reimburse them where necessary.
He added the cancellation of City Varsity's registration would take immediate effect and it must not enrol new students on any year of the programme.
"City Varsity must phase out pipeline [current] students by 31 December 2023."
The four institutions failed to fulfil the requirements for registration as stipulated in the Higher Education Act by not submitting their annual financial statements and the tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 financial years as proof of their financial viability.
Nzimande said the institutions were required to lodge an appeal with him on or before 26 September 2023 after their registrations were cancelled in July 2023.
"They then requested an extension to 28 February 2024, and are now seeking a further extension.
"In addition to failing to submit evidence of their financial viability to the department, the four Educor brands can be deemed as dysfunctional and this is mainly measured against the daily complaints and grievances received from students, most of which remain unresolved."
The complaints by students included:
Poor quality of teaching and learning.Lack of proper administrative support.Poorly qualified staff.Corruption and bribery.Lack of response for requests for refunds.Lack of professionalism.Exploitation of poor students.Non-payment of staff salaries.Under-payment of staff salaries.Nzimande said the institutions gave students marks based on exam scripts that were not marked, because lecturers had not been paid.
He added the sites of some institutions closed suddenly for, among others, failure to pay rent, staff salaries and/or the municipality.
"City Varsity at Braamfontein in Johannesburg closed because staff withdrew their services for non-payment of salaries and students were left stranded."
The Damelin sites in Braamfontein, Gqeberha, Cape Town, and East London closed suddenly because they were in arrears with the municipality and rent, leaving students stranded.
"Lyceum College's only site was closed due to an eviction order by the landlord for failure to pay rent and students were left stranded," Nzimande said.
He added on 8 January, the directorate registering private colleges wrote to the four Educor institutions and requested them to respond to a list of allegations of corruption against them.
"To date, they have not responded."
Nzimande said there was not much information available about Educor's current leadership structure.
"There is no credible evidence to suggest that the management of Educor is working to improve or correct some of the serious governance and compliance failures I have referred to.
"What we are seeing instead are students and staff being left stranded and we wish to urge the affected staff to seek the assistance of the Labour Court and the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
"It would be unconscionable to maintain the registration status of these four private institutions and allow ourselves to become complicit in gross governance and compliance failures…
"I hope that some people may come and rescue these institutions," he added.
