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The higher education institutions have a great role to play in the transformation of the country.

There has been some debate around what kind of contribution they can make to the BEE process and whether their BEE contribution should be measured before any subsidies and any other concessions can be granted. I would like to explore the general contribution that can be made by these institutions and also the specific BEE contribution they can make. The Broad-based BEE scorecard has employment equity and skills development targets that companies need to achieve to drive meaningful contribution to transformation. These targets reflect the minimum contribution that needs to be made in order to have a more representative workforce. Currently there is a shortage of skills in certain areas of the economy and furthermore the representation of black people is shockingly low. There is a role that the universities can play to ensure that there is supply of these skills into the different areas of the economy. The current enrolment data in universities show an increase of black people especially Africans who accounted for 38% of the enrolled students in 1992 with an increase to 51% in 2000. The enrolment rates in the technikons are much higher. However the Human Sciences Research Councils HRD Review 2003 research shows that the graduation rates of African students in both universities and technikons compared to other groups are poor. Furthermore the field where there is an increasing African representation is Education followed by Social Sciences and there is lower representation in fields such as engineering, commerce and the health sciences. The challenge facing the higher education institutions is to increase the quantity of black students through equitable access policies and the quality of the graduating students through maintaining robust standards. The targets of the Broad-based BEE Scorecard and the different BEE charters has put pressure on companies to have more black people represented and trained in the various sectors of the economy. This pressure is slowly trickling down to the higher education institutions to supply the skills to the economy. But a key challenge for the higher education institutions is the supply of black matriculants who have the appropriate subjects. There is specific contribution to BEE that higher institutions can make in the different elements of Broad-based BEE. The ownership element may not apply to the public institutions classified as organ of state. However the normal ownership criteria as set out in the codes of good practice will apply to privately owned educational institutions. The critical elements for all institution is the management, employment equity and skills development elements of Broad-based BEE. The management element measures the representation of black people in all the key governing structures as well as in the management team that runs the day to day affairs of the institution. It is important for black people (defined as African, Coloureds and Indians who are South African citizens by birth, descent or through naturalisation prior to 27 April 2004) to play a role in the key decision-making processes of these governing structures.

The employment equity elements is important especially when it comes to the academic staff because they have day to day contact with students and serve as role models to the increasing body of black students in higher education institutions. This fair representation of black academics must be in all the different fields of study within the institution and not only in the fields where there is a majority representation of black students. If there is a shortage of black academics and the black administrative staff the skills development element of the scorecard awards institutions that spend resources in developing those skills that are in short supply. The distinction between academic and other staff is important in the academic and professional fields such as law, accounting, etc. The procurement budgets of these institutions can be an important leverage to drive Broad-based BEE. Furthermore the enterprise development and the residual elements of the scorecard provide rich opportunities for conducting research and development initiatives for the higher education institutions. The latter elements make these institutions relevant to the economy and the societies in which they operate. The current Broad-based BEE Act in section 10 provides that every organ of state and public entity must take into account and as far as is reasonably possible apply any relevant code of good practice issued in terms of this Act in determining qualification criteria for the issuing of licences, concessions or other authorisations in terms of any law. Therefore there are possibilities of BEE being taken into account for any subsidies that higher education institutions apply for given the different areas that these institutions can contribute in accelerating Broad-based BEE.

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