SAFCEI supports the call to address crises in higher education

In this time of tension in the higher education sector, as the fees debate rages on, SAFCEI supports the call from UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences to all stakeholders to urgently address the crisis.

The Faculty is:

• appealing to the national government to provide additional funding to sustain the higher education project;
• demanding the establishment of a national consultative forum to urgently resolve the crises in higher education;
• urging all stakeholders to engage in constructive dialogue to address the challenges of higher education.

Faculty representatives will gather at the gates of Parliament from 1pm on Thursday 22 September to present a statement to the Minister of Higher Education and Training which incorporates the above demands.

SAFCEI supports this action and makes an appeal to government for no more money to be wasted on nuclear energy. The amount spent so far by the Department of Energy on preparation for a nuclear build programme could have funded 4,000 student bursaries.

Liz McDaid, SAFCEI’s Energy Advisor, says: “Isn’t it obvious that the investment in a country’s future should be in its young people, and not an outdated technology. 62,000 student fee increases could have been paid with the money spent on nuclear to date.”