Times Of Swaziland: GOVT INCREASES UNISWA  SUBVENTION BY E80M

GOVT INCREASES UNISWA  SUBVENTION BY E80M
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 BY MUSA SIMELANE on 21/03/2016 09:18:00


MBABANE – Government has increased its subvention to the University of
Swaziland (UNISWA) by E80 million for the 2016/17 financial year.
This is according to Government Estimates for March 2016 to March 2019, which
were tabled by the Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini in his recent budget
speech.
The E80m denotes a jump from E243m of last year to around E323m, which is
equivalent to a 32 per cent hike. And it is meant to steady UNISWA’s sinking
ship due to financial constraints.
However, the E80m more still falls short of what the institution said it
required.
It required a total subvention of E607 million for the 2016/17 financial year,
but unfortunately, the estimates indicate that the E323m subvention will
continue for the next three years.
A year ago the university, through Minister of Education and Training Phineas
Magagula, did present its challenges in a report in Parliament, and made it
clear that life was a struggle. This was because it could not retain its
academic staff; that had left for greener pastures, and also that its revenue
was always at a low while operational costs were always climbing. UNISWA
salaries are the lowest in the country and in the SADC region.
The report recommended that government should award the university a subvention
that it had requested for each year until its financial position stabilised.
“In terms of the medium term expenditure framework, for the next three
financial years, the university will require a subvention of E562m (2015/16),
E607m (2016/17) and E677m (2017/18) for personnel and operations,” stated the
report.
The university has, at the turn of the decade, struggled to meet salary demands
of academic staff, improve the quality of its education and take care of
operational costs. A sharp decline in student enrolment also compounded the
situation as government significantly cut down the number of scholarships to the
university. The main cause of this was the fiscal crisis of 2010/11.
Another recommendation that was forwarded in the report was that government
should allow UNISWA to increase learning fees when necessary to supplement
subventions.
Minister Magagula said currently, government restricted the university from
increasing tuition fees to cover the shortfall arising from the reduced
subvention. They range between E15 000 to E16 000 per student per year. Tuition
fees for some private tertiary institutions in the country that still received
government subventions ranged between E19 000 and E30 000 per year. In the SADC
region, they ranged between E40 000 and E70 000 per year.
“It is recommended that government should allow UNISWA to increase tuition
fees progressively so that they are reflective of or closer to fees charged by
local institutions of higher learning.