Briefing by NSFAS to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training (PCHET) - Presentation by Dr Randall Carolissen, NSFAS Administrator

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Briefing by NSFAS to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training (PCHET) - Presentation by Dr Randall Carolissen, NSFAS Administrator
Briefing by NSFAS to the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education
and Training (PCHET)

Presentation by Dr Randall Carolissen, NSFAS Administrator
                                                                                                February 13, 2019
                                                             Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
1. INTRODUCTION [Role of the Administrator]
INVOKING SECTION 17A (3)(A) OF THE NSFAS ACT (ACT 56 OF 1999, AS AMENDED), THE
MINISTER OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING (DHET) PLACED NSFAS UNDER
ADMINISTRATION AS PER THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF REFERENCE.
 1.   Ensure the effective close out of the 2017 and 2018 student funding cycles.
 2.   Oversee the opening of the 2019 online applications process.
 3.   Develop, in consultation with the Department, universities and TVET colleges, an
      effective and realistic plan for the 2019 funding cycle.
 4.   Put in place the necessary management and governance controls.
 5.   Ensure that adequate plans are in place to make funding decisions at the earliest
      possible time of the year as close to the period of registration as possible.
 6.   To manage the day-to-day work of the entity, and steer NSFAS to address its
      operational challenges fully.
 7.   To work closely with the Ministerial Committee of Inquiry appointed by the Minister.
 8.   To maintain a close and productive working relationship between NSFAS and the
      universities and TVET colleges.
                                                                                                  February 13, 2019
                                                               Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
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2. CLOSE OUT OF THE 2017 & 2018 STUDENT FUNDING CYCLES
§   NSFAS has disbursed more than R21 Billion of the 22 Billion budgeted for 2018 funding cycle.
§   The success was due to a different approach that the Administrator adopted when he started with NSFAS:
      §     Deploy senior managers to the regions to more effectively address institutional issues closer to institutions
      §     Collaborate with student leadership to assist NSFAS trace students that did not sign contracts
      §     Prioritise Remittances to ensure that allowances actually reach the students
      §     Establish central “Nerve Centre” where issues are prioritised and resolved timeously
§   The table below shows the breakdown per institution type. A total of 707 332 Students have been funded in 2018.
    INSTITUTION TYPE              NEW STUDENTS                CONTINUING STUDENTS                       TOTAL
          UNIVERSITY                    167 966                         208 397                         376 363
             TVET                       164 789                         166 180                         330 969
            TOTAL                       332 755                         374 577                         707 332

DATA ISSUES SINCE 2016
§   NSFAS has accumulated and failed to resolve data issues since 2016. The Administrator has established a focus team
    “war room” to resolve all data issues and progress has been made.
§   In order to ensure that affected students are not disadvantaged going into 2019, NSFAS has shared detailed
    information with institutions to all these students to register.
4
3. UPDATE ON THE 2019 ONLINE APPLICATIONS PROCESS
  [Applications & Funding Decisions]

  § NSFAS has received 546 449 Applications for 2019 Application cycle. This includes the
   TVET walk-ins in January 2019.
 Progress on funding decisions is shown below:

  INSTITUTION       SUCCESSFUL       UNDER REVIEW          REJECTED                        TOTAL

UNIVERSITY             276 063             30 138            58 173                       364 374

TVET                   166 317             7 408              8 400                       182 125

TOTAL                  442 380             37 546            66 573                       546 499

                                                                                                    February 13, 2019
                                                                 Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
4. REALISTIC PLAN FOR THE 2019 FUNDING CYCLE
§ In partnership with DHET, allowances were standardised with improved equity between TVETS and

  Universities. Institutions and students have been consulted and new rules and guidelines updated,
  canvassed and communicated.

§ All universities and TVETS have been trained and additional on-campus support will be provided by NSFAS,

  NYDA and DHET.

§ Data integration with Institutions tested and operational. This will enable much quicker determination of

  registration and hence funded status for students.

§ Institutions were assessed for ability to distribute allowances and special measures have been introduced for

  those at risk.

§ All voucher system of disbursements had been scrapped and students are to manage their own finances

  through opening bank accounts. This will pave way for direct payments to students where required.
                                                                                                                February 13, 2019
                                                                             Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   5
5. APPEALS PROCESS
   [Opened on January 28 and will close on March 08, 2019]
• There is a process in place to manage the appeals
• First-Time Entering Students (FTENs) can appeal directly with NSFAS by
  completing the appeal form,and attach supporting documents.
• Returning Students can appeal directly at the institution (Financial Aid Office
  or Student Support Services) not with NSFAS.
• Appeals will be considered by the Institutions Financial Aid Committee or
  designated committee for recommendation to NSFAS.

                                                                                            February 13, 2019
                                                         Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   6
6. REASONS OF APPEALS
   [NSFAS Funding is governed by national policy, therefore appeals for
   post- graduate studies or unfunded programmes cannot be considered]

 • Exceeded permitted number of years of study
 • Change in programme of study
 • Change in financial circumstances
 • Completed a GAP year due to academic performance
 • Loss of bursary sponsor (due to incorrect academic results submitted)
 • Failure to meet academic performance requirements
 • Any other reason not listed or mentioned above

                                                                                        February 13, 2019
                                                     Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   7
7. PROGRESS ON APPEALS
   [ Thus far, 6 200 appeals qualify for funding…number to increase daily]

• To date, the NSFAS has received 14 000 appeals through email channel. 13 292 of
    these have been processed
•   2 000 not valid due to duplication of records – submitted more than once.
•   1 200 not valid due to applicants already approved for funding
•   4 600 have missing supporting documents. NSFAS Call Centre is contacting the
    students to submit the missing information.
•   3 330 were valid, successfully reviewed and awaiting the Appeals Committee for
    approval
•   2 870 were successfully approved by the Committee within 7 working days,
    communicated the status via the portal and students are cleared for funding
•   Appeals team process approximately 2 000 emails a day
                                                                              8
8. 2019 UPFRONT PAYMENTS TO INSTITUTIONS                                               9

        a) UNIVERSITIES

        § 15% has been paid as advance payment to Universities: R3.4 billion.
        § In order to ensure that institutions allocate money to students, NSFAS
          has provided Remittances to Institutions.

        b) TVET COLLEGES

        § 20.0% of the tuition funding amounting to R224 million was paid to
          TVETs in advance.
        § Payments for allowances to TVET colleges was made on receipt of
          registration details from TVET colleges, for students eligible for
          NSFAS funding.
February 13, 2019
Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                   9
9. 2019 PAYMENT OF ALLOWANCES TO STUDENTS                                            10

§ NSFAS has eliminated the voucher system for all students studying in 2019. All
  allowances has been paid by cash to students – mobile cash.
§ Due Diligence – Institutions were categorised according to their ability to disburse
  cash to students.
    1. Institutions that are able to disburse – NSFAS response: Disburse
        allowances via institution
    2. Institutions that are not able to disburse – NSFAS response: Disburse
        mobile cash
    3. Institutions on SBUX – NSFAS response: Disburse mobile cash
§ NSFAS has engaged institutions, and third party providers like Intellimali and Fundi
  to ensure that all disburse cash to students in 2019.
§ A standard Allowance of R1 950 per student was to be paid on 8th February 2019
  across all TVETs. Further payments of allowances are scheduled to be paid on the
  21st February 2019
 February 13, 2019
 Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                               10
10.      2019 PAYMENT OF ALLOWANCES TO STUDENTS – KZN INSTITUTIONS                                                       11
                Institution                       Upfront Paid (20% or 15%)            No Students Received Allowances
 University of Kwazulu-Natal           R286,676,101.10 (Upfront)
 Mangosuthu University of Technology   R70,802,826,98 (Upfront)               7076
 University of Zululand                R122,456,116.89 (Upfront)              10 500
 Durban University of Technology       R167,330,725.39 (Upfront)              11 200
 Coastal TVET College                  R11,417,250.00 (Allowance)             5855
 Mnambithi TVET College                R4,736,550.00 (Allowance)              2429
                                       R17,420,822.00 (Upfront)
 Majuba TVET College                                                          9103
                                       R17,750,850.00 (Allowance)
                                       R11,095,587.00 (Upfront)
 Elangeni TVET College                                                        5781
                                       R11,272,950.00 (Allowance)
 Esayidi TVET College                  R6,801,600.00 (Allowance)              3488
                                       R136,280.00 (Upfront)
 Umgungundlovu TVET College                                                   2302
                                       R4,488,900.00 (Allowance)
 Umfolozi TVET College                 R8,264,100.00 (Allowance)              4238
                                       R3,572,398.00 (Upfront)
 Thekwini TVET College                                                        2680
                                       R5,226,000.00 (Allowance)
                                       R4,663,935.00 (Upfront)
 Mtshashana TVET College                                                      2574
                                       R5,019,300.00 (Allowance)
11. COMMUNICATIONS, PUBLICITY AND AWARENESS

• Communications to students regarding SMS fraud
• Communications to students regarding review process and appeals for all
  rejected applications
• NSFAS is attending Orientation Week at most of the Universities and TVET
  Colleges
• Developed NSFAS Student Guide (NSFAS Squad) for all FTEN, Senior
  Students
• Collaborating with GCIS to communicate the success of NSFAS intervention
• Collaborating with all Universitiesradio
                                      and TVET Colleges through the
  Communicators Forum to share information on NSFAS using social media
  platform
• Working of basic financial literacy and wellness campaign for students
• Developing Teacher’s Guide (Life Orientation) targeting Learners Gr 08 – 12
                                                                                     February 13, 2019
                                                    Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   12
12. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS

The Administrator has held the following engagements with the
stakeholders:

• Meeting with SAUS NEC members and Western Cape SRCs
• Meeting with SAUS & Western Cape SRCs Workshop on Allowances and
  the Appeals process
• Meeting with KZN Universities VCs, SRCs and DHET
• Meeting with TVET College Principals, Financial Aid Practitioners, CFOs

                                                                                    February 13, 2019
                                                   Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   13
13. STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT & COMMUNICATIONS…continued

Official External Communication/ Instructions to Institutions:

•   Guidelines on the Preparations for Funding Cycle
•   Guidelines on the Applications process
•   Guidelines on the Funding process
•   Instruction on the Upfront payments
•   Guidelines on the Appeals process
•   Instruction on unblocking of continuing students
•   Guidelines on the NSFAS Wallet

                                                                                        February 13, 2019
                                                       Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   14
14. STEER NSFAS TO ADDRESS ITS INTERNAL CHALLENGES
    [OPERATIONAL EFFECIENCY]
  §   Developed comprehensive plan to address AG Audit findings and implement
      NOCLAR recommendations to de-risk the organisation.
  §   Redrafting of APP & 2019/20 Strategic Plan; reprioritised 2018/19 Administrative
      budget
  §   NSFAS adopted a project basis approach and identified and prioritised key projects
      to immediately address Administrators’ Terms of Reference
  §   Specialised Resources to support key areas including IT, Data and Project
      Management Office.
  §   Re-engineer core processes with emphasis on Remittance and Disbursement.

                                                                                                   February 13, 2019
                                                                  Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   15
15. STEER NSFAS TO ADDRESS ITS INTERNAL CHALLENGES …CONTINUED
     [OPERATIONAL EFFECIENCY]
§   Develop ISO compliant quality management framework ISO focussing on key
    policy and SOP’s.
§   Policy Review - Policy dialogue and coherence ensuring standardisation of
    allowances across sector for improved administration.
§   Deployment of Key Account Managers teams at Region level for rapid
    resolution of issues and support and established a Nerve Centre for resolution
    of issues.
§   Data Remediation, to resolve e.g. wrong funded qualifications; students funded
    below 50% mark;
§   Management Development program to improve staff morale
                                                                                16
16. STEER NSFAS TO ADDRESS ITS INTERNAL CHALLENGES…CONTINUED
     [OPERATIONAL EFFECIENCY]
INFORMATION & CYBER SECURITY
§ The Administrator has appointed a team of experts to establish short term
  initiatives to implement information and Cyber security recommendations.
   • Update to the Information Security policies, processes and standards
   • Script Bank to ensure that all changes to the databases are managed
   • Segregation of Duties,
   • Physical/Logical access to information, training, etc.

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE
§ A priority for the Administrator was to ensure that critical IT systems are
  available for operations at least 98% of the time. The current system availability
  for the myNSFAS portal is 96.3%
§ Core disbursement system (Phoenix) availability has also been successfully
  improved – been running for months with minimal downtime.                                 February 13, 2019
                                                           Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   17
17. LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE – [re-imagining NSFAS]

The Administrative team will work with DHET and the Ministerial Team on
certain key thoughts around a re-envisioned NSFAS:
§ NSFAS should be more than just a disbursement entity and will in future place the student
  success at the centre in its re-envisioning of the “new NSFAS”.
§ NSFAS must Leverage student data and related intelligence to provide thought leadership to
  all stakeholders and prompt policy reform.
§ NSFAS should monitor student throughput against investment (RoI).
§ NSFAS is already building research and modelling capacity to inform policy, strategy and
  operations
§ Monitoring, Evaluation and Auditing of all Institutions funded by NSFAS must be introduced.
§ Work closely with higher education and labour sector to ensure resource allocation address
  skills shortages

                                                                                               February 13, 2019
                                                              Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                                                     18
18. LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE – CONTINUED
    [re-imagining NSFAS]
§ The Administrator met several times with student leadership in order to engage
    on numerous issues affecting students on campuses.
§   The Administrator has had numerous meetings with University Administrations
    and TVET principals in which vexing logjams were resolved.
§   The Administrator regularly briefs PCHET, the Minister and DHET on progress
    and discuss developments and planning.
§   NSFAS re-established relationship with DHET and other funders and improved
    coordination is becoming evident.
§   Several media interviews provided the general public with a degree of confidence
    that NSFAS has begun turning the corner.

                                                                                             February 13, 2019
                                                            Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                                                   19
19. CURRENT CHALLENGES
• Close out issues remains a challenge despite significant work already done in
  clearing the issues. However institutions have been advise to enable qualifying
  students to proceed with academic year until issues have been resolved;
• NSFAS inundated with policy related queries - Institutions not paying students the
  same allowance amounts and is requested to resolve these issues;
• NSFAS employees require skills upliftment and training, these issues have been
  addressed and a training and education committee has been established;
• Call Centre turn around time to be improved, with the appointment of 100
  additional call center staff to deal with high volumes of call.

                                                                                          February 13, 2019
                                                         Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                                                20
20. PROGRESS OVERVIEW /1
• TVETs WALK-INS: Bulk processed within one week of application process with
    95% having had a funding decision made;
•   Improving TVET allowances – move toward student across the higher education
    sector;
•   Overall 90% funding decision made for all applications – 33K outstanding
    documents;
•   TVETs has been placed on the NSFAS Wallet, students received allowance during
    first week of Feb 2019
•   All universities agree to pay allowance directly to students with NSFAS assisting
    the KZN Institutions to disburse to students;
•   All student allowances are on a cash basis, enabling students to better manage
    finances;
•   NSFAS engaged with student leadership and institutions on a regular basis
                                                                                           February 13, 2019
                                                          Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                                                 21
21. PROGRESS OVERVIEW /2
• The ICT systems have been upgraded and consistent up time of 99% + had been
  maintained
• Part of NSFAS brief is to advise the Minister. To this end the Research and Policy
  unit will be strengthened by 3 post doctoral positions to ensure evidence based
  decision making internally and informed advice on policy developments for the
  Minister;
• Connectivity between NSFAS and Institutions allows for live interaction on data
  dissemination and integration of systems;

Payments into student pockets at as 10 Feb an approximate 50% disbursement
rate:
ü Total Students: 229,877
ü Total Amount : R 345,616,900
Institutions who has not paid students to date have agreed with students to pay
then on or before 28 Feb                                                                  February 13, 2019
                                                         Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training   22
22. CONCLUSION
• First time in NSFAS history that payments to Institutions and students were
      successfully done during the first week of February
•     Much work had been done to address burning platforms and more must be done
      in stabilising the institution and place it on a sustainable basis.
•     Forensic investigations had been instituted based on prima facie evidence of
      fraud and unauthorised spending. The results will assist in improving controls as
      well as root out the prevalent culture of entitlement.
•     The redesign of NSFAS must proceed once calm had been restored to the sector
      to ensure that the imperatives of social inclusion, poverty reduction and equity is
      realized.
•     We owe it to our young people and to our broader society to make NSFAS work.

    February 13, 2019
    Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                                                    23
“Placing NSFAS under
Administration was a
positive move and, while
there are many challenges
remaining, NSFAS is on
the right track”
- Mrs Naledi Pandor, Minister of
Higher Education and Training

February 13, 2019
Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training
                                                       THANK YOU   24
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