Higher education institutions need to be inclusive of a broader range of South Africans, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande said on Thursday.

"Education transformation is... about advancing a developmental agenda to benefit the overwhelming majority of our citizens," said Nzimande in a speech prepared for delivery at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

"We have to find alternative means to bring young people with potential into the higher education system."

Nzimande said he received some criticism over suggestions that matric endorsements should not be the only entry point into university.

"My suggestion seems to have driven some into a frenzy of fear that we are hell-bent on decimating academic standards."

However, Nzimande said for example, entry through mature age exemptions, was nothing new in South Africa.

In the early 1990s, courses for matriculants not academically ready for university admission were also prepared.

"These kinds of interventions need to be systemised and made more widespread... Surely our underprivileged (and even privileged) youth should have the right of a second chance if they do not succeed in their matric exams," said Nzimande.

"To some this may appear that the barbarians are at the gate, clamouring to get in and destroy their gentile lifestyles (sic) and their high 'standards'. If that is what they think, then that's too bad."

Nzimande said the reality in South Africa was that most people were poor and black and did not have access to adequate schooling.

"The government... cannot be expected to pander to the class and racial prejudices of the privileged, whether they are white or members of the black elite."

'Irrational fear'

Ideas around providing free education up to an undergraduate level provoked the same "irrational fear" in some people.

These people feared that the government would allegedly drop standards by "swamp[ing] the universities with the poor and the unwashed".

A blanket policy of free education up to first degree level had never been his or the ANC's proposal.

"The attainment of free undergraduate education for all poor youth will no doubt be a process and will not be implemented immediately."

He said this was particularly the case due in the current economic crisis.

"However we will continue expanding it and it will become a reality as soon as it is possible."

Widening access to higher education was as important as ensuring students were successful in their studies.

"We must... ensure that we provide them with the support that they need to succeed as long as they are prepared to put in the necessary effort."

Nzimande also said the training system currently run by the labour department would be moved to his department by November.

"By that time we will provide much more concrete plans on how to move forward towards an integrated system of higher education, vocational colleges and the workers' training with separate components that speak to each other, complement and reinforce one another," he said.

Sapa

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