In November 2013, Cabinet approved the implementation of the Funding Framework for allocating operational budget to public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The Funding Framework is a Government tool for estimating resource allocation to the public HEIs, on a transparent basis.
Subsequent to the approval of the Funding Framework, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) designed the Higher Education Management Information System (HEMIS). HEMIS will be used to collect data from all the HEIs for computing the estimated subsidies to public HEIs, using the Funding Formula, as well as for the production of National High Education Yearbook.
During the year 2014, the NCHE Secretariat has been working with the HEIs, consolidating the Funding Formula and HEMIS and adjusting the existing HEIs data collection systems to conform to the Funding Framework and HEMIS requirements. Since the magnitude of the subsidy to a public Higher Education Institution will be influenced by the amount of money the institution will derive from the tuition fees, the Government will also, in the course of the 2016/17 financial year introduce a Public Higher Education Institutions Tuition Fees Adjustment Policy to ensure a fair share of the burden of covering operational (instructional) costs between the Government, or the taxpayer, on the one hand, and the parents and/or students on the other. The introduction of the Tuition Fees Adjustment Policy will be gradual, taking into consideration the existing practice.
Having been successfully tested and proven solid, it is now all systems go. The Funding Framework is now ready for implementation, in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (2015/16 – 2017/ 18). For oversight purposes, NCHE has established a Committee in accordance with Article 14(1) of the Higher Education Act (Act 26 of 23) to, among others, advice on the budget allocation, using the Funding Formula. There are, however, challenges in that data management in some HEIs are still run manually. The NCHE Secretariat will be working with those institutions to lay an electronic data management system foundation on which they can build in future years. Finally, it is important to emphasise that Cabinet directed that the Funding Framework should be used within the Ministry of Education’s appropriated financial resources.
Mocks ShivuteExecutive Director
