Cape Town - Higher Education and Training Minister Nobuhle Nkabane said the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) will commence its online application process effective this Friday, September 20.

Nkabane held an urgent joint media briefing with NSFAS administrator Freeman Nomvalo yesterday.

“I am therefore inviting all students sitting for their matriculation this year to take this opportunity and apply for either the NSFAS bursary or loan.

“This invitation is also extended to learners from Grade 9, 10, and 11, who would like to enter the Technical and Vocational Education and Training sector.”

The purpose of the briefing was to provide feedback on the ministerial stakeholder engagement programme, which commenced on Thursday and concluded on Sunday.

These engagements included key stakeholders in the PSET (Post School Education and Training) sector and were to gain inputs and proposals to policy positions on matters affecting the PSET system.

Nkabane said many students expressed frustration over delayed payments and the inefficiency of the NSFAS systems.

“The feedback received has already informed some of the critical system changes to simplify the online application process and also making it accessible to all,” Nkabane said.

“It was agreed in our engagement that NSFAS is the main factor of instability in our institutions of higher learning. However, this is linked to delays in releasing matric exam results which then translates to delays in funding decisions.”

Nkabane recently returned from China, as part of the President’s delegation to the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (Focac). Nkabane announced that about 100 students will be sent to China in the coming year to study scarce and critical skills.

Nkabane said there were plans to terminate the contract for the NSFAS Cape Town head office, with the exorbitant cost of rental at R2.5 million per month.

“We are going to decentralise, we are going to establish regional offices in three provinces which are the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal.”

She said they were also exploring NSFAS satellite offices in other provinces.

Freeman said: “We have designed the system for us to be ready on the NSFAS side. We do do verification through interfacing with Home Affairs, with Sassa, and so on.

“And the dependencies are not just on the NSFAS system only, they are also on other systems as well as the availability of power around the country for connectivity to work well.

“But we are confident that the system is ready to take the influx and will be user friendly for students to apply.”

There were contingency plans in place to respond quicker to processing applications should the matric results be issued late, he said.

shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za

Cape Argus

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