Abstract
Fee-free university education has been a widely contested concept, especially within and across political, economic and academic cohorts, which prompted the study being centred around these factions. The upsurge of student protestors who became collectively known as the Fees Must Fall Movement (FMFM), culminating in October 2015, shone the spotlight on a long-standing crisis which the government had not been satisfactorily addressing. With the government having been pressurised to take action and calm the situation, it was criticised for having merely ‘thrown caution to the wind’. Having implemented the initial phase of the DHET bursary scheme through funds that were redirected from other sectors, an uproar emerged from those who did not believe that funding fee-free university education is a worthy cause. The study interrogates the perspectives of those who strongly believe that fee-free university education should benefit all students, those who feel that it should be limited to a particular group/s of students, as well as those who think that it is unnecessary, unworthy or unaffordable due to the state having more important national areas of priority to address. For the purposes of thoroughly fulfilling its aims and objectives, the study was conducted qualitatively. Semi-structured interviews were used to establish the rationale behind perspectives on fee-free university education and suggestions on how it should and should not be done. The study participants consisted of a wide array of representative stakeholders including, but not limited to: The Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), Universities South Africa (USAf), and the National Treasury. Based on the research findings, the study argues that there needs to be a vast improvement in building state capacity, increasing stakeholder involvement accountability, and meticulous management of the national fiscus for fee-free education to be sustainable. Lastly, the study acknowledges that fee-free university education is a complex issue which requires mass mobilisation, radical transformation and an increase in the level of political will.
M.A. (Development Studies)