Abstract
M.Ed.
In recent times various commissions have been set up to investigate different aspects and
components of the South African system of Education. One of the commissions that have
been established is the National Commission on Higher Education. Established by presidential
proclamation in February 1995, The National Commission on Higher Education was charged
with advising the Government of National Unity on the restructuring of higher education.
This they have to do by undertaking a situation analysis, formulating a vision for higher
education and putting forward proposals designed to ensure the development of a
well-planned, integrated and quality system of higher education. As the "New Nation" of April 26 (1996:31) states, one of the broad sets of issues that
informed the commission in formulating its proposals was the global changes, such as the shift
in emphasis from academic knowledge to market related skills, which have had a significant
impact on the size and nature of higher education institutions. In the changing world
economy, the sources of higher productivity are increasingly dependent on knowledge and
information applied to productivity and hence the notion of the knowledge society.
Institutions of higher education are the power sources on which a new development process must rely. Given the fact that institutions of higher education are the power source on which a new
development process must rely, higher education institutions such as Colleges of Education
must be brought under microscopic scrutiny to ensure that they offer greater responsiveness
to the social and economic demands. Both the entry point and the exit point of students at
Colleges of Education should therefore be checked.