Cape Town - After private education provider Educor’s deregistration of four institutions and recently granted leniency of provisional reinstatement on humanitarian grounds, the organisation has, however, been cautioned to comply with relevant regulations.
The registration of Educor institutions City Varsity, Damelin, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum College, were cancelled by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) director-general last year in his capacity as the Registrar of Private Higher Education Institutions, as a result of non-compliance.
In a statement released at the time, the department said the institutions failed to submit their annual financial statements and tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 years, as proof of financial viability.
On August 12-26 this year, Educor submitted outstanding information and requested reinstatement.
On August 22, the institutions were provisionally reinstated by the director-general on humanitarian grounds, however, this was hinged on a number of conditions.
DHET Registration of Private Higher Education Institutions director Dr Shaheeda Essack said the four institutions may only commence operations after the Council of Higher Education provides proof of compliance with the quality assurance requirements – sites; programmes, delivery and assessment.
In terms of sites, Essack said only six of the combined 19 sites were operational. The most recent site, Damelin East London, closed last week, leaving many students stranded.
Complaints from students indicated that none of the programmes had proper learning materials for all four institutions.
“The curriculum is outdated, the academic staff are not qualified to teach, there is no academic support, students are forced to go online and the online provision does not provide any academic support.
“For the most part, the online system is dysfunctional. The Lyceum College online system is completely dysfunctional,” Essack said.
The integrity of the assessment in both the private and public domain had been compromised, an example of this was City Varsity Braamfontein.
At Damelin East London, a student was asked to arrange and pay for a private invigilator as well as arrange and pay for an exam venue. Only then could the student write the exam.
Educor must also submit comprehensive monthly reports to the DHET, which should include financial statements, student enrolment statistics, and progress updates on compliance with CHE accreditation standards.
Last week, Damelin announced its reinstatement.
Educor chief operating officer, Michael Thurley, said: “As we move forward, Damelin is fully committed to strengthening our relationship with the DHET and ensuring that we not only meet but exceed the regulatory standards required of us.
“We are re-engineering the business model and will accordingly align the processes to further enhance our operations and educational offerings, ensuring that we continue to deliver the best possible education to our students.”
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za