Students protest proposed fee increases in South Africa

Higher education opportunity is valued in most regional or country environments where talent development is a key priority. However, funding is an inevitable and difficult question when quality is sought for a broader base of students. South Africa is struggling with its efforts to increase funding through fees charged to students but students are protesting the move, complaining that increased fees inordinately impact black students with low family incomes.

One of the questions about funding relates to the variation in means of students attending the same institution. The perspective taken by Teferra is that if a society has low economic variation such as Scandinavian countries, striving for no tuition or the same tuition across institutions may make sense. On the other hand, where economic means varies widely, providing free education to those with high means may direct resources to support a privileged segment of students that would have been better used in providing critical aid to those with lower means.

Many South African universities have suspended or postponed classes until after scheduled breaks in order to avoid the continuing protests about rising fees. The vice chancellor and principal of University of the Witwatersrand made a last-ditch effort to save the academic year by urging students and faculty to attend class amid enhanced security forces.