By Angelique Serrao
Three-year university degrees may be a thing of the past if the Minister of Education's proposal to make degrees four-year courses is accepted by the Council for Higher Education.
This was just one of the ideas Naledi Pandor suggested in a speech this week at Wits University to bridge the gap between school and university.
The minister was speaking at the Student Affairs' Women's Day celebrations in a lecture entitled "Translating the Academic Edge into the Industrial Environment for Young Graduates: A Personal Reflection".
Department of Education spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele said the four-year degree was a personal idea of the minister's to close the gap between university and business, after employers indicated that graduates were lacking in language skills.
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The fourth year would give students the extra time universities need to do additional training, with many students encountering a culture shock when leaving school.
She also proposed changes to the university curriculum, believing all students should have a working knowledge of at least one indigenous language, another modern language and an introduction to African history and civilisation.
The idea was not yet policy, however, and was still awaiting approval.
Pandor said in her speech that, despite many positive changes in the schooling system, we were still underperforming and failing to support pupils in acquiring key skills.
"Our performance in mathematics and science subjects is dismal and we continue to be faced by inadequate infrastructure, poor, inefficient administration in some provinces, and disaffected and demotivated teachers," Pandor said.
Another problem, she said, was the high number of students who drop out.
There were several factors that contribute to this, said Pandor. Schools fail to teach proper language skills and many first-year students struggle to cope with academic language and independent research and learning.
She added that many lecturers do not regard support of students as their responsibility and that students are often "anonymous failures … unseen and deeply troubled".
- This article was originally published on page 2 of The Star on August 07, 2008
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