Timeline: 2020-2023 (ongoing)
Principal investigator: Sean Muller
Researchers: Nicola Branson and Andrew Kerr
Funder: Council on Higher Education (CHE) via contract from University of Johannesburg through the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies (AMCHES).
The research in this project aims to evaluate the impact of changes in higher education policy on inequality through three focus areas: student funding, epistemic access, and inequality.
The introduction of free higher education in 2018 for students from poor and low-income families was a significant change in response to the #FeesMustFall movement in 2015. Before this, the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) provided some support but it was insufficient, leading to concerns about funding adequacy. This project assesses the impact that closing this funding gap with free higher education for those with a family income below R350,000 per annum had on inequality, throughput, and dropout rates. This has important policy implications, including insights into the impact of extending the policy to the “missing middle.”
This project focuses on three key issues:
- The impact of student funding support on inequality
- The Impact of free higher education on drop out and progression rates
- Student progression dynamics in response to the funding formula