In the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) first media briefing of the 2023 academic year, it had been revealed that student accommodation continues to be a challenge in this sector.
Currently, there is a shortage of over 400 000 beds for student accommodation for public tertiary institutions, and rural-based institutions are the most affected.
DHET Minister Dr. Blade Nzimande has also mentioned that this exposes students to immense vulnerabilities, such as serious crimes and gender-based violence. As the department has been preparing for the 2023 academic year.
In a statement, Nzimande said:
We are working with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) to stimulate the rapid construction of student residences in a manner that will enable the state to eventually own and control these assets.
DHET will utilise its allocated budget for infrastructure and student accommodation by partnering with investors and property developers.
This will expand the number of student residences in tertiary institutions and also cater to students who are in need.
Nsfas will be playing a vital role making sure that students, especially recipients of the government bursary are being accommodated.
However, it will be mandatory for public universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Colleges to apply their own existing process to allocate accommodation to students.
All accommodation providers who would like to list their properties for Nsfas bursary recipients may also register on the Scheme’s student accommodation portal.
Since this portal has been open, a total of 1,120 accommodation providers have registered, with 574,272 beds listed.
Nsfas also appointed at least 44 accreditation agents to start with the accreditation of accommodation.
All accommodation providers who would like to list their properties for Nsfas bursary beneficiaries, may do so on the Nsfas website.
