The NSFAS Crisis: When Leadership Ignores Evidence – The Mail & Guardian

The NSFAS crisis: When leadership ignores evidence – The Mail & Guardian

By Prof Linda du Plessis, senior deputy vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU). Visit North West University press office The tragedy of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) story is that it reflects more than an institutional crisis; it reflects a deeper tension in public leadership in South Africa. NSFAS has grown from a support mechanism into the dominant driver of higher education spending. The most disturbing dimens…

The NSFAS crisis: When leadership ignores evidence - North-West University (NWU)

South Africa’s National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) was conceived as one of the most powerful instruments of social justice in the democratic era: an engine to open university doors to students historically excluded by poverty. Yet today, it stands as a case study not only in administrative failure, but in something far more troubling: a systemic failure of leadership. This was not inevitable. In fact, the seeds of the crisis were visib…

The NSFAS crisis: When leadership ignores evidence

By Prof Linda du Plessis, senior deputy vice-chancellor of the North-West University (NWU). Visit North West University press office The tragedy of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) story is that it reflects more than an institutional crisis; it reflects a deeper tension in public leadership in South Africa. NSFAS has grown from a support mechanism into the dominant driver of higher education spending. The most disturbing dimens…