Higher Education South Africa (HESA)

: Higher Education South Africa - geoftheref

Higher Education South Africa (HESA) is a federation of various forms of colleges and universities throughout South Africa formed in 2005.

Colleges, universities, and institutions of higher education around the world often come together to form alliances and organizations with similar schools in order to better educate students, share resources, and further academic research.

What is Higher Education South Africa (HESA?)

Higher Education South Africa (HESA) is a consortium of universities and universities of technology, formerly known as technikons, formed in May 2005 because of the restructuring and reorganization of higher education in post-Apartheid South Africa. Due to this restructuring and organization, new types of institutions emerged and, according to HESA's website, called for a strong, organized leadership.

HESA was formed as a successor to two existing higher education consortiums: the South African Univerisities Vice-Chancellors Association (SAUVCA) and the Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP.) Both of these organizations had provided leadership and structure to their respective types of institutions and advised government officials on policy matters relating to higher education.

HESA Member Universities and Technikons

Today, there are 23 members of HESA, all of which are public institutions. Member institutions range in size from a couple of thousand students to tens of thousands of students, and include 15 public universities and 8 universities of technology.

Public Universities:

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
North-West University
Rhodes University
University of Cape Town
University of Fort Hare
University of the Free State
University of KwaZulu-Natal
University of Johannesburg
University of Limpopo
University of Pretoria
University of South Africa
University of Stellenbosch
University of the Western Cape
University of the Witwatersrand
University of Zululand

Public Universities of Technology:

Cape Penninsula Institute of Technology
Central University of Technology
Durban University of Technology
Tshwane University of Technology
University of Venda for Science and Technology
Vaal University of Technology
Walter Sisulu University for Technology and Science
Mangosuthu University of Technology

HESA's Strategic Plan

HESA has five main points of interest within the realm of South Africa's system of higher education. The first of these is to respond to new government policies enacted in South Africa's new form of government. After the end of the Apartheid and the elections of 2009, HESA anticipated many changes in the policies regarding South African higher education.
Secondly, HESA works to advocate appropriate and effective funding of higher education throughout the country while improving the infrastructure of existing schools. Another point of interest for HESA is the strengthening of the nation's higher education system, including improvements in the areas of teaching, research, and academia.
The fourth point of interest is to strengthen the higher education interface to respond to changes in the structure of admission to universities in South Africa. After the creation of various programs, higher education has become more widely accessible and changes will have to be made to the current system in order to embrace new types of students with different needs.
Finally, HESA hopes to work on forming relationships with other national and international consortiums of higher education. By doing so, South African universities may be able to engage in new kinds of research, pool resources with schools outside of the country, and open up opportunities for students to study abroad by creating programs with partner institutions.
Higher Education South Africa was formed as an organization to provide leadership for the country's public universities in a time when higher education is undergoing many changes. Through HESA's mission of improving higher education, students in South Africa will continue to have an increasingly larger number of choices when planning to continue their education.