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An empty classroom.
The Department of Higher Education and Training is optimistic that continued vigilance and close monitoring are necessary to clampdown on bogus colleges.
The department led by Deputy Minister, Dr Mimmy Gondwe, South African Police Service (SAPS) and Umalusi visited some of the colleges operating in East London, in the Eastern Cape to monitor compliance. The Deputy Minister has expressed concern at some of the colleges that fail to meet the minimum compliance standards.
The initiative is aimed at dealing with fraudulent institutions, which are taking advantage of unsuspecting students seeking legitimate educational opportunities. East London is the third town to be visited after Johannesburg and Cape Town.
The initiative is not solely concerned with the quality of teaching and learning, it also focuses on the safety issues relating to the structure of the facility.
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The Department of Higher Education and Training says it is winning the battle against bogus colleges and has warned students to not fall prey to illegal institutions. pic.twitter.com/yhHnknmclJ— SABC News (@SABCNews) January 26, 2025
Gondwe says there some worrying discoveries at some of the colleges they visited.
“There are institutions that are operating as a college and matric re-write centres and that is not how its supposed to happen. And the third institution was also not registered to even provide matric re-write, on top of that they said they stopped operating as a matric rewrite last year. But when we looked at the details provided the website is up and running but when we WhatsApped the number provided on the website they said they are still operating,” the Deputy Minister adds.
The public has been warned about the signs to look out for when enrolling for qualifications. Senior Manager at the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), Japie Nel says it’s imperative for institutions to display their registration certificates in a visible area for the public to see.
“They can go to the SAQA website we do have a searchable database where they can verify the qualification there. They also need to check the date of the qualification so that Colleges don’t offer qualifications that are not registered,” says Nel.
The campaign will be rolled out in different parts of the country, throughout the year.
VIDEO | Crackdown on bogus colleges: Abongile Jantjies reports
