Several speakers attended this debate at the CDE. Some of the opinions voiced were: Mrs Bradley emphasised the point that South Africa was not producing enough high-quality graduates to set the country on a growth path. Professor Mthembu stressed the need for strong visionary leadership by academics themselves, which was unfortunately lacking in many HEI’s. Professor Figaji said
that mergers should not be used to solve the problems of governance and management
at certain institutions. Professor Nkondo said the national higher education plan isolated five challenges that had to be met: access, relevance, equity, diversity and research. Professor Reddy said that South
Africa had to transcend the legacy of apartheid social engineering, which had fragmented tertiary education.
