Higher Education South Africa (HESA) welcomes many of the aspects of the 2011/12 budget announcement, especially their far-reaching implications for the post-school education system including university education in the medium term.

While the increase in state subsidy to the universities – from R17,5 billion last year to R19,4 for 2011/2012 – is in line with expectations, there are other elements within the budget that are noteworthy.

At the outset though, a cautionary note needs to be sounded. In both the State of the Nation address and the Budget speech the focus has firmly, and correctly, been fixed on job creation. As Minister Gordhan pointed out “we cannot view the fact that 42 per cent of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 are unemployed as merely a statistic. Young men and women ... may not have jobs, but have skills in life. They possess the awareness and the ability to learn...”.