Overview of National Information Service for Higher Education (NiSHE)

The NiSHE Project has been in operation since 2003. It was originally conceived against the background of the national policy imperatives of increasing and broadening student access into Higher Education. The original thinking was that it would lay a strong foundation for the incremental development of a government initiative called the National Higher Education Information and Application System (NHEIAS), driven by the then Department of Education. The project has to date focused on the provision of information and guidance to prospective Higher Education students, the main focus being the transition from the schooling system into the university system. The project was implemented for eight years now. The last two years (2009 and 2010) of the project were funded by Ford Foundation. The following are some of the successes attributed to the project:

• Applications to universities have been on an upward trajectory since 2003– for an example, some universities were flooded by prospective students in 2011 more than in any other period in their history. It is estimated that the NiSHE advertorials have been seen/read by well over 500 000 youth (16 – 24 year olds) and radio campaign reached more than 4 million listeners for a period of 3 months in 2011.
• The previous edition of the Guide, Into Higher Education, was revised/updated into Know your options. Approximately 10 000 copies were published and distributed throughout the schools. A number of queries were fielded from schools and members of the community demanding more of these copies, in which case, on line version of the booklet posted on the website was used to further disseminate information to the intended market. A dedicated chapter with a focus on FET Colleges was also included in the booklet. Content for the revised guide, Know Your Options, which was more relevant to the target audience, was disseminated to more than 6 000 schools and on-line access to the booklet also created opportunities for other learners to freely access the information contained in the booklet. The booklet profiled “non-traditional” careers offered at both the universities and FET colleges.
• A workshop with possible partners whose work covers matters relating to career information and promotion of certain study fields was organised in September 2010 to discuss ways through which partnerships could be strengthened. The participants at the workshop were the Department of Science and Technology, National Youth Development Agency, National Research Foundation and South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The latter’s mandate has been expanded or reviewed to include the provision of career information and counseling support to learners in Grades 9. 10. 11 and 12 and also to people who have already passed Grade 12. The purpose of the workshop was to forge partnerships with these organisations, and agree on a set of joint priorities and actions that would be pursued separately. The workshop agreed that a follow-up workshop should be held during the first half of 2011 and HESA was mandated to develop a conceptual document to give effect to such a partnership and guide the discussions going forward.
• HESA has prioritized speedy feedback to the prospective students who made enquiries on study opportunities and career options on an on-going basis. This has also assisted in disseminating information on study options, career opportunities and minimum entry requirements into both Higher Education and FET College sector.
• Partnership with the Department of Higher Education and Training has been strengthened to an extent that from time to time, when the Minister goes on outreach events, the Department would request the Know your options booklets for distribution at his several constituency meetings.
• Website Development: The new website was developed using web 2.0 technologies to communicate more effectively with the public. The website link is www.hesa.org.za/nishe.
• Evaluation: A massive short message service (sms) campaign was launched as part of the radio campaign in which prospective learners were asked to sms the HESA office for more information on careers profiled, study options promoted and minimum entry requirements both for university studies and FET college studies. Over 500 sms were received and responded to by the HESA Office.

For more information on NiSHE kindly contact us on sso@hesa.org.za