1. Introduction

1.1 The Minister of Higher Education and Training has requested the Council to advise on his intention to establish new universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.

1.2 The Minister first announced his intention to establish universities in Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape in his budget speech on 25 March 2010 in which he indicated the establishment of two task teams to investigate the development of appropriate models for the proposed universities. Subsequently, in his budget speech on 31 May 2011, the Minister indicated that the Task Team’s reports were due in 2011 and, furthermore, announced that R300 million had been allocated to support the establishment of the new universities in the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for 2011/12 – 2013/14.

1.3 The reports of the two task teams, which were chaired by Prof Thandwa Mthembu (Mpumalanga) and Prof Cheryl de la Rey (Northern Cape), were consolidated into a single report by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

1.4 The Council has considered the consolidated report, Final Report on the Establishment of new Universities in the Northern Cape and Mpumalanga Provinces (DHET: August 2011). The Council’s advice to the Minister of Higher Education and Training is outlined below.