Deregistered college ‘did not tell students’

A second-year business student at Damelin College’s Braamfontein campus only found out it was closing after reading about it on a news website.

The department of higher education has deregistered Damelin, CityVarsity, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum College, all owned by Educor.

No communication from Damelin

Requesting anonymity, the student said there had been no communication from Damelin to the students on this matter.

This had left students uncertain about their future.

“When Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande confirmed the news, I knew it was true.

“The minister said they have been investigating Damelin for the past 13 years.

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“They were given an extension to solve this, but they didn’t,” the student said.

“We don’t know where we stand. We doubt we will find jobs with these qualifications because the institution has a bad record. They must reimburse us.”

The student added that Damelin staff members were allegedly complaining about not receiving their salaries.

Colleges failed submit annual financial statements and tax clearance certificates

Nzimande said City Varsity, Damelin, Icesa City Campus and Lyceum College failed to submit their annual financial statements and tax clearance certificates for the 2021 and 2022 years as proof of their financial viability.

He labelled Educor dysfunctional, adding: “This is mainly measured against the daily complaints and grievances received from students, most of which remain unresolved.

“The complaints we have received include misrepresentation of the number of students, poor methods of teaching, poor administration, allegations of corruption and late payment of staff salaries.”

ALSO READ: Four ‘dysfunctional’ Educor colleges have been deregistered, says Nzimande

Ahmed Essop, research associate at the Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies at the University of Johannesburg, noted that Educor’s failures were a serious violation because the department needed to assess whether they were financially viable especially in terms of the services they were supposed to provide to the students.

“It’s not clear to me why the department did not act earlier.

“The department seems to have given them extensions throughout this period,” he said.

“If there are financial problems, which there clearly are, it would have been picked up if the financial statements from previous years had been submitted.”

Best interest of students

SA Union of Students spokesperson Asive Dlanjwa said it was in the best interests of students to deregister from all four institutions.

The South African Federation of Trade Unions said the higher department should nationalise these colleges and employ the workers at them.

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