While management at Stellenbosch University (SU) projected stability and excellence, students, auditors and internal oversight bodies warned of chronic debt, unsafe housing, National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) failures and slow transformation.
The university recently arrived in parliament with a polished presentation: Vision 2040, academic excellence, financial sustainability, world-class research and a governance system that ticks every compliance box.
On paper, it is the model of a modern, highly-ranked African university — confident, stable and globally competitive. But as the portfolio committee on higher education in the National Assembly listened to submissions on 29 April, a different picture emerged.
Beneath the surface of excellence lies a campus wrestling with deep inequalities, rising student debt, unsafe living conditions and a national funding system in disarray.
Add to that the auditor-general’s warning that the higher education sector is drifting without clear performance measures and the story becomes one of a university and a system at a crossroads.
This was not just another oversight meeting. It saw the official narrative collide with the lived reality of students and the cold assessments of auditors and internal governance bodies.
A world class institution — on paper
Stellenbosch’s official presentation was everything one expects from a world-class university with global ambitions.
Vision 2040 positions the SU as “Africa’s leading research-intensive university, globally recognised as excellent, inclusive and innovative”.
The numbers back the ambition: strong throughput rates, high module success and a steady rise in black African enrolments, up 16.5% in 2026.
Financially, the SU reported consistent unqualified audits, a going concern status and a diversified income base. Governance structures are intact, with 60% of the council external and independent.
There were no indicators of governance failure, the university assured MPs.
But even in the polished narrative, cracks showed. Outstanding student fees ballooned from R699 million in 2024 to R1.12 billion in 2025. NSFAS alone owed the university R454m by year-end.
While the SU emphasised its stability, it conceded that operational sustainability depended heavily on debt collection and the timely flow of NSFAS funds — a risky foundation in the current climate.
The university also acknowledged the strain of student accommodation shortages, gender-based violence (GBV) and safety concerns on and around campus. Yet the issues were presented as manageable — challenges being addressed through systems, committees and protocols.
Then the students spoke.
The Student Representative Council’s stark reality check
If the university’s management offered parliament a view from the boardroom, the SRC delivered the view from the ground, reflecting the disconnect between management and those that matter as the heartbeat of a university.
The Student Debt Working Group processed more than 1 000 applications this year. Only 200 students received assistance. The debt cap for self-funded students sits at R10 000 — a figure that means little when total fees exceed R100 000.
For NSFAS-funded students, the situation is worse. The SRC described a system in freefall: incorrect document flags, outdated household income data, funded students not receiving allowances, appeals portals that don’t work, unanswered emails and call centres that never pick up.
The result? Students who are “funded” on paper but are unable to register, pay rent or buy food. “Funding approval does not guarantee financial access,” the SRC told MPs — a line that should haunt policymakers.
“Missing middle” students whose families earn too much for NSFAS but too little to afford university remain stranded. International students face upfront costs of about R80 000 before they can even register, regardless of their academic progress or payment history.
And then there is safety. Stellenbosch is an open campus, integrated with the town. But the SRC detailed a rise in stalking, armed intimidation, attempted break-ins and even potential abduction risks.
Off campus, students are pushed into high-crime areas such as Cloetesville and Idas Valley because that is where rent falls within the NSFAS cap of R5 200.
In Stellenbosch Central, a single room averages R9 156. A studio can reach R12 000. Students are forced to choose between affordability and safety — a choice no young person should have to make.
On safety and GBV, the university outlines a zero-tolerance GBV framework, with more than 400 survivors supported in 2024 and 2025. Crime on campus remains a concern; the SU deploys drones, patrols, CCTV and walkwith services.
The Institutional Forum: transformation lagging
The Institutional Forum (IF), Stellenbosch’s internal oversight body on transformation, added yet another layer to the story. While the SU emphasised its transformation commitments, the IF pointed to structural issues that persist beneath the rhetoric.
Two senior appointment committees in the past year had no African black members. Candidates from designated groups often decline SU offers because the remuneration is “not market-related” but the IF noted that cultural issues may be an additional barrier.
The IF also raised concerns about the university’s ad hoc approach to student debt and emergency accommodation. Those were not administrative inconveniences, the IF argued. They were transformation issues that required a sustainable, institutionalised response.
The auditor-general: A sector drifting without accountability
If the SRC exposed the human cost and the IF highlighted internal governance gaps, the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA) widened the lens to the entire higher education system — and the findings were alarming.
The AGSA’s review of the department of higher education and training’s (DHET) annual performance plans revealed:
- Key national priorities missing from the annual performance plan (including the new NSFAS model and 10 000 jobs via pay for performance);
- Indicators that measure paperwork, not performance (for example, counting reports instead of evaluating outcomes);
- Targets lower than previous years’ achievements (a quiet lowering of ambition);
- Poorly defined indicators and unverifiable data sources; and
- Sector education and training authorities (Setas) (setting low completion targets enabling them to “achieve” without delivering real skills outcomes.
The AGSA warned that performance reporting risked becoming “a passive record of sector activities rather than a credible assessment of public sector performance”.
In other words, the system is not measuring what matters.
This has direct implications for universities like Stellenbosch, which depend on NSFAS, Setas and DHET oversight to function effectively.
A sector under pressure — and a university caught in the middle
Taken together, the four presentations tell a story far more complex than the one Stellenbosch management alone could offer.
The university is academically strong but financially strained by student debt and NSFAS instability. Students are achieving but many are living in unsafe conditions and facing financial exclusion.
Transformation is a stated priority — but internal structures lack diversity and cultural readiness. The national system is meant to support universities — but their planning and accountability mechanisms are weak.
Stellenbosch is not failing. But it is operating in a sector where the foundations are shifting and where the gap between policy and lived experience is widening.
Where to from here?
Parliament has a clear picture: a university striving for excellence; students struggling to survive, internal bodies calling for deeper transformation and auditors warning of systemic drift
The question is whether the department, the NSFAS and universities will act — or whether the sector will continue to rely on crisis management, ad hoc interventions and the resilience of students who are stretched to breaking point.
For Stellenbosch, the challenge is to ensure that its Vision 2040 — a world-class, inclusive, research-intensive university — is not just a slogan but a lived reality for every student who walks its campus.
Because, as parliament heard last week, excellence means little if students cannot afford to study, struggle to find safe accommodation or do not trust the systems meant to support them.
Marking one year in office on 15 April, vice-chancellor Professor Deresh Ramjugernath describes his first year as a period of setting the tone and direction rather than making headline announcements.
His emphasis has been on alignment, clarity and a shared commitment to SU’s Vision 2040, with the aim of Stellenbosch being trusted not only for what it achieves but also for what it contributes to society.
He reframes “excellence” as purposeful: strengthening teaching and learning, academic standards and research quality, while ensuring that scholarship addresses real-world challenges.
In his view, inclusion is not a separate project but integral to excellence, alongside the work of shifting perceptions shaped by the university’s past through consistent, visible progress.
He applies the same outcomes focus to innovation: Stellenbosch’s ideas must translate into tangible change beyond campus through stronger partnerships with communities, industry and policy environments.
With that foundation laid, Ramjugernath positions the next phase as one of delivery — turning engagement and relationship-building into action that is visible in classrooms, evident in research and felt in the broader society the SU serves.
His closing message is that intention is not enough: institutional trust is ultimately built through delivery.
But if Ramjugernath needed any reminder that addressing students struggles remains integral to the success of any vision, he would have got the message clearly in parliament.
©Higher Education Media Services. — www.ednews.africa
While management at Stellenbosch University projected stability and excellence, students, auditors and internal oversight bodies warned of chronic debt, unsafe housing, National Student Financial Aid Scheme failures and slow transformation
