Lerato Mbhiza
THE Department of Higher Education says that qualifications from the four Educor-owned colleges that were deregistered are still valid.
Last month, the Department announced that the deregistration of City Varsity (Pty) Ltd, Damelin (Pty) Ltd, Icesa City Campus (Pty) Ltd and Lyceum College (Pty) Ltd after Educor failed to provide the required audited financial results for 2021 and 2022.
The Department granted the four colleges a phase-out period for students already in the pipeline.
The Department also has assured the students, alternative academic institutions and employers that qualifications issued or obtained during the period of registration and during the phase-out period, remain valid and recognised.
Thus, the four colleges still have an obligation to award the students their qualifications during the period of registration and during the phase-out period, the Department said.
The Department also stressed that qualifications issued previously or during the phase-out period remained valid.
It said the four colleges were obligated to their students to award them their qualifications and conclude the rest of the academic year.
The Department emphasised its decision to cancel the registration statuses of these colleges which remained intact.
Over 13,000 students were affected by the deregistration, the Department said.
The Educor Colleges had failed to fulfil the requirements for registration contemplated in Section 57(2)(b) of the (Higher Education) Act.
They also failed to submit their annual financial statements and tax clearance certificates for the 2021/2022 years. This is proof of their financial viability.
Nzimande said the four Educor brands are deemed as dysfunctional. They had been measured by the daily complaints and grievances received from students. Most of these remain unresolved.
“Educor (Pty) Ltd claims to have 50,000 [students] in the system. This information is incorrect since the 2022 annual reports indicate the breakdown of student enrolment as: City Varsity (540) students, Damelin (4,012), Icesa City Campus (145) and Lyceum College (8,399). This totals to 13,096,” Nzimande said.
Nzimande further revealed that Educor lied about the number of students they have.
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