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News ArchiveAfrica’s Top 8 Universities in SA!24 Mar 2009Despite the fact that our current socio-economic climate seems pretty dire and all the ‘bad news' we are constantly fed can get us down, South Africa has reason to hold it's head high and be proud that we host Africa's top eight universities within our borders! This is according to recent research done by strategic specialists Strats Incorporated, who looked at four Top 100 lists compiled from independent sources - the University of Liverpool, Webtronics, 4 International Colleges and Universities and m6world.com respectively - and then calculated the averages of the positions of each of the universities in these lists to yield the results. The results were conclusive: South Africa came out top of the varsity heap in Africa, with the following varsities leading the pack: University of Cape Town; Rhodes University; University of the Witwatersrand; University of the Western Cape; University of Pretoria; Stellenbosch University; University of KwaZulu Natal and University of South Africa. According to Johan Wasserfall, CEO of Eduloan - South Africa's dedicated educational financial services provider with professional affiliations to all eight of the top universities - the fact that our tertiary institutions are performing at such a competent level is exceptionally good news in the long run for the local economy. "The reality is that - due to the massive skills exodus, combined with the staggering rate of HIV in South Africa - our skills crisis has reached dire proportions," says Johan. "We need to step up the training and skilling of a competent workforce as a matter of urgency to bring our economy back into balance." Johan cites statistics from Deloitte & Touche's National Remuneration Guide survey, released in February 2008, as proof of his concerns: "According to the survey, about 81% of companies experience difficulty in recruiting staff due to a critical skills shortage, most especially in the accounting, sales and marketing and lecturing and science fields, with information technology coming out tops with severely critical skills shortages." This is backed up by statistics from the Department of Labour's 2007 National Master Scarce Skills list, which indicated that this sector had been unable to fill 37 565 positions; and in the 2008 IT Web-JCSE Skills survey, 100% of the responding companies stated that the skills shortage is either having a major impact on their business or is affecting their viability. In fact, according to Marius Roodt, researcher from South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), it has been found by SAIRR that every sector of the economy in South Africa - from healthcare to education and everything in-between - requires specific skills as a matter of urgency. At the cautious beginning of a new year after a turbulent and stressful 2008, morale is palpably low and people are quite simply sick of all the bad news. With the ever-increasing negative press surrounding so many sectors in our society and government, it is important to highlight the positives as well as being realistic about the negatives. So, especially in light of our current skills crisis, the fact that eight of SA's universities are top of the heap in Africa is definitely a cause for celebration. Any student enrolling in one of SA's universities can therefore rest assured that not only will they be obtaining a tip-top, world-class tertiary education, they will also be arming themselves with skills vital to South Africa's economy and guaranteed to ensure their future in our country is both sustainable and rewarding. Eduloan is committed to uplifting South Africa though quality education, and as SA's dedicated education financial services provider, Eduloan has a narrow focus: providing financial solutions to existing and prospective students, with the goal of ensuring that tertiary education is accessible to all South Africans. For further information, contact Eduloan's Client Services Department on 0860-55-55-44 or visit www.eduloan.co.za. Editorial Contact: |
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