Johannesburg, 11 August 2022 - SNG Grant Thornton, together with the Higher Education Sector, have come together to find digital solutions that will assist in some of the operational challenges experienced in the Higher Education Industry. Some of the solutions will address compliance and business risk in relation to cyber security, tax compliance, and digitalisation of internal reporting and monitoring.
The funding of public higher education is currently a moot issue in South Africa. Public funding has been declining, and opportunities for securing non-government revenue remain limited, in particular for Historically Disadvantaged Universities.
According to Professor Ahmed C. Bawa, CEO of Universities South Africa, “In constant 2010 prices, Gross Expenditure in Research and Development [GERD] fell from R25,963 billion in 2017/18 to R23,732 billion in 2018/19, a year-on-year change of -8,6%. The business sector contributes 39%. Reduced from R885 million in 2014 to R770 million in 2015. Public sector funding of Research and Development [R&D] is now higher than private sector funding. This is extremely concerning for our industry.”
The number of students enrolled in tertiary education has increased from 450 000 in 1994 to 1.2 million students, currently. But, as thousands of protesting students across South Africa have highlighted over the last ten years, financial access remains a constraint while the higher education sector has a significant infrastructure backlog to accommodate demand. Digitisation of some education offerings is an appealing consideration in many of these institutions to address the capacity gap and the institution's reach.
“As SNG Grant Thornton, we have identified these gaps and are excited to work with the Higher Education Industry key stakeholders in attending to these issues and ensuring that operational and governance structures are the foundations to tackle cyber security, tax compliance risk and digitalisation process to assist in improved operations and service delivery in the Higher Education Industry,” said, Thabo Mogano, Education Industry Leader, SNG Grant Thornton.
“Our immediate focus is to assist the institution to be cyber resilient, tax compliant using digital tools and effective implementation of digital platforms that gives creditability to the service delivery obligations of higher education institutions, as these mostly need urgent attention,” said, Mogano.
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Media contacts:
Lebogang Kholoane
Email: lebogang.kholoane@sng.gt.com
About SNG Grant Thornton: SNG Grant Thornton is the South African member firm of Grant Thornton International Ltd. We have progressed expeditiously in every aspect ever since our establishment in 1985. We are an indigenous mid-tier assurance, tax and advisory firm with offices in South Africa and Eswatini.
We go beyond client expectations to deliver proactive solutions. We don’t predict the future. We help you shape it. All references to SNG Grant Thornton in the press release and this “Notes to editor” section are to SNG Grant Thornton.
