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Cost of varsity, school fees etc

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In an effort to help get education fees reduced I have emailed political parties the following This idea, I believe, would significantly reduce the cost of education and get many more people a formal qualification. Someone from Texas informed me that in the USA people do not have to have a formal degree to practice law, but can instead pass some exam (a board exam?) in order to practice. For South Africa I propose that the government have standard textbooks for various subjects that one could download from the internet or buy at bookstores. People could then study using these and write exams without having to register at a university. This would save a huge amount of money. It could be done with subjects that are already offered by distance learning. The only cost to the student would be the books and exam fees. I completed my BSc through UNISA and feel that this is a very feasible situation.
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12 REPLIES 12
HateGauteng
Super Contributor
You underestimate the political power of the universities. Such a deal will be scuttled!
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Not applicable
I second your idea. These uni's are making me a poor man. My son has to pay R3 per copy at the bib for a page that can cost as little as 25c. It is an absolute rip-off. These guys have turned into companies and not training institutes. I would even propose that if you have passed your first year (we all know that most students that don't make it bomb out in the first year), your class fees should be subsidised in your second year and third year. That way we as parents only have to cover the first year fully and our contribution lowers for every year after that.
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The joy of being able to download a textbook on stats or whatever,study on my own, write exams all for the cost of the cheap download and exam fee keeps me at this idea. I have had congratulations from a DA branch and I received an email from Siki Mgabadeli (safm) saying: Hi Eddie, What an idea! Pity no-one takes such tips and implements them. I will pass it on to the Higher Education Minister's office. Cross fingersJ Siki
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SimonPB
Valued Contributor
it is being done, there are free online universities all over the net .. even MIT offer a number of their courses for free via the internet ..
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Not applicable
Thanks for info. Maybe I will look at MIT. What people might prefer is a standard South African qualification from a well known institution providing exam venues and that eveyone knows about. That way people can form study groups and so on. There are so many universities in USA that are not "accredited" and one sometimes has to contact the USA embassy (or other body)to find out whether a university is accredited (generally accepted by USA government, etc) or not I would like some university I know and everyone else knows about that tells one about exam venues (perhaps on TV, etc)
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Amar
Contributor
Check out http://academicearth.org/ Lots of free lectures from top varsities. No exams so can't get qualification there, some very interesting material available though.
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john_1
Super Contributor
Basically, a degree can be bought just like a drivers licence..it does not mean you can drive...perhaps one should spend the money buying books that you actually read, travelling, spending time on site with people who do what you want to learn...If you are employing who do you want? some oke with a silver spoon, or some oke with a piece of paper of the net, or some oke who actually chose to study by making a plan??? I know which one I would chose
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Werner_1
Super Contributor
I've learnt quite a lot of valuable info on certain subjects by just buying books written by well-known lecturers, I found the best to be the guys from Harvard Business School - obviously for business/financial stuff that is...
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DST
Super Contributor
Look at CIDA City Campus
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Not applicable
Did you guys know this - If you do a degree through Stellenbosch and you run out of money and now to save costs you want to carry on via Unisa distance learning, you can't! Unisa and the other uni's have different syllabus. You have to do the whole dgree over via Unisa and you don't get any credits for subjects that you have already completed.
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Man_T
Contributor
brilliant idea but my concern is please lets not give it to guys like Educaion deprtment as the operate like other... exams papers/memos will reach people befor they . Goog ide just need implemantation
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suki
Super Contributor
i think they credit some modules.
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