FASSET ANNUAL REPORT

Partnership with the UFS bearing fruit the University of the Free State (UFS) FASSET has provided funding to the UFS School of Accountancy (SOA) and its students since 2015. In 2020 the funds received from the SETA served approximately 15% of the students registered at the SOA through the Academic Support Programme and the Bursary with Academic Support programme. The funding has made it possible for the SOA to develop an academic support programme to improve the throughput rate of Black African Accounting Students over the past few years. The increased throughput rates of the past two years have resulted in a year-on-year improved graduation rate of 4%. Simply put, the financial support has enabled many Black African accounting students who would otherwise not have passed to become valuable members of the accounting profession. The table below illustrates the improved throughput rate of Black African students in the final year of the Undergraduate BAcc programme, which forms part of the Chartered Accountancy stream.

Despite the continuous improvement of the throughput rate, there is a decrease in progress, which can be attributed to several challenges faced by the SOA. The most critical challenge faced is the timing of the funding allocation. The practice of allocating funds according to the government’s financial year instead of according to the HE Academic year which has the following implications: 1. Academic trainees (ATS) can only be appointed when funding for their salaries has been confirmed. This holds the risk that we may not be able to appoint our preferred candidates. 2. Students unsure of FASSET funding in the following year and seek alternative funding sources causing a turnover of students and hampers recruitment. 3. Recruitment of students for FASSET-fundedprogrammes in April and May complicates the administration of the programmes and risks undermining students’ academic performance. 4. When academic support programmes can only be implemented in the second semester, their effectiveness and throughput rates are reduced. The development of learner’s soft skills also suffer as it arises when the academic programme is at its most intense by which time students should have mastered these skills. 5. Students need the funding allocated to them in the first quarter. When they receive funds in April, lack of textbooks results in an inability to prepare for class or study effectively. They also worry about how to pay tuition fees and/or accommodation which negatively impacts their ability to learn. FASSET acknowledges that it will need to start the allocation process earlier in the financial year to enable students and HEI programmes to access funds at the time they need them and in alignment with the cycles of the HE academic year instead of the government financial year which ends in March.

Improved Throughput Rate

60 50 40 30 20 10 0

55

51

47

37

Yr 2018

Yr 2019

Yr 2020

Yr 2017

% of Students who Graduated

Year of Graduation

On the funding provided by FASSET for the 2020/21 financial year, the UFS SOA reported on the challenges and impacts of delayed allocation and disbursement of funding as follows:

FASSET Annual Integrated Report 2020/21

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