Closing the gap: the relationship between academic access policy and implementation at Universities in South Africa

On the whole, Mr Malgasperceived the model as having the potential to make a contribution in the enhancement of student access to South African universities. Nevertheless, he observed that the issue of "resource commitment" had not been emphasised in the framework. According to Mr Malgas, the government should back access policies with provision of resources (financial, physical and otherwise) to facilitate ease of implementation. Drawing from his previous experience at universities in South Africa, the Registrar: Natal University, mentioned that even with the institutional access policy aspirations in place, only a limited number of learners were normally admitted to avoid over-stretching the existing resources. Mr Malgasalso suggested that the question of student support be included in the framework, because in his opinion, it would be unacceptable to admit lea~nersand not help them through their programmes.