Higher Education and Training

National Department Budget for 2025-26 http://dhet.gov.za
Vote purpose Develop and support a quality higher and vocational education sector. Promote access to higher education, vocational education and skills development training opportunities Vote mandate The mandate of the Department of Higher Education and Training is to develop a skilled and capable workforce while broadening the skills base of the country to support an inclusive growth path. The department derives its mandate from the: - Higher Education Act (1997), which provides for a unified national system of higher education - Skills Development Act (1998), which enables the creation of the National Skills Authority, sector education and training authorities (SETAs), the establishment of the Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, and the regulation of apprenticeships, learnerships and other matters relating to skills development - National Student Financial Aid Scheme Act (1999), which provides for the granting of loans and bursaries to eligible students attending public higher education and training institutions, and the subsequent administration of such loans and bursaries - Skills Development Levies Act (1999), which provides for the imposition of skills development levies - Continuing Education and Training Act (2006), which provides for the regulation of continuing education and training, the establishment of governance structures for and the funding of public technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges and community education and training (CET) colleges, the registration of private colleges, and the promotion of quality in continuing education and training - National Qualifications Framework Act (2008), which provides for the national qualifications framework, the South African Qualifications Authority and quality councils for the issuing and quality assurance of qualifications required by the sub-frameworks of the national qualifications framework.

New Public Entities associated with this department:

The Budget Cycle
Plan

2025-26 Budget

The Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) is a book published along with the tabling of the budget for the new financial year.

Spending plans by programme and sub-programme

A department's programmes are the activities that it spends money on during the financial year. Different programmes have different budgets, depending on their objectives and available budgets. More detail on the programmes is available in the department's Estimates of National Expenditure documents.

All Programmes

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Classification of spending items

In addition to exploring the department budget by programmes, the budget is classified according to Economic Classification.

The Economic Classification of a department's expenditure distinguishes between various categories of current expenditure and capital expenditure. The purpose of the economic classification is to categorise transactions according to type of object or input, such as compensation of employees or capital assets.

This visualisation highlights how many categories of expenditure there are for this department at Economic Classification level 4, and which ones are the biggest. year -- 2025-26

Programme spending under economic classifications

Budget programmes will differ in composition of spending, from compensation of employees, transfers to other agencies and goods and services, depending on their objective.

Select an Economic Classification to filter the data in this chart and see how much programmes spend on that category.

2025-26 Adjusted Budget

The Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure (AENE) is a book published along with the tabling of the adjusted budget.

Budget changes in the Adjusted Budget

These charts show changes to the spending plans originally published in the Estimates of National Expenditure. Details of these changes are published in the Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure.

Implement
Review

Planned compared to historical expenditure

Budgeted and actual expenditure/allocations for a department can increase or decrease from year to year. Changes in expenditure for a department can be because of changes in the activities of the department, because of changes in priorities between departments, because of cost efficiencies or because of increases in the price of goods and services due to inflation.

The chart shows the department’s actual expenditure for past years, and budgeted expenditure for the current year and the upcoming three years of the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF). By adjusting these numbers to take inflation into account, it is possible to determine if a department’s expenditure is really increasing or decreasing in real terms, as compared to the rest of the economy.

Previous financial years indicate actual expenditure while upcoming financial years indicate estimated expenditure:

Year Phase

Budgeted and actual expenditure comparison

Compare the adjusted appropriation to the main appropriation to see whether changes were made in the adjustments budget to the appropriations set out in the budget. The audited outcome shows what was actually spent.

Note: Direct charges against the National Revenue Fund are excluded.

Read more in the Annual Report on the department's website.

Budgeted and actual expenditure comparison by programme

Compare the amount of budget allocated to each of this deparment’s programmes at each phase in the process leading up to the Audited Outcome