Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande has backed strong steps by university vice-chancellors to stamp out destruction of property, saying criminal conduct cannot go unpunished. "We have told the vice-chancellors and university management: 'Act firmly, we'll support you.'"All we need is for one flying brick at Wits to kill a student. The state and the university would be liable. Parents send their children to university to study and graduate."No one wants police on campus, but how do you react to thuggery? No one wants to criminalise students, and no one will allow criminality. Criminal acts will be treated as criminality.story_article_left1"We need South African society to stand up and say: 'No, no and no further destruction.'"He said the government had "done its best within the constraints it faces. In effect, between 70% and 75% of students will face no increases - which includes those from the lower-middle and working class."Several campuses remained closed this weekend as violence flared at the universities of Cape Town, the Witwatersrand, North West (Mahikeng campus) and others.The worst violence and destruction of the week was reported at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where a student was wounded during running battles with the police and fires were set in its law library in Durban and an exam hall in Pietermaritzburg.In an interview with the Sunday Times this week, Nzimande said it was time for parents and other South Africans who were opposed to violence and destruction on campuses to call rioting students to order."No one can support the destruction at Wits and UKZN. The burning of a library is the worst form of barbarism."On Monday, Nzimande announced that the government would continue to provide National Student Financial Aid Scheme bursaries to academically deserving students from the neediest backgrounds, and that students from all households with a combined income of less than R600,000 per year would face no fee increases.Students from households with incomes above R600,000 would pay up to 8% more to study next year.full_story_image_hleft1"Last year, even before #FeesMustFall, vice-chancellors were aware that fee increases were becoming extremely sensitive, also because they differed so widely between universities. There was consensus that a regulatory framework was needed and that every university council could not just set its fees as it pleased. I asked the Council on Higher Education to help develop such a framework."Nzimande said that for 2017, it had come up with three options:• No fee increase with no added government support, meaning 19 of South Africa's 26 universities would be in serious financial difficulty;• An increase based on consumer price index inflation of 6%, which the council recommended; or• An 8% increase, based on the "higher education price index" used in the United States."If we granted below 8%, our universities would be in a fix, and as a government we could not let our universities drown. It was up to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and he supported us all the way.story_article_right2"He has reprioritised spending, as will be evident from the medium-term budget policy statement and next year's budget. In fact, what we have is not an increase, but an inflation-linked adjustment. We will see no new academic programmes and no real increase in subsidies," said Nzimande.Asked if he was concerned about upper-class flight - the wealthy removing their children from local universities to study abroad - Nzimande said: "I am worried about it, and we should all be. Wealthy parents at wealthy institutions cross-subsidise everyone else."We really need the country to realise that enough is enough - the vandalism must stop. Why disrupt the academic programme while exercising your right to protest?"We have the largest university systems on the continent, and some of the most prestigious universities, which can be transformed, but which must not be destroyed."We are looking for solutions as best we can. The NSFAS students are catered for; at [technical colleges] almost no students pay tuition fees. The 'missing middle' will in effect save R700 per family per month through no fee increases."We must protect what we have, for current students and for future generations - we cannot replace what has been built," said Nzimande.joubertj@sundaytimes.co.za..