Bloemfontein - The Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande has withdrawn his appeal against the judgement in which the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) won their court case preventing the institution from being put under administration.

"We welcome the decision by the Honourable Dr Blade Nzimande, Minister of Higher Education and Training, to withdraw his appeal against the August 2012 judgement that nullified his decision to place the CUT under administration," says Prof Thandwa Mthembu, CUT's Vice Chancellor and Principal.

"The Minister's withdrawal of his appeal is the best course for all the parties involved in this unfortunate episode. Both the Department for Higher Education and Training and ourselves, CUT's leadership, can now focus on our mutual and shared purpose of providing excellent education to our students."

Mthembu urged, "we should quickly put the 2012 events behind us, and concentrate on building a stronger foundation for realising CUT's Vision 2020 of becoming an innovative knowledge centre for contributing to our region's and national development agenda."

Sapa