WSU faces losing law degree
Rhodes to honour five game changers University has 6 months to fix staff issues or lose accreditation
RHODES University will confer honorary doctorates on five world game-changers.
They are renowned performance poet Linton Kwesi Johnson; human rights campaigners Dr Sheila Sisulu and Dr Barney Pityana; artist Dr Penny Siopis and philanthropist Dr Marguerite Barankitse.
They will be honoured at the unive graduation ceremonies next week.
Rhodes University will also award a total of 2 443 degrees and diplomas over six ceremonies.
Of these, 1 327 (54%) are undergraduate bachelor’s degrees and 1 116 (46%) postgraduate degrees and diplomas. Just under 300 masters degrees and 78 doctorates will be awarded.
The faculty of science, the third largest in the university, has produced 31 PhDs this year, university spokeswoman Veliswa Mhlope said.
The faculty of humanities celebrates a record of 26 PhDs, up from last year’s 19. In a first for the university, a record 60% of the graduates are women.
The School of African Languages will have its first PhD with a thesis written in Xhosa this year. Also for the first time, they have six PhD students graduating.
Johnson will receive a literature (DLitt) degree.
He is considered one of the world’s foremost black poets, innovators and educators whose career in reggae and slam poetry spanned four decades.
Sisulu is being honoured for her role in promoting food security for vulnerable communities across the world.
She also committed her youth and adulthood to fighting oppression with a special focus on education, said the university.
Vryberg born artist, Siopis’s work has been studied and referenced worldwide and sold for impressive figures. Her work continually engages with the shifting social and political situations in South Africa.
Pityana, a human rights and antiapartheid campaigner, is being honoured for his vocal role in South Africa’s fight for democracy.
Barankitse is being honoured for dedicating her life to providing a home to Burundian children orphaned in the horror civil war which ravaged the country. doctor of
WALTER Sisulu University has six months to hire required academic staff to teach its LLB law degree or face losing accreditation to offer the course.
The university’s electrical and mechanical engineering courses also face a similar plight, but unlike LLB, which has a deadline of October, WSU has until July next year to hire the required academic staff for the engineering programmes and to ensure proper lecture halls.
The Department of Higher Education and Training has even set aside R183-million for WSU to be able to upgrade its lecture halls and science laboratory as well as hire the much-needed staff to teach the affected courses.
The Council on Higher Education (CHE) issued a stern warning to the university last Thursday to conform within six months or lose its LLB course.
The CHE is a statutory body commissioned by the Department of Higher Education to ensure that institutions of higher learning offer quality learning and training that meet the required standards.
Three other universities – the University of South Africa, North West University and University of Free State – also face losing their accreditation for the LLB degree.
This comes after CHE reviewed the standards at 21 South African universities. WSU has also been red-flagged for their electrical and civil engineering courses.
WSU spokeswoman Yonela Tukwayo confirmed yesterday that the university, which has campuses in East London, Mthatha and Butterworth, has been given until October to hire qualified LLB lecturers at their Mthatha campus. Tukwayo said they had also been given until July next year to improve the quality of teaching they provide electrical and civil engineering diplomas or face losing accreditation for these two courses as well.
National higher education and training spokesman Madikwe Mabotha said should the affected institutions not adhere to the recommendations by the CHE, their LLB courses would be suspended and students would have to move to other institutions pending implementation of the recommendations.
WSU’s LLB degree was redflagged for having hired underqualified lecturers as well as campus infrastructure that was found not conducive to teaching and learning.
Tukwayo confirmed yesterday that the institution’s LLB programme did not have enough doctors and professors to teach the degree while their lecture halls were in a mess. She said the university lacked experts because most academics did not want to work in a rural environment.
However, she said, the university had set aside R90-million to improve infrastructure. A further R82-million would be used to improve student accommodation. This forms part of the R183-million the institution received last week from the historically disadvantaged institutions (HDI) grant to improve its conditions.
The LLB programme, which has been fully accredited since the inception of the University of Transkei (now WSU) in the 1970s, has produced top legal brains including constitutional court Judges Chris Jaftha and Mbuyiseli Mandlanga.
Eastern Cape Law Society head Advocate Sizwe Ntsaluba SC said it would be “devastating” for the profession if WSU lost its LLB accreditation. —