Students, parents hit panic button
UJ online system causes headache
Parents and prospective university students have voiced their frustration with the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) online system.
The university announced that walk-ins would not be allowed and that students should instead make use of online services.
However, according to parent Lillian Kwinika, the system has left her more frustrated than she had expected.
“I called the call centre but I keep getting the automated response that the operators are currently busy,” said Kwinika.
Another parent, Johannes Mojela, said he had no choice but to go to the UJ campus in Auckland Park to enquire about his son’s application status. “We applied online but we only got the student number with no acceptance letter.
“They said we should check the online system for the progress but down,” he said.
Prospective student Tshepo Magagamela said: “I took a gap year to work to be able to save it is always for my studies. I applied last year at UJ but when I checked this year I’m not on the system.
“I called the institution and I was told to check on the online system which is forever down.”
Yesterday, Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela said even though they had discouraged walk-ins, students should not be turned away from institutions.
Manamela said the system’s problems were caused by high volumes of people rushing to the online system.
“People should not panic as we have 203 000 spaces in universities, with 108 000 spaces at technical and vocational training colleges,” he said.
Chairman of the EFF student command at UJ, Zwelakhe Mahlamvu, complained that they were harassed by bouncers when they tried to assist prospective students.
Professor Kinta Burger, registrar at UJ, admitted the system had been slow due to heavy traffic for online registration and related enquiries.