Few hitches in varsity registrations, except at Unisa

REGISTRATIONS by new and returning students for the 2018 academic year at nearly all South Africa’s 26 public universities appear to be proceeding smoothly so far, despite concerns of disruptions and stampedes.

The exception was Unisa, where the EFF Student Command was reported to have shut down proceedings at the Sunnyside campus yesterday morning.

Students from the ANC Youth League clashed with EFF students, claiming that their shutdown was uncalled for. The EFFSC said it had shut down proceedings because Unisa failed to implement free tertiary education for the poor as pronounced by President Jacob Zuma – who last month stated that higher education would be free for families with combined earnings of less than R350 000 a year.

The student organisation also accused Unisa of plans to stop using its National Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funds to pay for the fees of students who enrolled to study for higher certificate courses.

Former chairperson of the Unisa Students Representative Council and member of EFFSC, Ntando Sindane, said Unisa prompted the shutdown when it ignored a request to allow walk-in application for admission and NSFAS funding.

He said: “We have tabled a list of demands to Unisa which included the speeding up of registrations for frustrated students and scrapping of historical debt so that poor students that owed Unisa before tertiary education was pronounced free can also graduate.

“We also demanded the scrapping of registration fees and the provision of meal cards to Unisa day students because students in other universities are assisted with meals. Unisa’s poor students are no different.”

The EFFSC said it also demanded an extension in the application period for NSFAS funding. It said many students deserved a chance to also apply because the threshold had been increased from a combined household income of R120 000 to R350 000 just a few weeks ago.

Students from Sasco and the ANCYL said they did not support the EFFSC’s use of force to make their demands heard. They said the EFFSC’s demands did not warrant a shutdown or protest.

Sasco chairperson Amukelani Ngwenya said: “Sasco had agreed to give Unisa this week to settle all its queries so that things could run smoothly from next week. The EFF needs to understand that although the president pronounced on free higher education for the poor, it needed to be ushered it peacefully.”

Meanwhile, Joburg’s two main public higher education institutions, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Wits University, began registrations this week without a hitch.

Universities South Africa (Usaf) said earlier this week that it had received positive feedback from a number of its member universities that had started to register students.

Wits registrar Carol Crosley told Independent Media that the university had received 56 901 applications for firstyear enrolments for 2018. “Our online registration for new first-year students opened on Monday and we have regis- tered 1 200 students online to date. Everything has gone off smoothly so far,” she said.

Crosley also confirmed that the university had received far fewer first-year applications compared to the 2017 academic year.

The university has also reiterated its stance that it would not be accepting any walk-in registrations, following calls by the EFF for all matriculants to report to academic institutions to apply. “No walk-in applications for new first- years have been accepted,” said Crosley.

Universities South Africa’s chief executive, Professor Adam Bawa, said universities had to be cautious about the risk of walk-in registrations “to understand how best to mitigate any risks that may emerge”.

UJ said it too would not be accepting walk-in registrations.

“We had a number of firstyear students coming to the university this week to try to register, but we have made it clear we would not be accepting any walk- in registrations,” said UJ spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen.