Smooth start at Cape universities

No undue queues, no unexpected crowds, no issues reported

THOUSANDS of students have been streaming into universities with few issues, as the various institutions prepare to start their academic year. Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) spokesperson Lauren Kansley said everything at their various campuses across the city was going smoothly.

“We had large crowds today but it was all calm and there were no issues. There wasn’t any queuing and the numbers haven’t been larger than expected. It’s not unusual, its all manageable.”

Yesterday CPUT announced that prospective students would be able to apply for selected diploma and BTech courses until February 2, an extended deadline.

“We are not mass-accepting hundreds of applications, there are criteria and if they do not meet the minimum requirements they cannot get the forms.”

Kansley said CPUT were set to start classes at the beginning of next month.

UCT said they were committed to assisting walk-ins as best as they could and they were in the process of engaging various internal stakeholders on how to handle walk-in applications

The university’s processes during registration will allow for walk-in applicants to speak to an admissions counsellor, and if eligible they will be assisted to register on the Department of Higher Education and Training’s Central Applications Clearing House system or at UCT, provided there is still space in the programme they are interested in.

“The university is in full support of free education for the poor and has said so in our submission to the Heher Commission in September 2016. UCT has a good record over many years of accepting academically deserving students, including those not able to meet the fee requirements.

“The university has done this through NSFAS, which has been supplemented substantially by UCT funding. For years the university’s financial aid packages for the poor have been significantly higher. All of this has happened within enrolment planning parameters.”

The university added that while they would assist as much as they could, many of their programmes were already filled.

“The university received 29 500 applications and can enrol only 4 200 firstyear students. Due to capacity issues, the unfortunate reality is that there will be some applicants (traditional or walk-ins) who will not be accepted because the programmes might have reach full capacity.”

Stellenbosch University said it was ready to welcome thousands of newcomers this week. They began moving into their residences yesterday.

The university welcoming programme will officially kick off today and rector and vice-chancellor Professor Wim de Villiers and SRC president Lwando Nkamisa will be addressing new students.

WE ARE NOT MASS-ACCEPTING HUNDREDS OF APPLICATIONS, THERE ARE CRITERIA