By: Zethu Gweva
As East London campuses registration commences, the Deputy Minister of Higher Education and Training Buti Manamela graced Walter Sisulu University and the University of Fort Hare with his presence.
The visit forms part of the province to province assessment of admissions, registrations and how the new NSFAS improvements are being implemented in public higher institutions by the Department of Higher Education and Training.
Manamela said they are just monitoring the registration process and to get grievances especially from the students and the University’s staff members and that the mood compared to 2018s is totally different and better than last years.
¨We are quite content with the progress report that we have just received, of course there are challenges and the biggest challenge is around student debt and also the condition within which students live in. Part of the things that we will be doing is to expedite the funding that comes from the department so that we are able to begin work on the renovations and uplifting of the student residences because there is money allocated for that,¨ he said.
Manamela added that most of the new students have been registered and based on the report, Walter Sisulu University is ready to commence with their academics on the 11th of February.
Regardless of the positive feedback that the Deputy Minister received from the institutions report, the Student Representative Council President of the Institution Unathi Gqetywa said the institution´s registration is not smooth as a number of returning students have not registered and there are still discussions regarding students with special cases.
Gqetywa said that the Deputy Ministers visit was futile, as the Deputy Minister refused to accept the SRC Presidents plea to change the nature of the meeting into having an agenda which will result to having resolutions to all the matters that the SRC has.
The Vice Chancellor of Walter Sisulu University Rob Midgley said they are pleased with how the registration is going, he conveyed that they have implemented online registration and it is going quite smooth although it is slow largely because it’s a new system that still needs to be tested but they are managing to sort it out very quickly.
“We have already registered 20 percent of our students and we are very happy with the state of affairs and I am glad that the Deputy Minister is here to witness with his own eyes that the University is doing well” said Midgley.
Midgley also added that they had 65 000 applications for 7 200 places which they were able to allocate before hand but not all of the students who applied registered.
When people come as walk-ins they are registered through a central application system to automatically have them on record so that when there is space a student is registered.
A student who applied to study for her BTech at the University Sinesipho Kelewu said she is not pleased with how things are happening, since last year November her status says awaiting for selection and when she tried to talk to management she was told to wait.
Manamela wished all students a good academic year and wants them to understand that there is no such thing as free higher education, someone has to pay for it like taxpayers.