OnCampus Issue 4 • December 2015 • For daily updates visit www.uwc.ac.za
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2015 Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Awards
PAGE 9 Opening access to knowledge
PAGE 16 UWC researchers tackle SA’s energy crisis
PAGE 20 A triumphant sporting year
Easing the cost of higher education
I
n the past few months, the country witnessed a national campaign of student protests under the #FeesMustFall banner against planned increases in university fees for 2016. UWC has always championed equitable and affordable access to higher education. The consistently low fees the Institution has maintained over several decades enabled thousands of working class students to afford a quality tertiary education. It was in this spirit that Rector and ViceChancellor Professor Tyrone Pretorius met with students in the Student Centre on 23 October 2015 to hear their grievances – the same day that President Zuma announced the scrapping of the planned 2016 increase in fees. Unfortunately, the protests degenerated into violence just days later, with students burning and vandalising buildings, assaulting campus security personnel and endangering the safety of staff and students. The University had to take extraordinary steps – including closing the campus and calling in the police – to protect the rights of students to write exams and to ensure the safety of the Institution’s academic and human resources. After the campus calmed, discussions took place between the UWC management, the SRC and representatives of the UWC #FeesMustFall movement. A written submission by the UWC #FeesMustFall movement was tabled at the 27–28
UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Tyrone Pretorius addresses students during the #FeesMustFall protests.
November meeting of the UWC Council. Although the Council felt that many of the students’ issues related to living in an unequal society, rather than matters that could be resolved by universities, it adopted several remedial measures: • It was agreed that UWC should issue a concessionary instrument to provide debt relief for UWC’s 2013 – 2015 NSFAS-eligible students. • The University will develop a means test to establish a threshold for students who fall outside the NSFAS funding limit but require financial support or debt relief. • Academically eligible students will not be excluded in 2016 on the basis of debt. NSFAS-eligible students will also not pay registration and upfront fees. • The Council mandated the University executive to determine the long-term impact of insourcing in the context of the University’s financial sustainability, and to explore possible alternatives. • Council acknowledged the challenged socio-economic conditions of outsourced staff, but decided that insourcing was an
unaffordable option at present. • However, all outsourced staff (cleaning, security, gardens and grounds staff) will receive a R2 000 monthly allowance from 1 December 2015. • Outsourced staff will also have access to the same study rebates as permanent staff for themselves and their children. • The University would engage contractors about improving the employment conditions of their staff. The Council noted that fees at the Kovacs complex, a public-private residential development for UWC students, were much higher than what the University charged at its own residences. The Council agreed that the Kovacs model was not ideal and had already authorised the University management in July to explore options for the acquisition of Kovacs. The University is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) about funding the Kovacs acquisition and DHET has indicated that a firm commitment will be forthcoming in the first term of 2016.