THREE-SIXT-E | ALUMNI E-NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 15/DECEMBER 2015
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ALUMNI E-NEWSLETTER | ISSUE 15/DECEMBER 2015
Contact the Alumni Relations Office: Tel: +27 21 959 2143 | Fax: 021 959 9791 | Email: alumni@uwc.ac.za | www.uwc.ac.za/alumni http://twitter.com/UWConline | http://www.facebook.com/uwcalumni
Higher education at a turning point In what has been described as the biggest uprising in South Africa since the fall of apartheid, the country’s higher education sector was shaken to the core when thousands of students staged protests across the country in the #FeesMustFall campaign. The campaign was initially in response to plans to increase fees at Wits and the University of Cape Town in 2016, but protesters’ demands soon included free education, the ‘decolonisation’ and transformation of the higher education institutions, insourcing of outsourced work (mostly cleaning and security staff) and the scrapping of student debt. UWC, led by Rector and Vice-Chancellor Professor Tyrone Pretorius, supported the campaign and heeded the national call to close for two days in solidarity with students. “UWC has been at the forefront of championing equitable and affordable access to higher education and empathises with our students and their peers nationally,” Prof Pretorius wrote in a communiqué to the University community. During the campaign, thousands of students marched to Parliament in Cape Town and to the Union Buildings in Pretoria. After several incidents of intimidation, violence and destruction of property at UWC’s Bellville campus, the University community, including Chancellor Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, Prof Pretorius and the executive management team, academic and support staff, alumni
and students, worked together under trying circumstances to restore calm and continue with the academic year. Following President Jacob Zuma’s announcement that no fees would increase for 2016 at all universities, UWC’s management held mass meetings with staff and students. An agreement was reached to work together to seek solutions to all the problems raised by students. Subsequently, the University Council agreed that: UWC will issue a concessionary instrument to provide debt relief to UWC’s NSFAS-eligible students for 2013–2015; UWC will develop a means test to identify students who fall outside of the NSFAS threshold but require some financial support; academically eligible students will not be excluded on the basis of outstanding debt; and, all outsourced staff (cleaning, security, gardens and grounds staff) will receive a R2 000 monthly allowance and be eligible for study rebates on the same basis as permanent staff. “I wish to thank the UWC community for its understanding and support as well as both the SRC and the #FeesMustFall leadership for the spirit in which the meetings took place,” Prof Pretorius said afterwards. “The past two weeks have been taxing on all of us and I have assured the SRC and the #FeesMustFall movement of my commitment to work tirelessly to rebuild relationships and address some of the hurt experienced by all parties. I hope that as a staff community and as a broader campus community we can similarly restore our unity of purpose.” PAGE ONE