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Perdeby Tuks se amptelike studentekoerant / Official Tuks student newspaper / Kuranta ya baithuti ya semmušo ya Tuks
24March2014
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and unskilled workers, the development for graduate students would be “great”. Ngeti Zwane, a final-year political science student, tweeted, “Just imagine a mathematics/actuarial [sciences] graduate teaching mathematics or being part of strategic thinkers at municipal level.” Not all students are excited at the prospect of having to undertake a year of mandatory community service. Some students have expressed concern about how they will finance
themselves during this year while others are doubtful as to how efficiently the programme will be enforced and monitored. Dr Laurel Becker, a senior lecturer from the Faculty of Education, said that, “Very careful planning will be needed if the plan is to be successful. One of the problems that will arise is already evident, in that many students who have bursaries will be unable to do community service as they are bound by the terms of their bursaries to begin working immediately in the company or the organisation that awarded the bursary.” She added that it would be a good idea to give graduates who are unable to find employment the option of doing a year’s worth of community service in order to gain experience in fields that are relevant to their degrees. “I am of the opinion that any sweeping decisions will prove to be unrealistic. When graduates find immediate employment, they are able to enter the job market and are then in a position to contribute to the economy in a meaningful way.” Ntsako Risenga, a final-year LLB student, said that the programme is a good initiative but added, “Unless they are going to fund the expenses incurred in getting the graduates places where they can do [community service], it will be a nightmare to administer and ensure proper and efficient participation.” In a statement issued on the same day as the ANC’s announcement, AfriForum Youth said that the programme would result in graduates leaving the country to work overseas. What do you think of the proposed programme? Send an email to perdeby@up.ac. za, tweet @perdebynews or vote on our online poll.
P10 P8 P12 P3 Compulsory community service for graduates? MAXINE TWADDLE The ANC national executive committee’s education and health sub-committee said last Monday that it aims to implement a programme requiring graduates to do a year of community service within the next five years. Graduates will be required to participate in the programme regardless of whether their degree was funded privately or by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). The programme replaces the graduate tax which was proposed at the ANC’s Mangaung elective conference last year. Delegates asked that the conference consider taxing people who graduate from institutions of higher education. The money raised from this tax was intended to be used for NSFAS, which would then be able to fund more undergraduate students. The proposal was rejected after public uproar. The committee then proposed that graduates whose degrees were financed by bursaries or loans (including NSFAS) be required to perform a year of community service. This was then expanded to include all graduates. Minister of Science and Technology Naledi Pandor, who chairs the committee, said that this would allow graduates to gain experience before they enter the job market. She said that graduates should consider how the community service can benefit them instead of only considering it a delay in their career. Nthabiseng Nooe, an engineering and environmental geology honours student, agrees and said, “Service to others is by far the most important aspect of personal development. Academia places a high emphasis on the individual, which is great because graduates need to be given credit for their work. But what is the real value of your grades?”
Illustration: Simon-Kai Garvie
Nooe added that, “A year of community service can show graduates the social application of their studies while also raising awareness of potential clients should one work for a corporate later.” Edward Hall, who is doing his postgraduate certificate in education, told Perdeby on Twitter that the programme could “evolve an elite group of people” who display both mental and intellectual strength. He added that, although there would be a greater gap between skilled
NSFAS shortfalls force students to drop out MOLEBOGENG MANGOALE A number of UP students have been forced to drop out due to the shortage of National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funds. NSFAS failed to cover the 2013 fees of many students and, consequently, these students have been unable to register for the 2014 academic year. Earlier in January, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) embarked on a national strike at universities such as the Tshwane University of Technology, the University of Johannesburg and the Durban University of Technology. Due to the national strike Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande allocated R1 billion to NSFAS to settle outstanding fees from 2013. At UP, outstanding fees from last year have still not been settled and students are still unable to register. Having recognised the problem, the university made provision that students with outstanding funds due to NSFAS could register for 2014, provided that they had achieved an academic average of over 50% and that a complete application for financial aid for 2014 had previously been submitted. The university said that students who did not fall into this category needed to make payment arrangements with Student Accounts. This arrangement included the stipulation that at least 50% of
the outstanding fees had to have been paid or covered by external funding before registration could be approved. The university says that it is aware of the announcement that has been made by the minister regarding the R1 billion allocation, but that it has not received an allocation for historic debt funding from NSFAS to date. “Should UP receive historic debt funding, qualifying students will be informed accordingly,” said the registrar’s office. In February the university opened up late applications for 24 hours for students who had not applied for financial aid for 2014. Only a few students could register. It is not clear what selection was based on or how many students registered. The registrar’s office said that, “It has always been communicated to students that an application for NSFAS funding does not guarantee an award [of a place at UP]. Certain NSFAS criteria and academic criteria need to be met in order to qualify for an award. Many students who applied for NSFAS did not qualify for awards.” “In addition to this, awards were subject to availability of funding, resulting in students who theoretically qualifying for awards not receiving any awards. UP acts as an agent for NSFAS and administers funding on the behalf of NSFAS.
Criteria and funding for awards are determined by NSFAS.” Selina Bojosi, a third-year BIS Publishing student, had to leave UP due to NSFAS’s lack of funds. Bojosi had received an internship that would also fund her studies this year, but ended up losing it because she was unable to register as a student for 2014. Bojosi owes R65 000 to the university. She told Perdeby that NSFAS did not send her an SMS to inform her to sign a contract last year. When she first inquired at the bursaries and loans section of Client Service Centre (CSC), she was told that her NSFAS application had not gone through. When she went to the CSC again, she was told that there was a shortage of funds. Bojosi said that although she has still not seen her final results due to the outstanding debt, she managed to find out from one of the employees at the NSFAS offices that she got an average of 61%. This means that, according to the provision that UP has made, Bojosi would have been eligible to register. She said that she was informed by NSFAS that the only reason why she cannot register is because she did not apply for NSFAS this year. Bojosi maintains that she did not apply because of her internship. Bojosi said that she was told that there is nothing that can be done to assist her.
Another Tuks student, a BA Law student that wishes to remain anonymous, said that he applied for NSFAS funding last year and was also told that funds had run out. He owed a total of R104 000 to UP. He was only able to register once he managed to find a sponsor that paid R64 000 of what he owed the university. He added that if NSFAS does not settle his outstanding fees, he will be faced with the same situation next year as his sponsor will not pay more. “All this time I did not have access to my final results. They told me that they could not help me and took me to Student Support. There I was advised by the psychologist that I should go and work,” he said. “The only thing I got [from NSFAS] was the R3 000 Eduloan card for books. They told me that I should wait for historic debt funding for 2014. When I did approach them this year they told me that there was no money,” he said. He added that he has been sleeping in the library for the first two months of the year as he did not have accommodation. It was only after he was able to register that he was placed in a residence. UP has said that it can assist students who applied for financial aid with university-managed loans. The maximum value of these loans is R20 000 and the student must provide two guarantors for the loan.