Humanities students have complained about non-existent, late or incorrect letters of acceptance.
Wits University’s Faculty of Humanities has experienced a higher than usual number of walk-ins this year due to system errors which either rejected qualifying students or did not send out firm offer letters. A number of students Wits Vuvuzela spoke to said they had become concerned when their conditional offers were not confirmed by the start of the academic year on February 3 this year.
“Only two out of the three application offers reflected on my self-service portal. The proof of registration details, also show the incorrect information on my self-service portal,” said Anastasia Nkhuna, a Film and Television honours student.
Wits Journalism honours student, Zinhle Belle* said she had been “rejected from Psychology honours two days before the semester started. The portal said ‘unsuccessful’, but the school then reached out and said it was a fault on the system and I did get accepted”.
Genevieve Kamfer, the Humanities deputy Faculty Registrar said that the lack of communication could have been caused by “the faculty system failing to generate application codes,” which means that an automatic notification would not have been sent to the applicant. Kamfer said students should go to the Humanities faculty if they experience any troubles with their self-service portals regarding acceptance offers.
Humanities Faculty Officer, Norman Mabunda told Wits Vuvuzela “it is important to note that many postgraduate students’ applications were incomplete.” Online applications which are incomplete is an indication that some aspect of the application such as a CV or academic transcript has not been uploaded by the applicant which delays the processing of the application.
Andrea Armstrong of the Student Enrolment Centre (SENC) said “The Student Enrolment Centre have acknowledged these issues and have future plans to change the functionality of the self-service portal.”
The SENC receives online applications or hard-copies which are then processed, including a letter of acknowledgment which are sent to the applicants. These applications are sent to the relevant schools who then review applications and make their final decisions.
These decisions are communicated to the Humanities faculty who then ensure all selections comply with the university’s standards and requirements.
The faculty then codes relevant acceptance and rejection letters which automatically get sent to the applicant. Applications for 2021 are expected to open on March 2, 2020.
*Zinhle Belle is a student journalist at Wits Vuvuzela.
FEATURED IMAGE: Wits Humanities students are left in the dark regarding their acceptance at the University. Photo: Laura Hunter.
