FEES FREEZE: Wits has backed recommendations made by the SRC to freeze the upfront fees for 2015. Photo: Luca Kotton
by Luca Kotton and Roxanne Joseph
The upfront fee for next year will remain frozen at R9 350 but it and other fees may still increase in 2016, according to deputy vice-chancellor of finance, Prof Tawana Kupe.
The university had proposed an increase of the upfront registration fee to R10 300 from R9 350. General tuition fees will still increase.
When asked if the freeze will have an effect on the following year’s upfront fee, Kupe said, “In 2015, we will go through the normal processes for setting the various fees, including the upfront fee payment for 2016.”
The upfront fee free was the result of a long process of negotiations by the SRC which reached an agreement with the University Financial Committee (FINCO) surrounding fee increases in 2015, said SRC president Shafee Verachia.
The agreement was reached just over a week ago at a meeting with FINCO, and will be forward for approval to the University Council, which Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib, Verachia and Deputy Vice-chancellor, Prof Andrew Crouch, among others.
Verachia said the SRC successfully negotiated the freeze by commissioning a team of postgrad accounting and actuarial science students to investigate whether or not the upfront fee was unnecessarily high.
Kupe said the freeze is based on a further assessment made by FINCO, which has enabled them to recommend that the university is able to accommodate a freeze in the upfront fee and will not lose any income because “the freeze in the upfront fee amount is not a discount on the fees for 2015”.
He said there was recognition that some fees, such as the Health Sciences degrees, Wits has become too expensive and have been reduced. This is especially significant for international students, who were only allowed to pay their tuition fees in a set of instalments for the first time this year.
Currently, international students studying health sciences will have their fees cut by 60 percent, dropping to R74 680 from about R191 990.
The university had previously justified the increase of the upfront fee by saying it had high costs at the beginning of the year. Kupe said fee increases were necessary due to rising costs.
“Fees have to increase every year because of rising costs, the fact that our government subsidy is not rising as much as inflation and that some of our costs are related to items that are imported,” Kupe told Wits Vuvuzela.
“As you know, the rand has fallen against major currencies and this fall increases our costs. We also have to ensure we have enough financial resources to offer a quality education.”
Ruth First, a South African journalist, activist and former Witsie was assassinated 32 years ago, yesterday. Every year, Wits awards a fellowship in her name, to address the need for in-depth reporting on social issues. Wits Vuvuzela spoke to this year’s fellow and others about the impact of the fellowship on communities around the country.
More than a decade after Wits agreed to adopt Sesotho as a second language, the university is no closer to implementing this commitment.
In 2003 Wits University drew up a language policy that said the university would use an African language, Sesotho, as a medium for teaching and learning.
“The resources of the university need to be mobilised to enhance the language competencies of staff and students and, in partnership with the government, play a role in the development of one of South Africa’s African languages,” reads the policy.
However, while the policy has remained in effect its implementation has been hampered by a lack of resources.
“Unfortunately, I do not have a good story to tell … I think we must take some responsibility, we say one thing and we do another,” said Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib.
Habib said the current language policy was “all for show” and the university needs to be realistic about its ability to implement an African language for teaching. “We love the policy but where are we going to find the millions of rands? It’s all for show and not for the reality of where we are. It’s a symbolic statement we make [more] than a real statement,” he said.
The 2003 policy outlined the implementation of Sesotho in four phases however, a decade later, not a single phase of implementation has taken place. Phase one, offering Sesotho classes for staff members, was supposed to have been implemented in 2010.
The policy was adopted by Wits because government made it a requirement for all higher educational institutions to further transform. The university signed the policy but took little action to implement it.
THE ISSUE: Vice- chancellor Prof Adam Habib in conversation about the Language Policy. Photo by: Anazi Zote
“The university said ‘let’s go into compliance and let’s tick the boxes’ and we kept quiet and nobody asked,” Habib said.
The university began to look at revising and implementing its policy last year after government said it would conduct a survey of indigenous languages at higher education institutions.
Prof Libby Meintjes, head of the School of Language and Literature Studies, said the first draft of a new language policy would be released in October.
“We are moving back to mother tongue teaching and if we cannot manage it in lectures we will have it in tutorials,” Meintjes said.
According to Meintjes, last year the university sent an email survey asking what was the preferred African language as a medium of learning and teaching. The results showed that isiZulu was in demand more than Sesotho.
“Staff and students put isiZulu ahead of Sesotho because of the language competence and the number of people that speak it but we don’t feel that because isiZulu has replaced Sesotho we will only go for isiZulu,” Meintjes said.
Habib said Wits needed to be honest about what it can do in terms of using African languages with current resources.
“We cannot spend so much time lying to ourselves. I think we should come into terms with it, if we don’t have the resources, the will, and we don’t have the courage, let’s not pretend that we do,” he said.
However, he concluded that Wits can achieve some kind of transformation, but it would be skewed by South Africa’s history.
DERBY DAY: Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib and Bidvest Wits Coach Gavin Hunt swopped pleasantries as the Clever Boys prepare for their derby clash with TUKS. Photo: Luca Kotton
EXTRA-curricular activities, including sports should not be an extra cost to students,according to Wits Vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib.
“I would like to stop charging fees for sports … [Now] you have to pay for accessing basic recreational sports, maybe if you play high performance sports it’s a different matter but recreational sports should be open access in the fees,” Habib said.
Habib made his comments at a jersey handover ceremony with Wits Clever Boys coach Gavin Hunt.
SRC president Shafee Verachia told Wits Vuvuzela that the discussion to end fees for extra-curricular clubs and societies has already begun.
“We already started this discussion with [Deputy Vice-chancellor] Prof Tawana Kupe and it’s not only sports it’s also the various other clubs and societies,”
“The extra out classroom activities are not accessible to most of our students. Students on bursaries, National Student Financial Aid Scheme and student loans are affected because all these structures don’t include
extra-curricular activities in their payments,”Verachia added.
Habib said the university’s current fee structure was confusing and should be simplified.
“You must be a PhD student to understand our fees structure because you have the fee, then for the course and for the club and society,” Habib said.
He added that when he went to university there was only a single fee that included extra-curricular clubs and societies.
“If somebody wants to play tennis or do cross country then we shouldn’t be charging them for the basic stuff , the infrastructure is there and it’s not costing anything so why should we be charging,” Habib said.
National Science Week presents cutting edge science and technology at Wits University. Prof Adam Habib, Wits Vice-chancellor, opened the event by welcoming students, staff and visitors to the exhibition of innovation by Witsies in the Senate House concourse.
FILTHY CONDITIONS: Students at Noswal Hall residence have not been able to wash their dishes since Friday. Photo: Thabile Manala.
Poor sanitary and hygiene conditions continue to plague Noswal Hall residents following yet another water service interruption over the last four days.
Jabulile Mabuza, resident of Noswal Hall and SRC campus services officer said “this [going without water] is a constant problem, it didn’t start now.” According to Mabuza, there was an instance in the first semester where the students spent five days without water.
Lucky Xazi, house committee chairperson at the residence described the situation as “a health issue as well as a hygienic issue”.
He said the Noswal corridors have a bad odour because of toilets that cannot be flushed and dirty dishes that have been unwashed since Friday.
Residents have to travel to main campus to use the toilet and some have showered at the Wits gym. Many other students have not bathed since the service interruption started.
No water means that some students are unable to cook for themselves and have to rely on store-bought food. “It strains our budget because some of us can’t afford take-aways,” Xazi said.
Noswall Hall management sent an sms to students on Sunday saying: “We apologise for the water supply shortage. We are working on fixing the problem and should have water restored soon. Noswal Management.”
Mabuza said she feels the university has not communicated adequately with students and this has led to a lot of frustration. “I don’t think it’s a total negligence of the university. I think somewhere somehow is trying to fix it … but students don’t know and are left in the dark, “she said.
According to Rob Sharman, head of residence life at Wits, the problem with the water supply at Noswal Hall is due to heat pumps that are unable to service 20 floors, and one of the pumps is not working.
At the townhall meeting with the vice-chancellor this afternoon, Prof Adam Habib addressed this issue and explained that Noswal Hall is owned by ZanProp and the university leases this building.
“It is unconscionable that we pay 100s of thousands of rands for their failure to deliver on something that is mandatorily their responsibility, “he said. Habib said they the university will take action against ZanProp and is looking at what penalties they might incur.
TOWNHALL POLITICS: (from left to right), Dr Pamela Dube, Shafee Verachia and Prof Adam Habib field questions about promises made. Photo: Palesa Tshandu
There is a lack of diversity at Wits University residences and the vice-chancellor hopes to change this by encouraging more white students to live in res.
Prof Adam Habib was addressing a gathering of staff and students at a townhall meeting in the Great Hall earlier today where he emphasised his mission to “get the right balance between diversity and cosmopolitanism.” “The constitution and freedom charter demands that diversity,” he said.
He said Wits is a diverse university, but the residence life does not reflect that. But his suggestion to have more white students in res was not without criticism. Witsie Mcebo Dlamini reacted by saying that Habib is “bringing a culture of racism in (sic) this university”. Dlamini questioned why white students are encouraged to live in residences when they can afford to live in their “Sandton and Rosebank homes”.
Other students in attendance believe that Habib should be more concerned with poor students, mostly black, and some not from Gauteng who struggle to find accommodation.
Habib said the university was currently in engagements with South Point, Angus properties and other property developers in Braamfontein to form a partnership to expand the number of beds available for students.
Habib started today’s townhall by reflecting on the goals he had achieved from promises made at previous meetings. Some achievements include the cleanup of sewage from outside Esselen res and the establishment of a new bus stop directly outside the same residence.
In response to a question about the proposed upfront fee increase to over ten thousand rands, Habib said the university is currently facing a deficit of R25 million in outstanding tuition fees from international students which has necessitated the proposed increase.
Habib was attacked for sharing a photo that he said was from Gaza, when it was actually from Syria, earlier this year. Photo: Twitter
Unverified photos and information often don’t get very far on social media platforms as networks of people around the world are quick to react to and correct any improper use.
This is exactly what Wits vice-chancellor Prof Adam Habib realised this past Sunday as one of his tweets, containing an incorrectly attributed photograph, attracted close to 60 responses in less than an hour.
Habib used a picture from the Syrian conflict that was taken in February this year and incorrectly atrributed it to the current conflict in Gaza.
The photo that shows the legs of a corpse sticking out from underneath rubble had been mistakenly used on social media several times in the last few weeks.
“The consequences of Obama’s defense of Israel’s war in Gaza. How could we have allowed him to talk at Madiba’s funeral,” Habib tweeted.
Following the reponses to Habib’s tweet, he apologised and later tweeted, “the photo was copied from an earlier tweet.”
But he remained resolute in his point, tweeting that he “could find another photo to demonstrate this but what would be the point.”
“Let’s deal with the substance -children are dying,” Habib tweeted.
The incident happened at a time when the circulation of false information, and in particular, photos, is occurring more frequently via social media platforms.
But coupled with the ease of sharing information, is the ability to share unverified information which can be damaging.
In the case of Malaysia Airlines flights 17 and 370, a story about a Dutch cyclist who was booked to go on both flights (but at the last minute changed his mind) was widely circulated a week ago.
However, it was soon discovered that there was no proof that 29-year-old Maarten de Jonge ever bought a ticket.
In these instances, fiction becomes fact very quickly as information is taken out of context or passed off as the truth. The impact and consequences of sharing fale information can be dangerous, especially because information can reach more people, in a shorter amount of time.
Wits has been ranked the top university in Africa and 114th in the world. Photo: Wits Communications
By Percy Matshoba and Roxanne Joseph
Wits University has been ranked the top university in Africa and among the best in the world by the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR).
The CWUR looked at 1000 universities around the world and ranked Wits at 114 overall. University of Cape Town is ranked 267, Stellenbosch 311, the University of KwaZulu-Natal 459 and the University of Pretoria 609.
The criteria include the quality of education, alumni employment, quality of faculty, publications and research papers, influence, citations, broad impact and patents. Wits scored highly in alumni employment (29th) and quality of education (79th).
“It makes me feel like I am in a world class institution.”
The CWUR previously compiled a list of the top 100 universities in 2013, and has now extended the ranking to 1000 universities in the world. The group claims to be the only ranking system that includes in its research the quality of education and skills development of students without relying on surveys and university data submissions.
Third-year law student Lerato Maviya said she was not quite convinced by the CWUR ranking system in terms of the quality of education. “I still find flaws in the way we are taught [at Wits],” she said.
BA Law student, Dimpho Bendile said the rankings made her proud to be a Witsie. “It makes me feel like I am in a world class institution.”
Approach ranking systems with caution
Wits Vice Chancellor Prof Adam Habib discounted the rankings and said they should be looked at with caution. Different ranking systems used different criteria for universities.
“We believe that as a university we should not be distracted by such ranking systems,” he said.
Habib said the university’s focus should be to build a “nationally responsive and globally competitive institution, one that is both demographically diverse and cosmopolitan.” He said that if the university focuses on these qualities it will surely build a strong accreditation which will be acknowledged by more “established and relevant ranking systems”.
Proud to be a Witsie
Wits university alumnus Simiso Ndlovu said, in terms of graduate employment, the university had gone out of its way to find employment for graduates. “I got my current job through my honours lecturer,” she said.
Ndlovu said the university’s top ranking gave her a sense of honour and prestige among competing graduates. “I can go anywhere in the world and proudly proclaim that I am a Witsie,” she said.
Director of Alumni Relations Peter Maher said the CWUR ranking was a confirmation of previous reports that had ranked Wits highly. He said Wits has produced high achieving graduates when compared to other universities in Africa.
“The overall ranking is good news for Wits graduates,” Maher said. Harvard was ranked as the best university by the CWUR, scoring the highest in seven of eight categories.
The top 10 universities on the list were shared between the United States, represented by eight universities, and the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
Japanese universities were also heavily represented in the top 20 with the University of Tokyo at 13th and Kyoto University in the 16th spot. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology took the 18th spot and other US institutions completed the list.
The Wits School of Governance and the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation announced that the first OR Tambo Debate Series will be hosted next Thursday, July 24.
Launched last week, the series will consist of 10 public debates, over a period of 15 months, and will focus on the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP).
The inaugural debate will feature representatives of government, labour, civil society and acamedia, who will highlight the possibilities and limitations of the NDP. Moderated by veteran journalist Siki Mgabadeli, it will feature Minister Jeff Radebe, vice chancellor Adam Habib, COSATU’s Neil Coleman and chairman of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Nku Nyemzebi-Heita.
The series also honours the life and work of Oliver Tambo, former president of the ANC.
Date: 24 July 2014
Time: 18:00-20:30
Venue: Donald Gordon Auditorium, 2 St David’s Place, Parktown
Contact Bongiwe.msweli@wits.ac.za to reserve a seat. This will not, however, guarantee a seat. Seating will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.
Delays in monthly allowances reaching National Student Financial Aid Schemes (NSFAS) students are making it difficult for them to make it through the month, according to the SRC.
Students have taken to Twitter with their complaints. “The universities expect students to pass on hungry stomachs. Impossible,” one student, who wished to remain unnamed, told Wits Vuvuzela.
[pullquote]“No doubt financing at universities is one of the biggest challenges we are facing in higher education. The demand exceeds supply.”[/pullquote]
The university has assisted him by providing funds to make up for NSFAS being behind with their monthly payments.
In a Wits Town Hall meeting on Tuesday afternoon, Vice Chancellor Adam Habib said: “No doubt financing at universities is one of the biggest challenges we are facing in higher education. The demand exceeds supply.”
Students whose families earn above R150 000 a year are excluded from government funding. This can still exclude a “middle-working class” family if university fees are R50 000 and living in res costs about the same, Habib said.
“We are still not capturing the vast majority and the country is never going to achieve its skills target without a more open approach to funding.”
Habib said: “Three percent (R73-million) of the Council budget has been allocated to bursaries, and the university added an extra R20-million for postgraduate studies for 2014. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg.”
Wits only receives 25% (R600-million) of government subsidies allocated to university bursaries, one of the lowest in the country. With government subsidies declining, the only way the university can “retain our income is by increasing our fees. I am very mindful of this,” he said.
He said Wits is rethinking how bursaries are allocated, namely the way it appoints merit awards. At the moment, students are given funds according to the number of As they get, but Deputy Vice Chancellor Tawana Kupe is investigating changing it to work on a points system instead.
When asked about students who cannot rely on merit awards to help fund their studies and face academic exclusion (as their marks are suffering due to a lack of funding), Habib said: “These cases of financial aid are catered for through NSFAS, but what is our mechanism to support both sets of students, as this is a legitimate concern.”
The university is considering changing the admission criteria for medicine by doubling the percentage accepted on achievement alone, regardless of race.
Currently, 25% of top achievers are accepted regardless of race but recommendations would see that doubled. The remainder is presently allocated in favour of redressing racial disparities.
This is just one of a number of big changes presented at a public meeting to discuss the current and future admissions criteria to medicine on Tuesday night. The other two big changes are that 20% of places would be assigned to students who come from rural environments and applicants with undergraduate degrees would be considered equally regardless of what they previously graduated in.
“What am I doing here, then? I’ve wasted two years of my life,” one student complained. She is currently doing her undergraduate in health sciences. Many of the students there felt they had been encouraged to do these types of degrees in the hope that they would get preference to be accepted to medicine and were now being told this might change.
“A bachelor in health sciences is not a pre-med degree,” Vice Chancellor Prof Adam Habib said.
“If you take students from here [rural areas] they are more likely to return, unlike urban students who end up leaving the country,” according to Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Andrew Crouch. He heads up the task team with Deputy Vice Chancellor Prof Zeblon Vilakazi.
According to the university, about 8 000 people apply for the degree each year but only 230 receive firm offers, the majority coming from urban environments and middle class families. This excludes many applicants from rural areas, previously disadvantaged backgrounds and poor schools.
Habib said they are trying to maximise the production of doctors but are limited by infrastructure and resources. He advised that students apply for alternative degrees as “some very good people will not get placed”.
The task team is deciding if they will be able to implement the recommended criteria next year or wait until 2016. They will release their findings in a report at the end of this month.
Since her announcement as the Democratic Alliance’s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille has dominated national headlines. In this bonus episode of We Should Be Writing podcast, hosts Lulah Mapiye and Bonolo Mokonoto dissect a media meet-and-greet with the mayoral hopeful. From her extensive political résumé to her controversial public utterance, we examine why the Democratic Alliance has chosen Hellen Zille as their candidate for the 2027 local mayoral elections. Additionally, […]
