Johannesburg – Hundreds of prospective students are still queuing at the Vaal University of Technology in Vereeniging on Thursday afternoon, after claiming that the online registration process was unreliable and that they preferred the walk-in system.
Some students were queuing for various reasons including late applications, registrations and general enquiries.
Mike Khuboni the Executive Director Corporate Affairs at VUT said the online system was experiencing hiccups because of the excessive number of students who were applying.
"Last year we embarked on a very intensive marketing campaign where we were phasing in new courses which resulted in excessive number of students to enroll at the institution."
Khuboni said they have since received 22 000 applications, however the institution can only accommodate 4,500 first year students.
"It's unfortunate that most students prefer universities, yet there are other opportunities like colleges which students could access which also offer good qualifications, but for some reason students always decide to concentrate on universities," he said.
Mampho Seleka, 18, from Senekal, Free State admitted that she did not apply online because she struggled with internet access.
"As much as I was struggling with internet access, I just prefer to do things in person because sometimes you have questions because you don't know who to ask online. Again the system is always crushing and I didn't want to be frustrated," she said.
Outgoing Student Representative Council Troy Mathebula said one of the challenges the institution was facing was the online application for National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) students.
"Most students coming from matric can't access their status, the process is very slow and we have realised that the university has specific dates to register the students. But we have engaged with NSFAS and management to say that if the students can be proven to appear on the system or we that they qualify, they should be given a chance to register and all the setbacks will be dealt with as an institution."
He said that they have agreed with management that no student should be academically excluded because of lack of finances.
"We plan to pledge R2.5 million to cover poor students but we know that R2.5 million is not enough but we are also going to engage a fund raising programme with the financial committee to try and assist everyone to be in the system."
Mathebula said they also asked management to be lenient with students who didn't have registration fees to be given at least three months to raise the money.
"We don't any students to be left behind, we want every student to be registered," he said.