INLSA

Students queue at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Many complained of being sent from pillar to post due to technical problems. Picture: Sibusiso Ndlovu

First-semester lectures would start on Monday at the University of KwaZulu-Natal after a bumpy registration process at the Howard College campus last week.

Students feared that problems with processing their fees would result in penalties for late registration, or space in their prospective faculties being lost to them.

UKZN, however, said that with 30 000 students to attend to, it was doing its best, and that aside from a period of 20 minutes when its computer system went offline, officials were unaware of any other major glitches.

Sally Scott, the parent of a first-year law student, said the registration experience was a three-day “saga”, with printers for both student cards and receipts breaking down.

Scott said that people from far afield and those who made use of public transport deserved the real sympathy.

Cut-off

“There was one woman, about 60 years old, who left her home in Mpumalanga at 3am. She had to sit in the heat for hours…

“My son was in the cashier’s queue for two hours, and then at 11am they said ‘this is the cut-off point; come back tomorrow (Tuesday)’,” she said.

Scott said her son would have completed the registration process online if he had been issued with a financial clearance receipt – proof that the balance of fees had been paid.

Returning psychology students Merelle Ullbrich and Stacey-Lee Govender shared the same frustrations when The Mercury visited the campus on Friday afternoon.

Asked why they were registering at the last minute, they said they had tried to do so all week, but had struggled with “clearance”.

For PhD student Oluwumi Adetan, however, the week had been smooth sailing.

He said that while the queues had been “huge” on Wednesday and Thursday, they had moved as fast as was possible.

Nomonde Mbadi, a spokeswoman for UKZN, said that students with outstanding fees were still given advice on the curriculum and handed copies of the timetable.

“Once financial clearance is obtained, the details of the students will be captured on the system. It should be noted that these students will be allowed to attend lectures and the late registration fee will be waived.”

Lectures at the Durban University of Technology, and at the Mangosuthu University of Technology have already started, while classes at the University of Zululand commence on February 13. - The Mercury