Cape Town - The overwhelming number of late applications for university admissions by matriculants has “nothing to do with us”, says the Department of Basic Education.
Department spokesman Panyaza Lesufi was responding to a statement by DA MP Annelie Lotriet, who said the rush of last-minute applications was a result of poor career guidance in schools.
To reduce applications for late admissions, “the lack of proper career guidance in our school system needs to be addressed”, Lotriet said in a statement on Tuesday.
Late applications were “beyond our control”, Lesufi told Independent Newspapers. He said schools provided career guidance from as early as Grade 1 to Grade 12, which meant that pupils received sufficient advice. He said late applications for university admission were influenced by various factors, such as availability of funds and the quality of results, among other things.
Tswhane University of Technology shut its doors on applicants on Tuesday after the campus was flooded with pupils waiting in queues for their late applications to be received.
Lesufi added that in some cases it was unreasonable for universities to request students to apply online, as not everyone had access to the internet, especially in rural areas.
In her statement, Lotriet also referred to the central application system aimed at alleviating pressure on universities during the application period. She said it was clear the new system, introduced by Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande, was not “adequately addressing the issue”.
But Higher Education spokeswoman Vuyelwa Qinga said the system was not yet fully operational. She said phase one of the central applications service – the Central Applications Clearing House (CACH) – had been launched, to manage “walk-ins” by people who wanted to submit late applications.
“The queues will not be totally eliminated overnight. An ongoing campaign and the setting up of a single closing date for applications with the same application fee will get us to a point of totally eliminating queues in the next two to three years,” Qinga said.
Meanwhile, the South African Students Congress (Sasco) has warned applicants against “bogus colleges” that take advantage of students who fail to obtain places in universities.
Sasco said the problem was compounded by what it called the “solid unholy alliance” between the Higher Education and Training Department and universities “in their intransigent resolve to cap enrolments and criminalise walk-ins”.
“We call upon prospective students to be very vigilant in choosing institutions of higher learning to pursue their studies,” Sasco said.
Political Bureau