The council of the University of the Western Cape decided this week it will provide debt relief for some students eligible for its National Student Financial Aid Scheme who will not have to pay registration and upfront fees for the next academic year.
It also decided outsourced cleaning staff would receive a R2 000 monthly allowance, from Tuesday.
“Council strongly believes that there is a moral obligation by all the relevant internal and external role-players to work towards finding optimum solutions to the challenges presented,” a UWC statement said.
It was agreed the university would provide relief for 2013 to 2015 National Student Financial Aid Scheme-eligible students.
The council said in the medium term the university would also look at “developing a means test to establish a threshold for students who fall outside of the (aid scheme) threshold, but do require some financial support.”
It decided, with support from the government, the private sector and other parties, UWC would look at providing a form of debt relief for students.
Recent protests to have rocked the university focused on the demand by protesters for an end to outsourcing.
“Council carefully considered the financial implications of insourcing and decided that, given the university’s financial position, the impact of insourcing together with other concessions, makes this at this stage an unaffordable option.”
Aside from a R2 000 monthly allowance, the council also approved access for outsourced staff to the same study rebates as permanent staff for themselves and their children.
The university’s council also committed to “engage companies about their contribution to improving employment conditions of outsourced staff”.
“Council mandates the university executive to continue to look at the long-term impact of insourcing in the context of the university’s financial sustainability and to explore possible alternatives such as worker-cooperatives,” it said.
Sunday Argus