Johannesburg - Registration for new and returning students at universities around the country appears to be running smoothly.
This is ahead of classes resuming at the beginning of February.
This follows a spate of incidents erupting at several institutions in recent years, including violent protesters demanding free tertiary education causing widespread registration disruptions. Late applications also caused a stampede which claimed a life and injured scores more.
But Universities South Africa (Usaf) believes enrolment procedures seem to be conducted without major chaos ahead of the 2020 academic year.
“The vast majority of new entrants will have been processed for admissions and for financial aid. Thus far, there aren’t any reports of serious challenges,” chief executive Professor Adam Bawa told The Saturday Star.
He added that online registration processes being implemented at
most of the universities around South Africa had alleviated concerns caused by students arriving at these higher education institutions in their numbers in a desperate attempt to claim a place. “We are certainly anxious not to return to the walk-in approach that persisted until a few years ago.”
However, Bawa believes that there are still issues at universities ahead of their official openings, including limited financial aid, a shortage of student accommodation and students' historical debt.
“These are issues that we will have to address as we head into the next week or two.”
Meanwhile, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) insists that tragedy will not repeat itself, following the death of the mother of a prospective undergraduate student in January 2012 who was crushed to death after a stampede broke out in a 8000-strong crowd vying for last-minute places. Seventeen others were injured in the stampede which shocked the world eight years ago.
UJ spokesperson Herman Esterhuizen said registration by new and returning students was proceeding smoothly.
“The university is entering its last phase of registration and is well over the halfway mark with more than 65% new and returning students already registered for the 2020 academic year.”
These figures were attributed to a count conducted by Tuesday evening, with Esterhuizen adding that this registration pace was on a par with previous years. He attributed UJ’s registration success and its ability to deal with growing registration numbers by investing in their online system which he said was “working efficiently and is being embraced by the students”.
As part of its commitment towards a digital transformation, the Gauteng higher education institution
has further welcomed the Fourth Industrial Revolution and improved their registration process with the help of “Chatbot”.
This robotic device offers UJ students a virtual registration process as it provides answers to frequently asked questions relating to registration, courses, fees and accommodation.
Esterhuizen estimates that there will be about 10500 first-year undergraduate students entering UJ for the first time ahead of official commencement on February 3.
Meanwhile, Wits University also seems to be coping well with registration. Registrar Carol Crosley said most of its new first-year students
had registered.
“We opened online registration on January 7 and this last week have just completed what we call ‘assisted registration’ for our new first years,” she said. “Registrations have gone well though the process is not complete as residence students book in over the weekend.”
With the number of students applying at universities around the country increasing each year, there is also growing pressure for higher education institutions to manage
the crowds.
Crosley explained that since 2014, there has been about a 6% to 8% increase annually in the number of applications Wits has received.
Esterhuizen said UJ received 64072 student applications in 2019 and 68000 for approximately 4900 places this year.
He added that at the end of September last year, UJ received 179673 undergraduate applications.
“This is almost 50000 more applications compared to last year’s 130429 and the year before 114316.”
Bawa agreed that the number of students applying to universities has been steadily rising in recent years.
“‘This is in contrast with other higher education systems such as the one in the US where there has been a steady decline over the last 10 years or so.”
He believes that this statistic reveals just how much South Africans are striving for a better life for themselves and their families.
“A higher education still provides a really good value proposition for students and their families,” he said.
“The unemployment rate of graduates is at the 6-7% level, significantly less than the general national rate of about 29%.”
While there is limited space available at the country’s leading universities, Usaf has advised students who are still looking for a place to study to log their details on to the Department of Higher Education and Training’s (DHET) central applications clearing house system.
“This provides the basis for DHET to match students with universities at which there are still places available.”