Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training described its oversight visit to Stellenbosch University (SU) on Wednesday morning (16 March 2016) as a success.
"Mission accomplished. We came here to get information and we are very happy with what we received," Committee Chairperson Ms Yvonne Phosa said in her concluding remarks at a meeting with the Management of the University, as well as representatives of Council, the SRC, Convocation and the Institutional Forum. The meeting took place at the Africa Centre for HIV/Aids Management.
Transformation
"You are doing very well in terms of academic excellence and financial management, and your transformation programme is also giving us hope, but actual implementation remains a challenge. There has been progress, but this aspect must be fast tracked. You can't delay. It is a high-risk area."
In his remarks, SU Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Wim de Villiers said, "SU regards itself as a national asset serving all the people of South Africa, not just a particular section. We have our flaws, no doubt, but more importantly, we have a job to do, which is to broaden access, maintain our excellence and increase our social impact in order to contribute to a community of social justice and equal opportunities."
The meeting was a follow-up to the University's visit to Parliament on 1 September 2015 for initial submissions to the Portfolio Committee. Prof De Villiers welcomed the "opportunity for taking the discussion further, delving deeper into the challenges and opportunities that we face in our sector, specifically also at Stellenbosch."
Demographics
Changing the demographic profile of SU's student body was one of the challenges discussed at the meeting. Ms Christelle Feyt, Senior Director: Prospective Students, confirmed that the University is aiming for an intake of 50% coloured, black and Indian (CBI) first-year students by 2020. Currently, 38% of SU students overall come from these groups.
Ms Feyt revealed that although the University received significantly more CBI applications last year and provisionally admitted 7.7% more students from these groups, some of them did not turn up to register due to negative perceptions of SU. Actual CBI enrolments in 2016 are down 69 students – or 4.2% -- compared to 2015.
"We conducted a survey to find out what influenced applicants not to register at SU, and the four most prominent factors were negative coverage of the challenges at the University since last year, the issue of Afrikaans as a language of tuition, the campus culture and distance from home," she said.
Student success
Those students who do register tend to find good academic support at SU. In a study tracking the 2010 cohort, student success in 4-year degrees at SU stood at 69% compared to the national average of 56%. Among black students, the throughput rate was 53%, which was two percent better than the national average. This was a major improvement over the throughput rate of black students in the 2008 cohort, in which SU lagged the national figure by 24%.
Ms Feyt attributed the turnaround to refinements in student support, faculties playing a stronger role, a comprehensive mentor programme, residential education and the cluster approach in student communities linking residential and day students with faculties.
Language
Language implementation at SU was also discussed at the meeting. "It is not about Afrikaans or English per se. We just don't want language to be a barrier to effective education," Mr Axolile Qina, Chairperson of the Students' Representative Council, said in his presentation.
"Some people see language as primarily an expression of identity and identity, but our position is that it is actually about what medium works best for students in terms of communication and education."
Dr Antoinette van der Merwe, Senior Director: Teaching and Learning Enhancement, said that the University has embarked on a formal review of its Language Policy. A first draft will be made available for broad consultation and comment between 22 March and 22 April, a second draft will go to faculty boards between 9 and 13 May, and a final draft will go to the Institutional Forum on 25 May, Senate on 3 June, and finally to Council on 22 June 2016.
Protest
On the issue of protest, Ms Phosa said whilst students, workers and others "have the right to raise their grievances, we condemn all violence and malicious damage of property."
"It is not taking us forward. The country looks up to higher education as a sector. This is where the development of our people and economy must come from. So, we would like to see a conducive environment for teaching and learning. All stakeholders must get together and agree on that."
- Click here for the full SU presentation to the Portfolio Committee, including inputs by Management, Council, the SRC, Convocation and the Institutional Forum.
