Hand-over of Student Memorandum to UFS Rectorate

The University of the Free State top management received on Tuesday, 27 October, the memorandum of student demands.

This is what it contains:








27 October 2015 - University of the Free State

Memorandum to: Rectorate

ACCESS AND STUDENT SUPPORT

Academic Support

Superior Scholarship is the core value of the University. We, as the students of the University, pride ourselves in academic excellence and hold that students must be supported to excell academically in all our seven faculties, more especially students with extramural activities.

We demand:

• Extension of library hours to 24/7
• The implementation of flexible academic support programes.
• The review of academic advising in all faculties. We need consistent and credible academic advising as a fundamental academic support base programme.
• The introduction of effective skills development programmes within various courses in order to prepare students beyound university.
• The scrapping of names and surnames on tests and assignments. For assessment purposes, a student’s student number should suffice.
• Uniform Test Policies in all faculties. As responsible academies, students must be given the free option of writing test threes without the need to get a doctor’s sick note as a means of escaping first tests.
• UFS101 must be free and optional. Its purpose is still not clear.
• The Medical Faculty to be centralised and give more access to black students.
• Conducive lecturing environments and classes should not be cluttered without the exclusion of any students.
• An extension of the computer labs.

Financial Support
The majority of our registered students come from very poor backgrounds and continue to struggle financially to keep themselves within the system of Higher Education. Most of these students end up dropping out/being deregistered due to this financial burden. There is a need for the University to provide financial support for its students. We hold that the right to education cannot be only reserved for those who can afford.

We demand:

• Registration should be once-off and free for needy students.
• There should be no deregistration of students who qualify, on academic merits, to continue with their studies.
• Historical debts and outstanding fees should not be used as a means to disqaulify students from re-registering.
• Printing study records through the university must be free.
• Study records of students with outstanding fees must be made accessable to those students. Students must be able to monitor and measure their own academic performance and success. This will also provide students with an opportunity of applying for possible bursaries and sponsorships.
• Reduction of residence prices.
• 10% Reduction of exorbitant prices at the Student Centre, especially FoodZone and Treats.
• Budget transparency of all sectors of the university.
• The reduction of study material on campus.

Student Entrepreneurship
The University must offer support programmes to develop and promote student entrepreneurship. These programmes must aim to promote social responsibility through entrepreneurship.

We demand that:

• Students have a permanent business hub at the bridge to offer/sell their different services/goods to other students and  staff.
• Students be allowed to register as vendors and the University to support and use student services.

Health Support
The burden of high fees that is placed on students in order to attain and make use of health services is of concern. Also noted is the insufficient number of psychologists available. This is a fundamental problem mainly because students are told to wait in line and deal with their depressive states and emotions.

We demand:

• The employment of more (effective) psychologists.
• To have access to affordable health support services from the University. An alternative to the current status quo, is for the university to establish a health clinic, free of charge, through which:
• Postgrad Medicine students can use the platform to gain experience and accreditation for their work.
• The use of Government doctors.

ACADEMIC STAFF

As the students, we are very concerned about the quality and diversity of our academic staff employed by the University.

We demand:

• The employment of competent academic staff who inspire confidence in students through their lecturer-student relations and interactions and driven towards advancing academic excellence.
• Minimum requirement for junior lectures must be a Masters Degree and this must be applied consistently.
• The employment of more black staff in top academic and management positions of the University.
• Review of the academic curriculum.
• The screening of all academic staff's qualifications and thorough assessment of their appropriateness and relevance to the various curricula that exist in all seven faculties.
• Staff members found guilty of any form of discrimination must be dismissed with immediate effect.

FREE INTERNET

Internet as an essential tool of learning and academic support service, must always be made available to the students at no cost or limit. The current capping of internet is not sufficient as a research and academic support service.

We demand:

• Free access to unlimited WiFi. We suggest that the Eduroam model be looked into, as it is understood, we are under their wireless network services.

RESIDENCE LIFE

Holiday Accommodation
Our on-campus residences largely accommodate students who stay far from home, most of them are often expected to continue with their tests directly after the holidays. The inconvenience caused by moving in and out of residences, especially during short holidays, is of great concern.

We demand:

• Students to carry the right to stay in their respective residences during short holidays without carrying additional costs.
• Safe (lockable) storage spaces to be provided for students during long holidays.

Placement Policy
In support of the human project as one of the core values of the University, we call for an intergrated campus that will demonstrate in everyday practice the value of human togetherness across our social divides.

We demand:

• Implementation of a blind and consistent placement system (random placement) of prospective students. First year students must be placed in accordance with diversity targets of our residences and cannot be allowed to move from one residence to another, as this slows and hinders diversity and transformation.

SAFETY AND SECURITY

Security
It has become apparent that safety and security, on and off campus, are not at a desirable standard. Firstly, the issue regarding the competency of the security guards employed by the University.

We demand:

• to have competent and skilled guards, equipped with the necessary skills to protect students from violence and effectively response to calls of crime around campus. Visibility alone, without the necessary skills and tools of policing, is not enough.

Shuttle Service
Commuter students continue to struggle with transport services to get to or from the campus. This has imposed a very serious threat of danger as most often they have to walk long distances to get to campus or walk late at night from classes or libraries.

We demand:

• An availability of a sustainable shuttle service funded from the campus levy that off-campus students are already paying without knowing exactly what they are paying for.
• An availability of a shuttle service for nursing students.

INSTITUTIONAL SYMBOLS

Institutional symbols give a particular identity to the institution and further makes a representation of certain values depending on reasons why certain statutes, like the one of CR Swart was erected. The values of our country have changed significantly since 1996, through the then enacted Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, South African society is premised on the values of democracy, freedom and equality.

We demand:

• To have inclusive institutional symbols that reflects our current South African society.
• The removal of the statutes of CR SWART and STEYN before the end of the year.
• The renaming of the Law Faculty and most buildings which still give the idea that the institution is  an exclusively “white Afrikaner” institution.

INSOURCING OF WORKERS

We can no longer watch the exploitation of our own mothers and fathers prevailing within the institution.  Subjected to difficult working conditions, they are still paid peanuts and cannot sustain their own families.

We demand:

• The University to cut-off its relationship with outsoucers, as continue enslave workers. The university must incource workers and employ them in conducive working environments with a minimum salary of R 4 000.00, maximum wage calculated according to their living expenses.
• The cleaning staff are awarded the same benefits that other staff members are receiving.

STUDENT COMMUNITIES

• We demand that the university must have an LGBTQIA Centre that is separated from the Health and Wellness Centre. 
• We demand for policies of the university to be reviewed so that they can be inclusive to the LGBTQIA community. 
• Furthermore, we demand that all venues of the university be accessible to those with special needs. 
• We demand that each and every residence must have a disability unit.

LANGUAGE POLICY

• We demand for the policy review to run at an expedient and transparent fashion. 
• Furthermore, we demand for more polls to be made available and such polls should be stationed at public areas; the Student Centre, the Main Building and the Taxi Rank. We do not agree to one privatised venue.

NSFAS

• We demand that the compilation of NSFAS documents submitted by students for NSFAS application be submitted once upon such application. It is degrading for students to constantly prove to the university that they are poor and cannot afford.

Kind regards,
Student Representative Council