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05 March 2019 | Story André Badenhorst

 

UPDATE: 11 March 2019
General NSFAS information 

Do you come from a poor or working-class family with a combined household income of not more than R350 000 per annum?

The Department of Higher Education and Training has a bursary designed to assist you with funding towards a tertiary qualification of your choice. The bursary is administered by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) and is available for persons who wish to or are studying at a public institution of higher education and training (university or TVET college).

Who qualifies for NSFAS?

Funding will be available to:

  • Students from families with a combined household income of not more than R350 000 (three hundred and fifty thousand rands) per annum, registering at TVET colleges and universities for the first time.
  • Students returning to TVET colleges and universities to complete or continue their first undergraduate qualification. Only select postgraduate qualifications are funded, please refer to the website for the full list.
  • Students from families with a combined household income of up to R122 000 (one hundred and twenty-two thousand rands) returning to TVET colleges and universities after a gap year or two to complete their first undergraduate qualification.
  • Students from families who are recipients of child-support grants or disability grants administered through the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will automatically qualify for NSFAS funding.
  • Orphans will automatically qualify for NSFAS funding, provided that there is confirmation of their status.


    NSFAS funding for postgraduate qualifications

    NSFAS only accepts funding applications for the following postgraduate qualifications:

    BTECH: ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGY

    BTECH: ARCHITECTURE (PROFESSIONAL)

    BTECH: BIOKINETICS

    BTECH: BIOMEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

    BTECH: BIOTECHNOLOGY

    BTECH: CARTOGRAPHY

    BTECH: CHIROPRACTIC

    BTECH: CLINICAL TECHNOLOGY

    BTECH: DENTAL TECHNOLOGY

    BTECH: EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: CHEMICAL

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: CIVIL

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: ELECTRICAL

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: INDUSTRIAL

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: MECHANICAL

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: MECHANICAL: MECHATRONICS

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: METALLURGY

    BTECH: ENGINEERING: REFRACTORIES

    BTECH: FORESTRY

    BTECH: HOMOEOPATHY

    BTECH: NURSING

    BTECH: NURSING SCIENCE

    BTECH: NURSING: COMMUNITY NURSING

    BTECH: NURSING: PRIMARY HEALTHCARE

    BTECH: NURSING: OCCUPATIONAL NURSING

    PGCE

    LLB

    MB CHB

    PGDA

What the bursary covers

NSFAS funding covers the actual cost of tuition plus prescribed learning materials – this means the tuition fee for the specific programme that the student is registered for; these fees differ, depending on the field of study (e.g. engineering; medicine; art; history, etc.) and the institution that the student is admitted to; AND dependent on eligibility, subsidised accommodation and living costs, including meals. The bursary funding is for the duration of study and does not require any repayment.

Upon qualifying for the NSFAS bursary, a beneficiary is required to sign a NSFAS Bursary Agreement with terms and conditions. Beneficiaries will then be expected to:

  • Comply with all academic requirements as set by institutions;
  • Attend and participate in lectures, tutorials, and academic support programmes as required by the institution;
  • Complete all set assignments and/or tasks as required in terms of the due performance requirements of the institution;
  • Undergo all tests and examinations (written and oral) as required in terms of the due performance requirements of the institution.


Statement: 6 February 2019
NSFAS completes review of rejected applications and prepares for appeals

The online application process for 2019 NSFAS private accommodation allowances is open.

More information on how to apply for NSFAS Private Accommodation

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has completed all assessments of the 2019 applications of first time entering students. Of the 417 000 applications received, more than 300 000 students have been declared approved, pending registration at public institutions for NSFAS funded qualifications.

Read the full statement

Also see the following documents:

1.    NSFAS Bursary Information 2019: Admitted to Higher Education prior to 2018
2.    NSFAS Bursary Information 2019: FTEN and 2018 FTEN Renewals
3.    Annexure A: NSFAS Allowance 2019
4.    Annexure B: NSFAS Appeal Form (Application Review)
5.    Annexure C: NSFAS Appeal Form

Statement: 5 February 2019
Application form for NSFAS appeals

With reference to our previous communication (4 February 2019; "Students who had a gap year in NSFAS funding or failed to register previously and could not reapply for funding, must also follow the appeal process"). It is herewith confirmed the application form for NSFAS appeals from returning students who had NSFAS funding in 2018, but who did not meet the funding requirements for 2019, was received on Monday 4 February 2019 and is available on the UFS web. Students must please make sure that they appeal for funding on the correct application form.

These appeal-application forms as well as all relevant documentation must be handed in at the Financial Aid offices, George du Toit Administration Building, Room S011 on the Ground Floor.
 
The closing date for submission to Financial Aid is 8 March 2019.
 
Returning students in this category who appeal for 2019 funding may register provisionally and refer to the provisional-registration requirements and processes.


Statement: 4 February 2019
More information about NSFAS allowances

New first time entering students and 2018 first time entering renewals
Admitted to Higher Education prior to 2018


NSFAS appeals for rejected 2019 funding applications
The appeal process for first-time NSFAS applicants who do not qualify for 2019 NSFAS funding, may submit an appeal to have their applications reviewed. The appeal form is available on the NSFAS website. NSFAS will reconsider an unsuccessful funding decision based on the changed material circumstances of a senior student who applied for NSFAS for the first time. NSFAS intends to resolve these appeals within seven working days of receipt, unless there is insufficient information. The closing date for the appeal process of students who applied for 2019 funding prior to the closing date of 2 December 2018, is 8 March 2019.
 
The appeal process (media release) has been communicated through social media, Blackboard, emails, NewsFlash, the media, the UFS website, and the SRC.
 
It was also indicated that Financial Aid would be in a position to assist students with the appeal process from 1 February 2019. Students are therefore requested to visit the Financial Aid offices. Alternatively, students can submit appeals, together with the required documentation, directly to NSFAS at applicationreview@nsfas.org.za
 
The appeal-application form, as well as the media release, also indicates which documents students should bring along when they are appealing.
 
Students who had a gap year in NSFAS funding or failed to register previously and could not reapply for funding, must also follow the appeal process.
 
The appeal process for 2018 NSFAS-funded students (returning students) who no longer meet the criteria for funding in 2019, will be communicated as soon as we receive official communication as well as application forms for completion from NSFAS. This will be a different process with a separate appeal-application form.



Statement: 25 January 2019
NSFAS completes review of rejected applications and prepares for appeals

The National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) has completed all assessments for the 2019 applications of first-time entering students. Of the 417 000 applications received, more than 300 000 students have been approved, pending registration for NSFAS-funded qualifications at public institutions.
 
According to André Badenhorst, Deputy Director: Financial Aid at the University of the Free State, this process is only for students/applicants who applied for 2019 NSFAS funding prior to 2 December 2018. The appeal process for continuing/returning students who had NSFAS funding in 2018, will be communicated as soon as we receive official communication from NSFAS in this regard. It would be a different process with a separate appeal application form.
 
“Financial Aid offices will be in a position to assist students with the appeal process as from Friday 1 February 2019,” he said.
 
The closing date of the appeal process for students who applied for funding in 2019 prior to the closing date of 2 December 2018, is 8 March 2019.

Read the full statement



News Archive

‘Is the South African university curriculum ‘colonial'?’ asks Prof Jansen
2017-11-24

Description: Jansen readmore Tags: Prof Jonathan Jansen, colonial, university curriculum, western knowledge

From left; Prof Corli Witthuhn, Vice-Rector: Research; former Rector and Vice-
Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen; Prof Michael Levitt, and
Prof Francis Petersen at the celebration lecture at the UFS.
Photo: Johan Roux

One of the critical issues that emerged from the South African student protests during 2015 and 2016 was a demand for the decolonisation of university curriculums. 

A senior professor at the Stellenbosch University, Prof Jonathan Jansen, said the number of people, including academics, who joined the cause without adequately interrogating the language of this protest, was astonishing. “The role of social scientists is to investigate new ideas … when something is presented to the world as truth.” Prof Jansen was speaking during a celebration lecture at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on 15 November 2017. 

Large amount of knowledge not African
He said the accusation is correct to a limited degree. “The objection, in essence, is against the centring of Western, and especially European knowledge, in institutional curricula.” There is no doubt that most of what constitutes curriculum knowledge in South African universities, and in universities around the world, derive from the West. “The major theories and theorists, the methodologists and methods are disproportionally situated outside of the developing world,” Prof Jansen said. 

The dilemma is, how will South Africa and the continent change the locus of knowledge production, considering the deteriorating state of public universities? “In the absence of vibrant, original, and creative knowledge production systems in Africa and South Africa, where will this African-centred or African-led curriculum theory come from,” Jansen asked. He says the re-centring of a curriculum needs scholars with significant post-doctoral experiences that are rooted in the study of education and endowed with the critical independence of thought. “South Africa's universities are not places where scholars can think. South African universities’ current primary occupation is security and police dogs,” Prof Jansen said. 

Collaboration between African and Western scholars
“Despite the challenges, not everything was stuck in the past,” Prof Jansen said. South African scholars now lead major research programmes in the country intellectually. The common thread between these projects is that the content is African in the subjects of study, and the work reflects collaboration with academics in the rest of the world. These research projects attract postgraduate students from the West, and the research increasingly affects curriculum transformations across university departments. There is also an ongoing shift in the locus of authority for knowledge production within leading universities in South Africa. Prof Jansen feels a significant problem that is being ignored in the curriculum debate, is the concern about the knowledge of the future. How does South Africa prepare its young for the opportunities provided by the groundswell of technological innovation? “In other parts of the world, school children are learning coding, artificial intelligence, and automation on a large scale. They are introduced to neuroscience and applied mathematics,” he said.

Prof Jansen said, in contrast, in South Africa the debate focuses on the merits of mathematics literacy, and what to do with dead people’s statues.

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