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29 March 2019 | Story Lacea Loader

No deregistration of students at the University of the Free State (UFS) will be effected until after the Financial Appeals Committee has concluded its process on 5 April 2019.

During a meeting between the university management and the Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) today, the following agreement was reached:

  1. The date for the submission of appeals has been extended to Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 12:00. No further extension will be given. The application form for the Financial Appeals Committee has previously been sent to the ufs4life email addresses of all provisionally registered students.
  2. Students who have appealed their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) outcomes will not be deregistered while awaiting the result of the outcome of their appeal.
  3. Verified final-year students who are provisionally registered will not be deregistered. This will be subject to verification by the Financial Appeals Committee. These students must also submit an appeal.
  4. All other categories of students must submit their appeals to the Financial Appeals Committee.

NB: The documentation mentioned above must be submitted to the Student Finance Office as indicated on the financial appeals form sent to students via their ufs4life email address.

The UFS has taken a pro-poor approach to assist students who are academically deserving. With this approach, the university’s fee structure is much less than that of many public institutions of higher learning in the country. Senior students are also supported through a provisional registration process that grants them the opportunity to pay a reduced amount in order to register, enabling them to fully participate in all activities while extension is provided to secure the necessary funding for their studies.

The university has made a number of concessions to ensure that students are not financially excluded during the 2019 academic year. Many of these concessions were raised by the ISRC on behalf of students and was agreed upon by the university management.  

These concessions include:

  1. Students who have confirmed NSFAS funding for 2019 with historic debt, are to secure registration. This has taken place before the announcement on 24 March 2019 by the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor, that the historic debt of NSFAS students will be settled by the department.

     

  2. Students in the missing middle who received a gap grant in 2018, have been assisted to pay a lesser amount to register fully for 2019.

     

  3. Students with historic debt who are not receiving the gap grant have also been assisted to register for 2019. Acceptable payment plans for these students have been agreed upon with the university’s Student Finance Office.

     

  4. First-time entering students were assisted with a reduced first payment to enable them to register for 2019.

     

  5. Final-year students with historic debt of less than R20 000 who could not have been assisted in any of the above concessions explained above were allowed to register.

     

  6. Students who are provisionally registered and who could not find the necessary financial means, had the opportunity to submit appeals to the Financial Appeals Committee by 29 March 2019 to secure their registration. This committee comprises representatives of the university management, as well as members of the ISRC. This committee is scheduled to meet on 5 April 2019.

The above is evidence of the multi-layered efforts by the university to support academic deserving students as far as it is practically possible in order to avoid financial exclusion. Additionally, the university’s Student Finance Office has since the beginning of the academic year communicated extensively on the process with students who are at risk of being deregistered.  

Historically, less than 0,5% of registered students at the UFS are not able to find the necessary means to secure their registration.

To support students in their academic efforts, all matters pertaining to registration should be concluded by the end of the first term. A cut-off date is set by which all registration processes – including concessions – are to be concluded. This date – 31 March 2019 – has already been set in 2018, which is the result of consultation with all relevant stakeholders, including the IRSC.

This cut-off date has now been extended to Tuesday 2 April 2019 at 12:00.

Released by:

Lacea Loader (Director: Communication and Marketing)
Telephone: +27 51 401 2584 | +27 83 645 2454
Email: news@ufs.ac.za | loaderl@ufs.ac.za
Fax: +27 51 444 6393



News Archive

UFS hosts Nobel Laureate
2010-01-15

The University of the Free State (UFS) will host the 1991 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, Prof. Richard Ernst from Switzerland, on its Main Campus in Bloemfontein from 22-26 January 2010.

Prof. Ernst’s visit to the UFS is part of an extended tour of South African higher education institutions and the National Research Foundation. His visit will coincide with the fourth presentation of the Cheese fondue that had previously been presented with great success in Europe.

The Cheese fondue concept is the brainchild of Prof. Hartmut Frank of the University of Bayreuth in Germany, who is currently a visiting fellow at the UFS Department of Chemistry.

This concept posits that technical advances alone are insufficient for an agreement to be reached on the minimum respect between the various groups and individuals within a society. It proposes that for this to be achieved there has to be a concurrent development of empathy and emotional synergy. In other words, there has to be spiritual acceptance and tolerance of the different cultural or religious ways of coming to terms with the deep-seated need for a spiritual home.

To this effect the UFS will host a Braai Workshop on Saturday, 23 January 2010 to promote this understanding, hence this year’s theme Justice, a matter of respect, ethics and empathy. The invitation to the workshop is open to the public and those who are interested should confirm their attendance with Ms Stefanie Naborn on 051 401 2531 before Monday, 18 January.

Prof. Ernst will present a paper on Justice – the Culture of Responsibility;  Prof. Patrizio Bianchi, the Rector of the University of Ferrara in Italy, will focus on the topic After the Global Crisis: Justice and Wellbeing – the Goals of Economy; while Judge of Appeal, Fritz Brand will talk about Justice – the South African reality.

Prof. Ernst, Prof. Bianchi and Judge Brand will also take part in a panel discussion, together with the Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS Prof. Jonathan Jansen and Prof. Johan Henning, Dean of the UFS Faculty of Law.

Subsequent to that, Prof. Bianchi will present a lecture on the topic Globalisation, Agriculture and Industrial Development in the CR Swart Auditorium on the Main Campus on Monday, 25 January 2010 from 10h00 - 12h00. Prof. Ernst's lecture is from 12h30 - 14h30.

For more information, contact Ms Stefanie Naborn on 051 401 2531 or at nabornsa@ufs.ac.za  or Prof. Aldo Stroebel on 051 401 3506/3403 or at stroebea@ufs.ac.za .

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt@ufs.ac.za  
15 January 2010
 

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