https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / All News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

Wits to run poll on whether lectures should resume

Wits to run poll on whether lectures should resume

27th September 2016

By: African News Agency

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The University of Witwatersrand (Wits) will run a poll to allow students and staff to voice their opinion on whether lectures should resume next week or not.

The University will run an electronic poll on Thursday using text messages (SMSs) for students and via a website link for staff. The poll will open at 07:00 and close at 17:00. It will be anonymous and the SMS data will feed directly into a database. The Independent electoral Commission (IEC) has been requested to oversee the process to ensure that the results can be independently verified.

Advertisement

"The Senior Executive Team has once again reached out to the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) and invited them to a formal meeting to determine if we can find a way to engage on the current situation at the University. The SRC has not yet responded to this request.

"The University’s position is that we are broadly supportive of free education for the poor, although we understand that it is a national issue. The Vice-Chancellor and Principal and the executive management team are engaging with all stakeholders in an attempt to pursue viable options in this regard," said the university in a statement.

“In order to facilitate as wide a response as possible to the current crisis, the University will run a poll later this week to gauge the thoughts of staff and students on the resumption of the academic programme on Monday, the 3rd of October 2016, if the appropriate security measures are in place. All responses will remain anonymous,” spokesperson Shirona Patel said.

Advertisement

Patel said the university believed that the voices of the majority of students and staff needed to be heard.

Universities around the country including the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the University of Pretoria have been protesting against the increase of fees for 2017.

She said the university had received hundreds of emails calling for the academic programme to resume and has responded to these concerns.

“We are requesting the Independent Electoral Commission to oversee this process and to verify the results independently,” she said.

The Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande called for universities to make the decision on what percentage they would increase the fees, but said they were not allowed to exceed eight percent.

“If the majority of students and staff support the reopening on Monday, the university will call upon government and the police to meet their obligations to protect the university’s property and to safeguard the lives of students and staff,” Patel said.

She said the university was extremely concerned about the unfolding and growing crisis in the higher education sector and was calling for an urgent meeting between vice-chancellors, the higher education and training minister, justice and correctional services minister and the police minister in order to engage further on this matter.

“All university activities remain suspended until further notice. Senior management will continue to reach out to students in an attempt to engage on these critical issues,”

“Wits’ stability is important in the context of the broader higher education system. We cannot lose the academic year and we appeal to the university community and wider society to make your voices heard on this key issue of national importance that impacts on our collective futures,” Patel said.

She said if a conclusion was not reached on what would be done next week, more security would be deployed onto campus.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now