Tshwane University of Technology ISRC Presentation Overview
The presentation to the Parliament Portfolio Committee highlights the state of affairs at Tshwane University of Technology from the students' perspective. It covers aspects such as teaching and learning, disbursement of NSFAS funding, student accommodation, and readiness for the 2021 academic year. Challenges such as difficulties in providing materials to all students and issues with the current online learning platform are also addressed. The university has managed the impact of Covid-19 by transitioning to online and hybrid learning methods, aiming to support students effectively during these challenging times.
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Presentation Transcript
Tshwane University of Technology ISRC Presentation to Parliament Portfolio Committee
The presentation is based on the following aspects: State of affairs of the university from the students perspective. Teaching and learning. Update with disbursement of NSFAS funding and allowances to students. Student accommodation. Readiness for 2021 academic year.
State of affairs of the university from the students perspective The University has considerably managed the Covid19 crisis with students studying though online platforms and a hybrid process or blended system A need to have laptops for both NSFAS and missing-middle students. Provision of greater support for students with disabilities during this period and beyond Capacitate both ARLC and TUTEH to incorporate psychological support programmes for students living in residences. This must include GBV educational programmes to combat any form of violence directed at women Employ engineering students to run maintenance projects and create jobs for TUT students than allocating small projects to external companies that don t transfer the skills to our own students
Teaching and learning. The university after consultations with its stakeholders and approval from DHET as well as advises of USAF embarked on a multi-modal learning platform consisting of both online and hardcopy print learning materials in response to accommodating students without devices and those in areas without proper network reception A survey has been rolled out to collect data of both students with and those without devices as well as to establish whether they will be able to participate in the remote online learning or not . Hardcopy study materials were delivery to the students addresses obtained from the student biological information on the ITS system of the university. Disbursement of data to students from July 2020 to date ( 10Gig daily & 20 Gig night surfer for all the networks excluding Telkom which is 20Gig daily & 20 Gig night surfer ) They were deployment of zero rated sites to assist with the online learning The 2020 academic year was divided into 2 (two) semesters , first semester was concluded in December 2020 and whereas the second semester is intended to be completed by March 2021.
Challenges under Teaching and learning. Not all students were able to receive the printed learning material and some received them late. Not all students are receiving the data, some students started to receive data after the online learning has commenced. The current learning platform which is blackboard it cant accommodate more than 15 000 students at a time as a results students are put at disadvantage as the online test has limited attempts and students suffer from this as it kicks them out during the attempt and the system will regard the kick out as attempt. There was no proper induction to students regarding the Zero rated site, not all students are aware of how they work. The current data allocation to students is not enough as the online classes requires more than 10 Gig a month. We recommend that data be increased to 20 Gig all networks daily and night surfer.
Update with disbursement of NSFAS funding and allowances to students. Students are happy with having receiving their allowances consistently from NSFAS however some students have money reflecting on ITS but those students haven t received it up date. We have students who have made appeals to NSFAS continue to fund them but still no response from NSFAS regarding those appeals. A few students were cut off during the extension last year from receiving their allowances and NSFAS said those students were funded through different Bursary schemes and those bursary schemes didn t approve the extension of allowances when the academic year was extended, so our question is will these students be funded 2021? We also have students who are suffering from the N+2 rule and those students are unable to complete their qualifications, we request NSFAS so assist those students so that they are able to complete their qualifications. We are seated with a large amount of outstanding NSFAS debts and as a results students cant access their qualifications in the university after completing and they cant access their academic records. We request the University to subsidise service providers paid 30% due to adjusted academic year. The University should at least assist accommodation providers with transport for students.
Student accommodation. We do not have accommodation crises in terms of access or availability of beds in the university, however the following should be noted: All accredited residences must be within 20km radius to campus. Section 4.1 (B) of Ministerial Norms and Standards compel the Universities to seek approval from the Minister in an event a property is beyond 20km. We recommend a review of all properties beyond 20kms from campuses with immediate effect. Transport standards and specifications must be the same as University leased transport/bus. Our in-house residences have dilapidated The University should urgently maintain and renovate internal residences Accountability on poor or failure of maintenance must be strengthened. Who is to blame for the poor maintenance and in an event of a building collapsing who should take responsibility?
Readiness for 2021 academic year. Enrolment statistics The university received 196 403 application , with a selection of 8 000 first time entering students . There is still space for 7 000 first time entering students a the university is targeting 15 000 The late application system is to commence as of the 24th of February 2021 post the grade 12 results release . Both the late application and the 2021 registration is to take place online in response to adhering to the Covid-19 regulations and curbing the spread of the virus.
Challenges The University caters for the poor of the poorest and as a result not all prospective students have access to user friendly devices & proper internet to can apply and register online . There is load shedding in most parts of the country and this results in network clinches. The ITS system doesn t have capacity to handle this online late application and registration This is evident and has been observed over the past 3 years . The proposed deadline for the late application for the First time entering students is not accommodative
Recommendations The university should use both walk-ins and online application in response to accommodating those without devices and network reception and this should be done in line with the Covid-19 regulations. The late application closing date be extended with a week or two.
