Pretoria - City universities have stood by their decision not to entertain walk-ins when they assisted senior students with registration queries on Monday; referring first time applicants to utilise the online Central Application Clearing House (CASH) for safety and efficiency reasons.
This, as scores of senior students who had challenges registering online, and first-time students who already applied but needed to submit their latest results, were assisted at the University of Pretoria (UP), Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) and Unisa, but no new applications were taken in at any of the campuses.
A few showed up with their documents in hand, an indication the 2017 matriculants had heeded the advice of universities and the Department of Higher Education to avoid "wasting their time" via walk-ins on campuses to apply.
And the institutions said they were determined to stand their ground amid threats from anyone who intended to stage walk-ins, such as the EFF Student Command that has warned that no students or staff would be allowed to work, or enter universities, if public universities persisted with the stance not to accept walk-ins.
As of Monday, TUT was the only university that still accepted first-time applications directly but only through its website.
The institution advised students that admission depended on space availability.
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TUT spokesperson Willa de Ruyter said: “At TUT we are not registering yet. Students were assisted with numerous enquiries and queue marshals helped those who needed to find internet cafés to make their applications online. We advised first-time students to plan ahead and make their applications online while we still have space because no applications will be accepted on campus.”
The University of Pretoria utilised its High Performance Centre to assist students who had already applied. Student Representative Council members set up gazebos to facilitate matters.
UP spokesperson Rikus Delport said: “At the moment, we are still assisting senior students. First-year students will only start applying (tomorrow) and only then do we expect walk-in attempts. However, those would be fruitless since no applications will be accepted on campus. We encourage students to utilise the Central Application Clearing House. We received an excess of 38000 applications and we only have the capacity to admit 9500 students. That is why we encourage students to utilise the CASH system which could help them get space at other institutions.”
Deport said applying online was ideal for efficient and safe processing and would avoid undesired circumstances such as the death of a parent during a stampede at the University of Johannesburg in 2012.
At Unisa, spokesperson Martin Ramotshela said: “We were clear that we are using a process whereby students apply online before they could register. Our applications ended last year on September 17 and we will only be opening for second semester applications in April.
“Any other person wanting an opportunity to enrol must use the Central Application Clearing House. The students you saw on campuses have long applied. We discourage walk-ins,” he said.
A few, however turned up, hoping for a miracle, and among them was Dineo Manaka who wanted to apply to study psychology at the University of Pretoria.
She had copies of her matric certificate and ID document and said she did not know walks-ins would seriously not be allowed.
When she realised it was serious, the Soshanguve girl said she would go and make her application online to find space immediately.
UP SRC secretary Soraia Machado said they were assisting academically deserving students who had already applied but had been conditionally admitted on the basis that they would improve their marks. She said: “We are serving as a link between the faculties and the students who have improved their marks. We find out what space is still available and we assist the students to get admitted. Once that is done, we talk to them about accommodation and fees assistance in cases where they are eligible for bursaries and financial grants. All these students have already applied.”
EFF Student Command members set up gazebos across all three universities.
At the TUT main campus in Pretoria West, the EFF Student Command set up its gazebo in the middle of the road over a painted island at the entrance.
Its members refused to move elsewhere and instead instructed security officials from a private company to open the gates in the morning. Although they did not encourage walk-ins, it remains to be seen if that would be the case once registrations started later this week.