AFTER announcing that no student owing more than N$1 430 will be permitted to write exams, the Namibia University of Science and Technology has made a U turn on that decision.
The change of heart by the institution comes after pressure from the Students Representative Council (SRC) last week. Early this year, NUST also agreed to allow students who owe money to register after initially trying to ban them from registration.
SRC president Oscar Mwandingi had last week threatened to call for a student demonstration to disrupt the examinations if the university failed to reverse its planned ban.
Following the threats, NUST vice chancellor Tjama Tjivikua sent a memorandum to the SRC that all students who met the academic requirements for admission to the May/June exams would be allowed access, “regardless of the amount they owe “.
NUST director for marketing and communications Kaitira Kandjii confirmed the decision yesterday, and told that the university finds itself in a dire financial position due to historical underfunding, which does not enable it to cope with high levels of debt.
“The executive management committee of the university gathered all the evidence and applied their minds to all the different aspects and implications of continuing to apply this policy at this time. The exco came to the conclusion that even though it will deepen the financial concerns of the university, it is for the best that students be allowed to write the examinations. ”
Kandjii said although they have made a decision in favour of the students, those with outstanding debts will not be allowed to graduate, will not receive their examination results or an academic record (transcript), and cannot register for the second semester.
Although he said the decision is applicable for the first semester, Kandjii did not indicate if the same will apply for the second semester.
“Our position remains that outstanding student accounts will have to be settled eventually, even if it is not now, but at some date in the future. If the aim is to eventually reach an ideal of free higher education for students, then some serious research needs to be conducted before such decision is made, ” he stated.
The institution reached an agreement with the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund this year that students will be allowed to register for the first semester without paying fees, but that the fees would still accrue to their accounts and remain payable by the students before admission to examinations at the end of the semester.
Mwandingi said they had come to an agreement with the institution on the issue, and had called off the planned demonstration. He said if students are given the opportunity to write examinations, they will be motivated to settle their accounts “because they know that they are making progress in their academic pursuits “.
The examinations are scheduled to start today.
