The implementation of the University of Cape Town’s new admissions policy has been delayed.
|||Cape Town - The implementation of a new UCT admissions policy has been delayed for a year - if its council approves the policy.
UCT’s Senate had been expected to meet on Friday to discuss the proposed admissions policy model and whether the current race-based policy should be kept or changed for 2015.
But vice-chancellor Max Price said additional time was needed before a new policy could be implemented. The new policy, if it was approved, would be implemented for admissions for 2016.
UCT had proposed changing its policy in order to define disadvantage in terms other than race.
Factors to be taken into account, according to the proposal, included whether a prospective student’s parents and grandparents had degrees, home language, whether the family received a social grant, and the school the applicant had attended.
A group of UCT students, the Progressive Youth Alliance, called last month for the policy to remain unchanged because it said a changed policy would result in fewer black students accepted at the university.
UCT responded that it would not reverse its commitment to affirmative action in admissions.
Luntu Sokutu, a member of the alliance’s admissions policy task team, said on Sunday it would continue to reject the proposed policy.
“We have rejected the motion. It is based on a false premise. To postpone it for a year is to indicate there is no basis for it.”
UCT spokeswoman Gerda Kruger said Price had reported that “good progress has been made in developing a new admissions policy”.
She said new proposals had been considered by all faculties and there had been in-principle support for most elements of the proposals.
“In addition, the faculties suggested minor modifications, mostly relating to the specific circumstances within each faculty but in principle no bigger changes have been made.”
Kruger said the Admissions Committee of Senate, which had consolidated all the proposals to form a single admissions policy, had also approved the new policy.
“The changes contained in the new draft policy will require substantial development in software, additional work on our online application system as well as training of staff. Since the application for 2015 has to begin early next year and information must be distributed even earlier than that, it presented a significant implementation challenge.”
She said the consequences of getting the implementation of the new policy wrong were serious and it had therefore been decided to postpone implementation by a year.
“Dr Price will therefore propose that the 2013/14 admissions policy be implemented for next year.”
Kruger said the Senate would now discuss the draft policy in the first quarter of next year.
Cape Times