Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has rejected claims circulating on social media that students have been forced to sleep outside its campuses due to accommodation issues.
University spokesperson Lauren Kansley told TimesLIVE “nobody slept outside last night”.
She said the footage aired on television had prompted “a plethora of media queries”, but she clarified that all those students arrived today.
Kansley said the situation was linked to first-year students arriving too early. “First-years should be starting on the 8th of February, that’s the first day of the academic year. They are coming too early, so they’re only allowed to go into res from the 6th of February.”
She added that new NSFAS rules had also excluded some students from residence.
“You need to be passing 60% of your academic load. So, of everything you are doing, you need to be passing 60% of it, so there are a lot of people who suddenly are not eligible for funding.”
She noted that CPUT has the largest housing footprint of any university in South Africa. “We have 16,200 as our own campus-accredited residences and beds. But on top of that, we can also house 4,000 in private accommodation.”
According to Kansley, many students seen outside campus gates had already been placed in private accommodation but were “retrying their luck” to get into campus residences.
She said the university had placed 400 applicants into temporary accommodation over the weekend while their appeals and pending statuses were processed. “The situation is not what it has been in previous years. It’s a lot better, and we are working together with the SRC on all of this.”
Kansley stressed that social media posts were misleading. “It’s absolutely nothing in comparison to previous years, and that’s because we’ve learned year after year after year. We learn, and we implement better processes.”
“CPUT is a very popular university, so people are travelling from all other provinces to try to come and study with us, and so what we’re seeing is a result of that popularity.”
TimesLIVE
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