Rhodes University ready for a new Academic Year

Following the #FeesMustFall protests at the end of last year, Rhodes University is one of the few universities in South Africa which successfully completed the full 2016 academic year, including the year-end exams for nearly all courses. About 300 students chose to defer their examinations to January of this year and these will commence on 23 January and conclude on 10 February 2017. This means that the academic year will commence a week later than initially planned.

“The University is committed to a successful 2017 academic year concentrating on its core business of teaching and learning, research and community engagement. Much preparation has gone into this and the University is ready to welcome new and returning students,” said Dr Sizwe Mabizela, Vice-Chancellor for Rhodes University.  

“Challenges will have to be faced as the fees issue has not been resolved nationally and the financial viability of individual institutions, including Rhodes, is still at risk, but the Universities have sought to mitigate these challenges by revising their approach to issues of finance and registration. New approaches to these issues have also been required due to two external developments; the Department of Higher Education’s fee grant to ‘the missing middle’ and the new ‘student centred’ National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) model,” said Mabizela.

In order to facilitate a quicker and more convenient registration process, students may register online.  A registration fee is payable in order to register for the academic year, except for NSFAS supported students and students from the ‘missing middle’.

Rhodes University is committed to ensuring that no academically deserving but financially needy students are prevented from studying at the institution. To this end, a wide range of scholarships, awards and loans are available. Due to the fact that the NSFAS funding is not sufficient for the actual costs of study including tuition and accommodation, Rhodes offers all NSFAS qualifying students ‘top up’ funding.

Although late applications may be considered, admissions for 2017 have been concluded.