Congratulations and well wishes to the 2020 Rhodes University graduates.

As the Student Representative Council, we would like to firstly congratulate all 2020 graduates, who have made it through an unprecedented academic year. You truly rose to the occasion despite all the difficulties faced in 2020. To all students who are entering into the working world, we wish you all the best in your future endeavours and all students who will be continuing with their studies in this academic year we wish you a prosperous year. For all students whose 2020 academic year may not have transpired as you’d wished, we empathise with you as the year passed has been the most challenging one. We hope that ushering in the new year will motivate you and reignite your passion for learning and success. We will make every effort to ensure that we foster a productive and conducive environment for learning within our student community.

 

 

As we had previously communicated, there are no academic exclusions for the 2020 academic year however students are advised to contact the SRC Academic councillor (srcacademic@ru.ac.za) and/or the President (srcpresident@ru.ac.za) with any academically related queries.

Students with financial queries are encouraged to contact the SRC sponsorship and benefits councillor (srcbenefits@ru.ac.za) and/or the Treasurer General (srctreasurer@ru.ac.za) for assistance. Financial appeal forms are available from srcbenefits@ru.ac.za and/or finaid@ru.ac.za while the academic appeal forms are available from registrar@ru.ac.za, srcacademic@ru.ac.za or srcsg@ru.ac.za.

 

Please note that the deadline for submission of NSFAS appeal forms is Sunday, 07 February 2021 and as previously mentioned, the deadline for pre-2020 academic appeals is Monday, 01 February 2021.

 

 

We acknowledge the policy by the University with regards to the NSFAS accredited accommodation. We wish to inform students that the policy resulted from a national NSFAS law and has been in the drafting process since 2018. The policy aims to ensure that students are staying in an environment that is conducive for living and learning. As the SRC, the safety of our fellow students is always our primary concern and we also note that the accredited accommodation policy ensures a conducive learning environment.

 

As per the SRC’s request, we are pleased with the leniency afforded by the University to allow students to stay at their preferred private accommodation for the year. We believe that this allows students and landlords ample time to prepare for the outlined accreditation of accommodation as set out by the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET).

 

NSFAS Oppidan students will still be receiving their monthly allowances as per the norm. We therefore urge students that have already signed leases to send their signed leases to the Financial Aid office finaid@ru.ac.za so they may receive the allowance allocated.

 

Oppidan students are reminded to ensure their accommodation is accredited by the University through the Oppidan office oppidan.secretary@ru.ac.za where forms are available.

 

*NB: Please note that any leases submitted after the 1st of March would need to be under approved accredited accommodation, of which a list will be made available in due course.

 

 

We understand how negatively the pandemic has affected our student community and have therefore engaged with the relevant University stakeholders and we would like to inform you that the 2021 Initial Fee Deadline has been extended from the 22nd of January to the 31st of January 2021. Lastly, all NSFAS beneficiaries who have not been cleared are encouraged to reach out the Student Benefits and Sponsorship Councillor (srcbenefits@ru.ac.za).

 

Yours in Proactive Leadership

Rhodes University SRC