Blow for students and Daveyton as campus relocates

The community of Daveyton and students will be financially affected when the Vaal University of Technology (VUT) Ekurhuleni campus relocates to the main campus in Vanderbijlpark.

The university will relocate due to the fact it has been placed under administration three times in the past 10 years.

Student Thomas Khoza said the move won’t only affect the students but also the residents of Daveyton who provide them with accommodation.

“The community of Daveyton will suffer a great loss because some of them were making an income by accommodating and transporting the learners,” said Khoza.

“Even for us as students, it was cheaper to reside in Daveyton because we would even walk to campus.”

The 24-year-old said he will now have to use R300 a day to attend classes at the main campus because even the train is not working.

“I used about R1 500 for rent and food. However, now I have to use about R2 500 if I decide not to move to Vanderbijlpark and my parents won’t afford that kind of money because they are unemployed.

“We are frustrated because we are still uncertain about what will happen at the main campus or if the university will ever come back to Daveyton.

“We thought it was a rumour when we heard the news around September and we didn’t think the university will move to the main campus. When we tried to get information from the management, they didn’t have answers for us,” he said.

The cost and management accounting student said the university needs to improve their way of communication because we were supposed to be the first people to know about this move so we can try and make other arrangements.

“We play a big role at the university and without us, there will be no university. Students should also be included in decision-making.”

Another student, Thandiwe Sibiya, said she chose the university because it was closer to home and she didn’t have to worry about accommodation.

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“It was going to cost my parents less when I could walk from home to the university, but now they will have to make means for me to travel to the main campus and due to the pandemic a lot of parents have lost their jobs so this move will affect most of the students,” said Sibiya.

Urgency
Executive director advancement of the Vaal University of Technology Mike Khuboni said the university’s Ekurhuleni site does not have its infrastructure – staff and students have been accommodated on-premises and offices of the University of South Africa (Unisa) campus in Daveyton since 2014.

“Tensions developed over the years between staff and students of both universities and the situation became untenable with Unisa seeking the space for its students,” said Khuboni.

“It became clear to management that the environment on the campus was no longer suitable for the staff and students and it became a matter of urgency that new premises were found for the Ekurhuleni campus for the 2021 academic year.

“As this was not possible in the short term, management decided to urgently relocate the staff and students to the main campus in Vanderbijlpark.”

In August 2019, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Dr Blade Nzimande, appointed Professor Ihron Rensburg as the administrator for the university.

Rensburg’s mandate is to implement the recommendations of the independent assessors, Professors Barney Pityana and Rocky Ralebipi-Simela, and introduce necessary interventions as well as implement a turnaround strategy for the institution.

Khuboni said one of the recommendations contained in the assessor’s report was that the administrator should investigate the financial viability and sustainability of the VUT sites of delivery.

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“Following his appointment, Rensburg established a project team to conduct a thorough investigation into the viability and sustainability of all the university’s sites of delivery and in January 2020 approved a financial viability assessment project for three sites: Upington, Secunda and Ekurhuleni,” said Khuboni.

The assessment report showed that the three sites of delivery had been neglected over a very long period. It also revealed that:

• Student-enrolment numbers had been declining continually.

• The sites were not financially viable and were running at a huge loss, draining financial resources from the main campus to meet expenses.

• None of the sites of delivery had their infrastructure and rented premises from third parties. As a result, the quality of teaching and learning at the remote campuses was not of the same standard as the main campus.

“The overall recommendation from the investigations was that the sites of delivery required major recapitalisation at an estimated cost of R30-billion over five years to provide facilities and improve their quality of teaching and learning.”

Khuboni said it was further stated that student enrolments needed to increase significantly to at least 5 000 students a year at each teaching site for them to become financially viable. VUT could not afford the R30-b required for the infrastructure.

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