PP’s office backs down over Wits student’s marks dispute

The office of the public protector has agreed to back down after attempting to intervene in a dispute between a student and the University of the Witwatersrand over the institution’s use of the Cohen standard marking method.

The public protector had attempted to conduct an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) after being approached by a complainant who claimed his child had been irregularly excluded from the institution because of this marking system.

Public protector spokesperson, Oupa Segwale, said the complainant said his son had obtained 59% instead of 60% due to a “defective” marking or assessment system.

“He alleged that the system was piloted in 2016, defects were later identified, and the university addressed them. The defects recurred in 2018, thereby prejudicing the students concerned. The public protector recently conducted an ADR on the matter, where the disagreeing parties were brought together,” said Segwale.

“There it was explained to the parties that the public protector couldn’t investigate the system as Wits has autonomy to determine what kind of system it uses.

“She could only get involved to the extent that she focuses on whether the university complied with the Promotion of Administration Justice Act, and whether the university properly communicated to the students about the system ahead of its rollout and offered the students the necessary support in relation to the system.”

Wits dean for health sciences, Martin Veller, said universities were independent bodies and had the right to determine their own academic standards.

“The evidence around standard-setting and Cohen is solid and substantial and we would like to suggest to people who are critical of Cohen that they look at the evidence and recognise that what we are trying to achieve out of it is fairness and transparency, not the other way around,” he said.

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