1. UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA
Hettie Kirstein
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2. During this presentation I’d like to share with you, the problems we
have in South Africa with learners, who finished high school the
previous year and who turned up at the beginning of the academic
year, without applying to any Tertiary Institution.
To have a better understanding, I would like to give you some insight
of the background and problems some of our students experience.
Please close your eyes for a few moments.
Try to see the following picture:
Imagine a small single-roomed dwelling, constructed of corrugated
iron and cardboard. No windows and on the roof, stones to keep the
roof intact. There is no toilet, bathroom, no running water, electricity
or TV!
You can open your eyes. Do you have this picture in your mind?
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3. Do you have this picture in your mind?
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4. • This small dwelling might be occupied by a family of 6, 7 or 8.
Let’s say one of these family members is a grade 12 scholar
– and let’s call him Sipho.
• Sipho enjoys studying and walks six miles to school daily.
He’s a hard worker, after school he has other duties - for
example he needs to walk a long way to fetch water for his
family. After all his duties, he starts with his homework,
usually by candle light.
• Sipho may be living in a squatter environment like this
where no infrastructure exist or may be living in an informal
tribal village with limited provision of infrastructure -
including community facilities and schools.
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5. Madikwe Mankwe
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6. • This is a map of the rural area of the districts Madikwe and
Mankwe.
• This district extends over an area of 56 by 45 miles and
contains approximately 120 informal tribal villages.
• Here you can see the two districts.
If any of you have been to South Africa, you would
have probably visited Pilansberg National Park. Here.
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8. • A tribal village is a settlement in which land is controlled
by the head of a tribe who allocates portions to villagers
without the benefit of any formal survey or registration
procedure
• The small dwelling of Sipho and his family may be located
in any one of these villages (for instance Mabeskraal)
where he attends school.
• Informal Tribal villages are common to the traditional
regions in SA, while squatter camps are generally found
close to formal towns and cities
• This map will give you an idea of how a typical Tribal
Village looks like. This is the only high school in the
village and the small dwelling of Sipho and his family may
be located here
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9. • At the end of the year, Sipho writes exams and because of
his hard work, he does well. When he receives his results
at the beginning of the following year, his certificate had an
endorsement ........ “for Degree studies”.
• At home, Sipho tells his mom that he passed his grade 12
and it shows on the certificate that he can study at a
University. His mom is just as excited as he and they
decide that he may go to the big city to study.
• The very next morning they take a taxi to the nearest
University. When they arrive at the University ...........
there are thousands of other students with the same goal
– to obtain entrance to the university.
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11. BIG GROUP OF STUDENTS IN FRONT OF THE
UNIVERSITY
• And that is the background - the reality. There are
thousands of Sipho's,
and ... one of the reasons why, at the beginning of every
academic year,
tertiary institutions in South Africa are flooded with
learners who have not applied in time.
VIDEO OF STAMPEDE
• This year, the mother of a prospective student died and
17 were injured in a stampede at one of our universities.
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13. • When people like Sipho and his mother arrive at
universities, they cannot understand why there are no
spaces available.
• We at tertiary institutions should realise that grade 12
learners – or see it as prospective students – are not
properly informed – not just about the correct choices of
subjects, but more crucially, about other facts such as
• deadlines for applications,
• requirements for entrance to programmes
• information on the various tertiary educational
institutions and what they offer.
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14. Every year we face an outcry from unsatisfied learners and
their parents.
Here are a few comments on “On News24” on the Internet,
just after the stampede
• “I wonder why the university administration did not do
something about this in order to avert this problem”
• “No one is telling us what’s going on”
• “I wish the education system can be improved to avoid
such incidents”
• “I’ts the lack of adequate career guidance at secondary
level”
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15. This year, about 370 000 learners qualify for University
entrance.
South Africa’s university system has room for around
170 000 freshman students. This means that about
200 000 grade 12 learners whose results qualify them for
further studies cannot find spaces.
Universities receive thousands of applications every year.
After the grade 12 examination results are made available
in January, thousands of learners who did not apply the
previous year, flock to universities and want to apply for
admission.
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16. All the Universities in South Africa have a closing date for
applications, although the precise closing dates may differ
from institution to institution and programme to
programme.
Universities in general, receive more applications than they
have spaces for. For example
• The UJ received 85 000 applications for the 2012
academic year and had space for only 11 000 students.
• The University of the Witwatersrand had 5 500 spaces but
received 30 000 applications.
• The University of KwaZulu-Natal, could only admit 9 000,
and received 61 500 applications and
• The University of the Free State, which could admit 4 000
received 13 000 applications. (UP: 33 000 applications,
13 000 places)
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17. • Some of the Institutions keep waiting lists; others do not
as they accept more applications than they have spaces in
anticipation that some applicants fall out as a result of
poor performance in their final examinations or
unexpected financial or personal crises.
• Within that group of thousands of pupils who show up late,
there are probably some good students like Sipho, but
how can staff at universities identify students with merit
when they turn up late with thousands of others.
• I cannot address the shortage of facilities at universities in
our country, but hope to address the problems that occur
because thousands of prospective students flock to
universities at the beginning of each new academic year.
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18. • Administrative and academic staff currently plan and set
up programmes for the students who have applied in time
and been accepted. Important information is sent to these
students. When these students arrive at the University as
planned, the staff members are able to help them.
Services offered includes orientation, help with financial
and residence problems, advice on choice of courses,
curriculum problems, timetables and registration.
Universities do not have the capacity to assist the extra
thousands of students who turn up at the beginning of an
academic year, but each and every student who turns up
late, desperately needs someone’s attention.
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19. Questions can be asked about how is it possible that so
many learners apply for tertiary education only after receiving
their grade 12 results?
• Do they have so little faith in their ability to pass that they have
given no consideration on the next step?
• Is the information provided by schools inadequate?
• Is there an understanding about which subjects would qualify
the student for a chosen course of study?
• Or is it the case that there is simply a lack of proper
information at the crucial time?
With whom does the responsibility lie for communicating
information to prospective students in good time?
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20. • The way current role players communicate to young
people is obviously not working and this result in huge
problems. For example
• NiSHE (National information service for higher Education)
in South Africa has published a guide for learners. This is a
Wonderful booklet with information on every aspect of
Higher Education. Ten thousand copies were published
and distributed throughout the country, but how many
learners received this publication? How many people
should be reached?
• Significantly, this booklet is 69 pages long and yet
nowhere on any page is there information on when to
apply and how important it is to apply to tertiary
Institutions in good time.
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21. Communication to young people is obviously not working .
Pupils need easy reading – concise information in PLAIN
LANGUAGE
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22. According to the South African Green paper on Higher Education
released in January 2012, three million young people between the
ages of 18-24 are neither accommodated in education nor being
trained or employed within the labour market.
The Government aims to raise university enrolment by 2030 to 1.5
million
These prospective students need to get the correct information
IN TIME!
WHAT CAN UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES DO ??
Please keep in mind that the problems I state here, does not reflect on
schools in the vicinity of Universities.
Marketing and communication between these schools and universities
are excellent.
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23. Universities and other tertiary institutions are facing a challenge
in communicating effectively, to students living in tribal villages
or in a squatter environment – and especially with all the talented
and hardworking Siphos in South Africa.
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24. From as early as grade 9, scholars needed to know:
 What an EARLY decision is and what are the advantage of early
decisions, relating to the admissions process.
What the application process is and
What students must typically do to complete applications in the
year preceding their admission.
A lot of students do know these things, but not all.
Scholars need to know why they have to apply early!
Here are a few reasons:
 The acceptance rate is higher for those that qualify.
 Students who are not accepted still have time to apply at
another Institution.
 Students, who have been accepted early, are able to stop
stressing about getting into the university.
 Students who apply in time, know early if they are able to
receive financial help and have accommodation.
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25. I would therefore argue that it is essential to give prospective
students a brief, clear “Admission Checklist “.
Students can then ensure their applications are correctly
completed and all necessary documents are attached.
Such checklists could be distributed when marketing visits are made
to schools and at open days and fairs.
There must be ways to reach students – and the following is
only my opinion:
Teachers, especially in rural areas, need to be well-trained to give
effective and correct advice to scholars.
The booklet produced by NiSHE (HESA) is a valuable information
source for teachers.
Local Radio stations should be approached to inform students about
admission procedures on a regular basis.
Checklists and information should be available on the Social Media
(Twitter or Face book) – as many school pupils in rural areas do
have mobile phones
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26. Current students whose parents, family and friends are living in rural
areas could be paid a small fee to hand out flyers
In Rural areas there are Government Multi-Purpose Centres – it is like
a Community centre - where some smaller Departments such as Home
Affairs are situated. They are equipped to handle various services
such as issuing ID’s. Perhaps they could also hand out flyers and even
expand to contain Education Centres where trained people can reach
out to prospective students in rural communities.
My university – The University of Pretoria - runs a Junior Tukkie
outreach programme aimed at promising scholars. This could also be
used to reach out to potential good students at an early stage, firstly
to give them good advice on the right choice of school subjects and
secondly to advise those scholars on the processes needed to obtain
entrance to any higher education institution.
They also need to know of other available options and that
Universities are not the only choice.
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27. I am thinking of compiling a one page easily readable pamphlet with
some visual notes to draw attention on valuable information with
impact covering areas like:
What is EARLY action?
Importance of early action in the admissions process
Preparation for University in Grade 9 –
Correct subject choices
Preparation for University in Grade 11 –
Getting good preliminary results
Preparation for University in Grade 12 –
Meet the deadlines for applications and tests – Follow up – other
options – acceptation letter
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