A total of 11 834 NSFAS-funded students are currently enrolled at the University of Pretoria, with 7 652 of them staying in accredited housing and 1 523 in university-owned dormitories.
This was revealed in a recent progress report on the transformation journey of the University of Pretoria presented to the university’s stakeholders and Student Representative Council (SRC), the Institutional Forum, and the labour unions at the institution.
According to the report, the university also provided financial aid for students who met the missing middle requirement.
Additionally, students who were having trouble making ends meet were urged to get in touch with the institution’s student funding office to set up payment plans, apply for UP assistance loans, and/or submit applications for various other external bursaries.
The university also aggressively launched marketing campaigns for external sources of funding in order to help students in financial need.
This was in response to claims that one of the missing middle students was asked to leave the student accommodation she was residing in because she was not an NSFAS-funded student.
It looked like missing middle students were being pushed out of the system because they could not afford tuition fees and housing fees.
While praising the University for its financial assistance and support of various programmes, the labour unions were open and honest about issues that directly affected their members, such as job openings, appointments, pay ceilings, and working conditions.
Both the SRC and the labour unions complained about being left out of crucial decisions affecting their members by the executive management of the university
Due to time restrictions, the Committee decided that written responses to the inquiries of stakeholders would need to be submitted within seven days.
Management and the University's Council were urged to call a stakeholder meeting within 14 days and report their findings to the Committee.
