YOLISWA SOBUWA
Universities in SA have been given until February to complete the 2020 academic year with the 2021 calendar set to start between March and April.
The department of higher education & training minister Blade Nzimande made the announcement yesterday during his update on Covid-19 alert level 2 measures in the post-school education and training sector.
He said institutions have reported differential levels of responsiveness in terms of their progress in completing the requirements for the current academic year and the readiness to commence the 2021 programme.
“I have been concerned about the wide range of variation in respect of these two aspects given that they have various kinds of negative implications for the system. We need to strike the right balance between the imperative of enabling all institutions to complete the requirements for the 2020 academic year in order to give all students a fair chance,” Nzimande said.
“For this reason I have met with both the Covid-19 ministerial task team and vice-chancellors upon the principle to agree on a fixed period within which all institutions must complete the current academic year and a fixed period of starting dates for the opening of the 2021 academic year.”
Nzimande said the starting dates for the 2021 academic year will range from March 15 to April 15.
He said their latest monitoring reports show that while challenges do remain in the system, all universities have made significant progress in their teaching and learning strategies and campus safety strategies, which have included implementing various methods for remote learning.
Universities in SA have been given until February to complete the 2020 academic year with the 2021 calendar set to start between March and April.
The department of higher education & training minister Blade Nzimande made the announcement yesterday during his update on Covid-19 alert level 2 measures in the post-school education and training sector.
He said institutions have reported differential levels of responsiveness in terms of their progress in completing the requirements for the current academic year and the readiness to commence the 2021 programme.
“I have been concerned about the wide range of variation in respect of these two aspects given that they have various kinds of negative implications for the system. We need to strike the right balance between the imperative of enabling all institutions to complete the requirements for the 2020 academic year in order to give all students a fair chance,” Nzimande said.
“For this reason I have met with both the Covid-19 ministerial task team and vice-chancellors upon the principle to agree on a fixed period within which all institutions must complete the current academic year and a fixed period of starting dates for the opening of the 2021 academic year.”
Nzimande said the starting dates for the 2021 academic year will range from March 15 to April 15.
He said their latest monitoring reports show that while challenges do remain in the system, all universities have made significant progress in their teaching and learning strategies and campus safety strategies, which have included implementing various methods for remote learning.
