CPS new toll-free number and other updates

Dear students and colleagues

This campus announcement aims to inform members of the University of Cape Town community about:

1. CPS new toll-free number

Campus Protection Services (CPS) has a new 24-hour toll-free number: 080 650 2222. Students and staff can contact the number even if they have no airtime on their phones.

2. Applications for Creative Change Laboratory

Applications for Season 1 of the Creative Change Laboratory (CCoLAB) are now open. This is a space for young people from a variety of backgrounds, realities and identities to find vision and voice. The CCoLAB is hosted by the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Office for Inclusivity and Change (OIC) and will offer a programme of art, theatre and creative writing to a cohort of 20 youth participants. It will be run over three sessions, held during the school holidays to enable greater participation. As part of the project, participants will experiment with a range of creative methods and will use their new skills to workshop unconventional solutions to problems facing their communities. These solutions will be shared on Facebook to reach a broader audience.

The closing date for applications is 25 March 2019.

• Learn more about CCoLAB.
• Apply to be a CCoLAB participant.

3. Vice-Chancellor’s response to Progress SA

In August 2016 the Curriculum Change Working Group (CCWG) was initiated to address transformation and the decolonisation of the curriculum at UCT. Progress SA recently published an open letter addressed to UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng titled: “Please don’t introduce a colour bar for teaching at UCT”. The letter is a response to the work of the CCWG, who recently released a document called the Curriculum Change Framework. In her response, Professor Phakeng addressed Progress SA’s concerns by stating that UCT cannot prescribe a standard framework for all to follow, nor can a colour bar for teaching be introduced or enforced. The latter would, for a start, be unconstitutional.

• Read the full response by Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.
• View the CCWG media statement.

4. Free Education Planning Group

The Free Education Planning Group (FEPG) was established in December 2016 as part of the Executive/Shackville TRC agreement to research and engage around models for free higher education in South Africa. UCT students registered in 2019 from all disciplines and at all postgraduate levels (honours, master’s and PhD) are eligible to apply for the FEPG research scholarships. Research must form part of an honour’s dissertation/thesis, master’s minor dissertation, PhD chapter or similar. All successful applicants are expected to engage a broader audience in workshops. Up to 15 scholarships may be awarded to the maximum value of R30 000 each on a once-off, non-renewable basis. The deadline for scholarships application is 31 March 2019.

For more information please contact Charmaine.Mcbride@uct.ac.za.

• Read about the 2019 FEPG research scholarships.
• View the agreement with the SRC and other student formations.

5. Public holiday on 8 May

Please note that 8 May 2019 has now officially been declared a public holiday. National and provincial elections are scheduled to take place on this date. As a result, official UCT teaching, learning and administrative activities previously scheduled for this day will be rescheduled.

6. Posters on campus

Members of the campus community are reminded of the procedure to be followed with regards to posters on campus. The Students’ Representative Council (SRC) manages this process for students, student organisations and external stakeholders. The SRC stamps posters, but these may only be affixed on designated noticeboards.  No student or student body can affix any picture, poster or advertisement on any noticeboard without the authority of the designated custodian of the precinct in which the noticeboard is or elsewhere on campus.

Posters that are either not stamped or not put up on designated noticeboards may be removed.

Academic and PASS departments do not have to have their posters stamped by the SRC.

For residences, students must not affix any picture or poster in any part of a residence using nails or tape or any other method which is likely to cause damage to, or permanently mark, university property. Students may affix pictures or posters in their room (single rooms) or in the part of the residence set aside for their personal use (shared accommodation). However, students must not affix any picture or poster in any other part of the residence.

For more information please contact Edwina.Brooks@uct.ac.za.

• View the internal poster booking form.
• View the promotions poster booking form.

7. Fresher’s Guide 2019

The Students’ Representative Council’s (SRC) Fresher’s Guide for 2019 is now available online.

Communication and Marketing Department

Read previous communications:

• From the UCT Executive
• Campus Announcements