Tuesday, 5 May
05 May 202017:05
The University of Cape Town (UCT) has started the second week of remote teaching. We want to acknowledge your work and the fact that all of this is taking place under complex personal circumstances.
In terms of our students, we keep monitoring their participation on Vula to identify those who might need extra help. Students who are not engaging with their work need to be contacted to identify the obstacles in their way and hopefully remove as many of those obstacles as possible.
The main concern of the past week has been the slow delivery of laptops to identified students, the distribution of which is currently scheduled for completion by Friday, 8 May. The UCT executive met with the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) to discuss the anxieties that this delay has been causing for students who are expected to submit work for their courses or write tests.
The university would like to appeal to everyone, as people, to be compassionate in our approach to students. Please be flexible in managing deadlines for those students who will only be joining your courses from Monday, 11 May. We are also hoping to start with the delivery of distance learning materials by Monday, 11 May.
As Term 2 progresses, faculties are starting to discuss assessment in the context of remote teaching. The Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT) is working with faculty-based teaching and learning teams to support decisions about modalities of assessment.
For those of you who would like to slowly start thinking of the work ahead, you can get help from CILT to review your current courses to help improve you and your students’ experience in Term 3.
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UCT’s response to COVID-19 in 2021
COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March 2020 and to implement a national lockdown from 26 March 2020.
UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated regularly with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.
Commemorating a year of COVID-19
At midnight on 26 March 2020, South African went into the first nationwide hard lockdown. A year later, we remember those who have died and those who have been affected by COVID-19, as well as the pandemic’s effects across society and campus. We are especially grateful for the front-line health workers who have done so much for so many.
Frequently asked questions
In an email to the UCT community, Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said:
“COVID-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, is a rapidly changing epidemic. [...] Information [...] will be updated as and when new information becomes available.”
We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.