Problems for UCT recruitment

THE topic of last week's Vice-Chancellor's Open Planning Forum was around the challenges currently facing UCT's Admissions Office.

Speaker Royston Pillay, Director of the Admissions Office, formerly known as the Recruitment and Enrolment Management Office (REMO), highlighted the challenges and opportunities facing UCT in the changing climate of high school and tertiary education.

Pillay launched his discussion by stating that it was critical in the higher education business that cues be taken from what is stipulated to the sector by the Ministry of Education and the National Plan for Higher Education.

“For UCT as an institution we need to be guided by policy and directives at national level so as to ensure that our focus and practice are in tune with what is required of the tertiary system country-wide,” he stated.

Pillay said that it was vital when engaging in recruitment, that UCT know and understand its target market and the national and provincial contexts that affect it.

“We need to know, for example, what is the national distribution of the South African high school population, as well as educational performance by province, as this will inform decisions about where to focus recruitment initiatives,” he explained.

Pillay went on to illustrate and expand on various considerations that need to be taken into account to improve the current recruitment process so as to incorporate the shifting sands of the South African education sector. He also highlighted areas within the UCT recruitment process that needed to be strengthened.

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