Student Affairs

The Department of Student Affairs (DSA) remains committed to working towards Vision 2035, a future in which all University of Cape Town (UCT) students, regardless of background, social or economic status, are supported to not only persist, but to flourish. The DSA’s Vision 2035 is directly in line with UCT’s vision 2030 whose three pillars are excellence, transformation and sustainability.

There are three pedagogies that inform the strategy and direction of all levels within the department: a humanising pedagogy; a pedagogy of discomfort (meaning that material change and personal growth occur at points of discomfort) and a pneumatological pedagogy, meaning the acknowledgement that humans have an inherent need for meaning, purpose and spirituality. The department consists of the Executive Director’s Office (EDO), which oversees the four clusters within the DSA, namely: Student Wellness Services (SWS), Student Development (SD), Student Housing & Res Life (SH&RL) and Student Financial Aid (SFA).

DSA Strategy Plan 2024

The strategy plan took place over three days from 5 to 7 November 2024. The department reviewed the performance of its clusters, projects and key strategic areas (KSAs) while identifying areas of improvement for 2025. The metric-based reporting model that the DSA adopted is not a punitive measure but a means of tracking progress and identifying areas that need additional support to make Vision 2035 a reality.

The DSA expanded its KSAs to include KSA-7: Student Success and Well-being

DSA goals for 2025 include:

1. institutionalising Annual Strategic Meeting with quarterly follow-ups
2. developing a unified DSA dashboard to track key indicators across clusters
3. codifying internal knowledge by creating a DSA Knowledge Hub that is accessible to all staff
4. strengthening cross-KSA working groups
5. recognising and rewarding internal innovation by establishing DSA Changemaker Awards to acknowledge contributions by staff across all levels
6. publishing an annual “DSA in Action” public report accessible to all staff, students and stakeholders.

TransGariep Inter-Institutional Student Leadership Programme

This programme offered a transformative experience for students by integrating personal growth, emotional healing and leadership development. Participants were empowered to embark on a journey of self-discovery, embrace vulnerability, practise mindfulness and lead with kindness and compassion. The programme also encouraged the development of emotional intelligence – skills often overlooked in traditional leadership training.

The Trans-Gariep Inter-Institutional Student Leadership Programme, held from 10 to 20 July 2024, brought together students, staff and facilitators from UCT and Rhodes University for a unique leadership development experience. Participants engaged in activities such as meditation, movement, writing, storytelling, critical conversations and journeying through places of historical significance (Slave Lodge, !Khwa ttu San heritage centre and District Six Museum), fostering spiritual and personal growth, as well as leadership skills. It offers a valuable platform for nurturing future leaders who are effective and compassionate towards themselves and others.

UCT Lead

The UCT Leadership Academy was launched in 2023. The UCT-Lead provides a model for human-centred leadership development through five pathways: student governance leadership, student life, capacity building, innovation and GBV advocacy and awareness pathway.

From its inception, UCT-Lead has always sought to humanise student leadership development journeys. UCT-Lead continues to prepare students from all walks of life – not only for elected leadership, but to lead well beyond their years as students in their communities and in the broader society.

This project is a direct implementation of the DSA’s Vision 2035 whose end goal is for students to flourish. The department acknowledges that for students to flourish, a rekindling of the dying embers of the soul is required, after which the soul should be rehabilitated so that it can radiate. The five pathways equip students with knowledge and skills that are aimed at the core of their humanness, to dismantle the idea that leadership is a position or title and to create leaders with personal responsibility whose aim is to serve humanity.

High Skills Development for Staff

DSA launched a staff competency-based learning programme, which consisted of individual and group assignments and ran for 18 months beginning in February 2024. Eleven staff members from Student Housing attended and completed the programme.

Student Wellness Services

1. Medical services
    
   • The provision of health prevention and awareness through outreach programs and activities were rolled out, including a series of digital campaigns and in person engagements in the year.
   • The SWS clinic continued offering a combination of virtual and in-person medical consultations in the year. All services were accessible through the SWS online booking platform on the DSA SWS website and on the UCT app.
   • There were 7 168 consultations conducted by the medical team (professional nurses, clinical nurse practitioners, medical officers and psychiatrist) in the year. Of these, 73% were female students, 26% were male and there was no data available for 1% on gender.
   • Eighty-nine percent of the consultations were face to face and 9% were virtual and another 116 calls made to the nurse advice line.
   • In 2024, HIV messaging, screening and testing were intensified. Seventeen students tested positive for HIV, doubling from the eight reported in the previous year. This highlights the need for more sexual health awareness and improved access to prevention on UCT campuses. The ongoing collaboration with Wits University Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) established in 2024 has strengthens the unit’s capacity to provide reproductive health services on campus. Wits RHI provides the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to UCT students on campus as part of services which include demand creation, HIV testing, STI screening and the provision of contraceptives and antiretrovirals for PrEP.
   • The SWS Pharmacy continued to be a part of DSA’s strategy for increasing access to health services and strengthening mental wellbeing and student success during the year. The pharmacy dispensed a total number of 3 370 prescriptions prescribed by the medical team.
      
2. Counselling services
    
   • The unit increased counsellors to assist with the demand for services in 2024. There are ongoing efforts to strengthen operations to improve turnaround times. We collaborated with the Vimbo Counselling App, in addition to our existing partners October Health App and the Ollie Health platform, to provide 24-hour counselling services for students.
   • A total of 11 654 counselling sessions were conducted by the counselling team and the 24-hour telephonic counselling service in collaboration with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) during the year, indicating a slight increase in utilisation of services compared to the previous year. The increase in calls to the telephone lines over the past few years indicates how acceptable this mode of counselling is to students.
   • The top three clinical presentations were anxiety, depression and academic stress, similar to 2023.
   • Virtual support groups and mindfulness sessions continued throughout the year, as well as support groups.
   • The busiest times in the academic cycle were observed to be from May to June; and a sharp rise in October to the end of examinations.
   • Humanities, which is the largest faculty, continues to be the busiest, with the highest demand for counselling services at UCT.
      
3. Crisis Intervention Services (CIS)
    
   • The CIS service is ongoing, with skilled psychiatric nurses attending to emergencies after hours, including during weekends and public holidays.
   • In 2024, there were 198 mental health crisis calls, with 81 students referred by SADAG for follow up and the rest from residence staff, students or from the SWS team. Of these calls, 67% (132) were from female students and 27% (31) from male students.
   • There was one unnatural death reported in 2024.
      

Student Development

Student Development comprises two main clusters: Student Life and Governance and Sport and Recreation.

1. Student Life and Governance
    
   • Students’ Representative Council (SRC) Assistance Fund
     The SRC Assistance Fund opened applications on 22 January and closed on 31 January 2024. About 384 applications were received, and 23 students were assisted with a total amount of R558 270.81.
      
   • SRC Afri-Fund
     The SRC Afri-Fund received 80 applications, 10 students were assisted with a total amount of R554 436.60.
      
   • SRC & Faculty Council Elections
     The nominations period closed on 23 August for the SRC and 30 August for Faculty to the Election Commission for validation. The SRC Nominee Workshop took place on 4 September with the Faculty Council Nominee Workshop on 19 September. The SRC election events took place and the engagement with voters was overarchingly positive.
     
     Khala Festivals were hosted on 9, 11 and 13 September on various campuses to increase voter awareness of elections and provide engagement opportunities. The Town Halls were hosted on 17 and 18 September with Mpho Moalamedi moderating.
     
     Vote counting in the SRC elections took place on 21 September and 28 September for the Faculty Councils for whom an election could be run.
     
     Electoral Turnout for 2024 was:
     Number of votes: 7 519
     Total voters: 26 124
     Turnout: 28.78%
      
   • Student Leadership Awards
     The annual Student Leadership Awards took place on 2 October and recognised student leadership achievement across five individual and five team categories.
      
   • DSA Food Sovereignty Programme
     The DSA Food Sovereignty Programme continues to assist food insecure students with monthly grocery packs. The programme distributed 8 082 grocery packs in 2024.
      
2. Sport and Recreation
    
   • Total student sport subscriptions: 6 602 (8.43% increase from 6 089 in 2023)
   • Number of affiliated clubs: 34
   • Active club memberships across all sports codes: 7 096 (includes staff, non-students)
   • Female participation: 3 049 (5.07% increase from 2 902 in 2023)
   • Social/ recreational programmes participants: 3 898 (59% of total subscriptions)
   • Transgender athletes: 13 (225% increase from four in 2023)
   • The UCT Ikey Tigers delivered an exceptional performance by reaching the finals of the Varsity Cup, narrowly losing in the final moments to the University of the Free State.
   • UCT was the host of the 2024 Total Sports Two Oceans Marathon on the 13 and 14 April. This event saw over 13 000 runners over the two days. It continues to put UCT on the global sport hosting map.
   • Women’s football team won the WC Sasol League and got promoted to the 2025 Hollywood Bets National League.
   • Men’s rowing team won gold at the USSA Sprints for the second consecutive year.
   • Basketball (men and women) won gold at the Rhodes University 120-year celebratory festival.
      

Student Housing & Res Life (SH&RL)

• The are 8 215 beds across four tiers, with a strong emphasis on maximising occupancy. While new student offers saw a relatively low acceptance rate (23%), returning students had a high take-up rate (96%). Overall, occupancy 2024 increased compared to previous years.
• Financially, SH&RL exceeded its revenue target, generating R759.4 million against a budgeted R750.8 million, largely due to increased occupancy and additional beds.
• Approximately 5 935 offers were made to first-time undergraduate students with 1 352 initially accepting the offers (23%) and 2 157 accepted and checked in.
• Of the 5 792 returning students (down from 5 944 in 2023) 5 514 accepted (96%) and 4 738 students signing into residence representing 58% of total capacity.
• Temporary accommodation was provided to 412 students across Glendower Residence (134 beds), Rise Student Living (250 beds) and Riverview Lodge (28 beds).
• Off-Campus Student Accommodation Service (OCSAS) plays a vital role in housing students unable to secure on-campus housing. OCSAS manages 343 properties. In August 2024, a meeting was held and led to the decision to reinspect all properties for safety and quality. More than 120 properties were inspected, 98 landlords withdrew (due to sales, full bookings, or NSFAS fee cap) and 112 remained unresponsive despite multiple contact attempts.
• The Office of Residence Life also focused on the implementation of the UCT Lead GBV strategy which integrates the DSA response in residences and beyond.
• Academic support of residence students:
  • successfully collaborated with the Centre for Higher Education Development (CHED) to train tutors
  • successfully collaborated to develop a tutor training manual entitled: ‘Building Communities of Success: A guide to training peer support personnel in UCT residences’
  • successfully presented a poster at the International Association for Student Affairs Services at the 7th Global Summit, IASAS and KOSAF, Daegu, May 2024. Hosted the conference ‘Building Peer Advising Capacity for student leaders in a residence setting’
  • successfully presented at the national Siyaphumelela conference on Peer Advising Support for students in a residential setting.

Student Financial Aid (SFA)

1. Student Laptop Programme
   Students can opt into the laptop programme and the cost of the laptop is charged to their fee account, with NSFAS-funded students able to pay for their laptop over two years from their book allowance, thus making the laptop programme accessible to all. In 2024, 1 648 new students opted into the Student Laptop Programme.
    
2. Student Funding
   • The donations received for student bursaries were utilised to assist students to reduce the debt, but it was not enough to meet the accommodation funding shortfall.
   • The single greatest hurdle facing NSFAS students is the accommodation funding cap. As a result, students in university residence faced a fee debt if they were unable to secure other funding to offset the shortfall in NSFAS accommodation funding.
   • From a high of 40% in 2022, the percentage of students on financial aid has reduced to 35% of the undergraduate South African enrolments.
   • NSFAS remains the single largest source of financial aid for students as 5 356 (93%) received NSFAS funding, 45 (1%) received UCT Financial Aid, 123 (2%) received GAP Funding, and 223 (4%) received funding from ISFAP and other financial need funders.
   • There were 5 747 students whose gross household income fell below R600 000.
   • Fee relief measures were implemented to enable registration for 2025, while funding was also sourced from faculties and other donors to assist students.