Important: Student access survey & conditions for receiving a loan laptop

01 April 2020
 

Dear undergraduate and postgraduate students

We hope you are well under the prevailing circumstances and are taking care of yourselves.

As the university leadership prepares to continue academic work in the context of COVID-19, it is vital that we understand your circumstances, and that we explain clearly how we as the leadership are able to help.

We are therefore writing with an important request, and to provide guidance on the approach that the University of Cape Town (UCT) will use to allocate laptop computers.

We are asking ALL STUDENTS to complete the Student Access Survey as soon as possible, even if you have recently completed a similar survey from UCT. The survey asks questions about the conditions where you are now living and how those conditions will affect your ability to study. These include your access to Wi-Fi and the Internet; access to a quiet place for dedicated study or research; the hours when you expect to be able to study or do research, among others.

It is very important that you provide us with the information requested in the survey. The sooner the university receives your reply, the sooner we can process the students who need help.

Conditions for receiving a laptop computer from UCT

As you will understand, due to both cost and availability UCT cannot distribute computers to all the students who do not have devices (including those who had them but lost them through theft or an accident). For this reason, it was necessary to develop criteria and special conditions for allocating the limited number of computers that are available. The overarching criteria should be financial need.

The laptops to be distributed will be allocated only to students in these categories:

  • undergraduate South African students who are on financial aid or are eligible for financial aid and are residing in South Africa;
  • postgraduate South African students who are on financial aid or are eligible for financial aid and are residing in South Africa;
  • GAP funded students, either undergraduate or postgraduate, who are residing in South Africa;
  • tutors in undergraduate courses who are also postgraduate students; and
  • sponsored South African students who do not have computers through their funders.

The computers will be loan laptops – not a donation – and they must be returned to UCT at the end of the 2020 academic programme. If the laptop is returned after the 2020 academic programme, there will be no cost to the student. The laptops will be issued to students at a cost of R4 150 that will serve as a deposit, to be charged to the student’s fee account. This charge will be reversed once the laptop is returned after the completion of the 2020 academic programme.

To make it possible to allocate these laptops, UCT needs to cross-check the information we have from Financial Aid, the Postgraduate Office and the faculties with the information we are asking from you in this survey.

While UCT understands the difficulties faced by UCT students who are living in neighbouring countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), we regret that UCT is unable to provide laptops to foreign students in those countries. The logistics are simply not available. SADC and other foreign students without access to computers, as well as South African students who have no online connectivity, will be given an opportunity to catch up with their studies through blended learning (which combines online lectures and face-to-face tutorials) once the university is able to reopen. The academic calendar will be adjusted so that students are not prejudiced in terms of the length of their studies and their funding.

In the meantime, stay healthy and take care of yourselves. We as the UCT leadership are doing our best to be present for you in these difficult circumstances.

With warm regards,

Prof Loretta Feris – DVC: Student Affairs
Prof Sue Harrison – DVC: Research
A/Prof Lis Lange – DVC: Teaching and Learning


Updates will be posted on UCT’s Coronavirus Disease 2019 feature page on the UCT News website.


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UCT’s response to COVID-19

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 with the latest COVID-19 information. Please note that the information on this page is subject to change depending on current lockdown regulations.

Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla, has in June 2022 repealed some of South Africa’s remaining COVID-19 regulations: namely, sections 16A, 16B and 16C of the Regulations Relating to the Surveillance and the Control of Notifiable Medical Conditions under the National Health Act. We are now no longer required to wear masks or limit gatherings. Venue restrictions and checks for travellers coming into South Africa have now also been removed.

In July 2022, the University of Cape Town (UCT) revised its approach to managing the COVID-19 pandemic on UCT campuses in 2022.
Read the latest document available on the UCT policies web page.

 

Campus communications

 
2022

Adjusting to our new environment 16:50, 23 June 2022
VC Open Lecture and other updates 17:04, 13 April 2022
Feedback from UCT Council meeting of 12 March 2022 09:45, 18 March 2022
UCT Council
March 2022 graduation celebration 16:45, 8 March 2022
Report on the meeting of UCT Council of 21 February 2022 19:30, 21 February 2022
UCT Council
COVID-19 management 2022 11:55, 14 February 2022
Return to campus arrangements 2022 11:15, 4 February 2022

UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre

On Wednesday, 20 July, staff from the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences came together with representatives from the Western Cape Government at the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre at Forest Hill Residence to acknowledge the centre’s significance in the fight against COVID-19 and to thank its staff for their contributions. The centre opened on 1 September 2021 with the aim of providing quality vaccination services to UCT staff, students and the nearby communities, as well as to create an opportunity for medical students from the Faculty of Health Sciences to gain practical public health skills. The vaccination centre ceased operations on Friday, 29 July 2022.

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.

 

“After almost a year of operation, the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, located at the Forest Hill residence complex in Mowbray, will close on Friday, 29 July 2022. I am extremely grateful and proud of all staff, students and everyone involved in this important project.”
– Vice-Chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng

With the closure of the UCT Community of Hope Vaccination Centre, if you still require access to a COVID-19 vaccination site please visit the CovidComms SA website to find an alternative.


Thank You UCT Community

Frequently asked questions

 

Global Citizen Asks: Are COVID-19 Vaccines Safe & Effective?

UCT’s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IDM) collaborated with Global Citizen, speaking to trusted experts to dispel vaccine misinformation.



If you have further questions about the COVID-19 vaccine check out the FAQ produced by the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation (DTHF). The DTHF has developed a dedicated chat function where you can ask your vaccine-related questions on the bottom right hand corner of the website.

IDM YouTube channel | IDM website
 

 

“As a contact university, we look forward to readjusting our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in 2023 as the COVID-19 regulations have been repealed.”
– Prof Harsha Kathard, Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

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.

 

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