Dear colleagues and students
This campus announcement aims to inform the UCT community about recent developments on campus.
1. Women’s month event
For the first time, three University of Cape Town (UCT) female leaders will come under one virtual roof to commemorate women’s month. Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng will host a celebratory virtual Women’s Day event on Thursday, 13 August via Microsoft Teams. The programme will include Chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe, who will give the keynote address, and Chair of Council, Ms Babalwa Ngonyama, who will deliver a vote of thanks.
Two years ago, Professor Phakeng launched the For Womxm by Womxn research grants to create more opportunities for womxn. These grants focus on training postgraduates and postdoctoral fellows, with an emphasis on building capacity among black South African women and transgender researchers.
2. Update on COVID-19 cases
UCT has 119 reported COVID-19 cases as at 11 August 2020. This includes 89 non-health sciences staff members, of which 67 recoveries have been reported. The number of students’ cases is 30, which includes nine Faculty of Health Sciences students on clinical platforms. The university has sadly lost nine staff members and one student due to the virus.
3. Assessment, dropping courses and fee rebates in the second semester
The university has just commenced the second semester and on 3 August Senate approved that the extension of remote teaching to the fourth term requires the modality of assessment to be consistent with the first semester approach. Data from the results of the first semester to the Student Access Survey supports the continuation of the pass/fail approach for all first semester half (F) courses.
During the first semester the deadline for dropping courses, with 100% fee rebate, could reduce course load where students felt that they could not cope under remote teaching. With the second semester already having started in remote learning mode, the deadline for dropping courses, with the associated full fee rebate, has moved from 7 August 2020 to 16 August 2020.
4. UCT reissues funding call for sustainability campus projects
The university has made funds available that focus on establishing and strengthening all forms of sustainability in UCT campuses. This call was first issued before the lockdown brought about by COVID-19. Due to the pandemic, the way in which environmental, social and financial sustainability is viewed has shifted and thus it is important that this topic is viewed within complexities that have emerged over the past months.
The new submission deadline for proposals is 1 October 2020, with an anticipated date of 1 January 2021 for the start of the project. This reissued call contains updates and revisions to the original call that was released in February 2020.
5. Student Wellness compulsory weekly webinars continuing
A series of compulsory webinars is being hosted by Student Wellness Service (SWS) for the limited number of students invited to return to campus. The webinars are inclusive of presentations on COVID-19 preventative measures and other related information available to students. Each webinar includes a Q&A session where students can engage with the panellists. Pre-registration is not required. The next sessions are scheduled for 18 and 25 August from 11:00 to 12:00.
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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.
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 PhakengWith 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.
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.