Women’s month event and other updates

12 August 2020 | Campus Announcement

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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Coronavirus Disease 2019 updates

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.

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.

Frequently asked questions

 

Daily updates


Friday, 5 February 14:20, 5 February 2021
Monday, 4 January 16:50, 4 January 2021
Friday, 18 December 11:30, 18 December 2020
Thursday, 19 November 09:30, 19 November 2020
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Thursday, 19 March 09:15, 19 March 2020
Wednesday, 18 March 16:00, 18 March 2020
Tuesday, 17 March 12:50, 17 March 2020
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Campus communications

 
2020

New SRC and other updates 16:44, 4 November 2020
Virtual graduation ceremonies 13:30, 21 October 2020
Online staff assembly and other updates 15:09, 30 September 2020
Fee adjustments and other updates 15:21, 16 September 2020
Call for proposals: TLC2020 10:15, 26 August 2020
SAULM survey and other updates 15:30, 5 August 2020
COVID-19 cases and other updates 15:26, 5 August 2020
New UCT Council and other updates 15:12, 15 July 2020
Upcoming UCT virtual events 09:30, 15 July 2020
Pre-paid data for UCT students 14:25, 22 April 2020
Update for postgraduate students 12:55, 20 April 2020
UCT Human Resources and COVID-19 16:05, 19 March 2020
UCT confirms second COVID-19 case 09:15, 19 March 2020
Update on UCT COVID-19 response 13:50, 11 March 2020
Update on COVID-19 17:37, 6 March 2020

Resources

Video messages from the Department of Medicine

Getting credible, evidence-based, accessible information and recommendations relating to COVID-19

The Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, are producing educational video material for use on digital platforms and in multiple languages. The information contained in these videos is authenticated and endorsed by the team of experts based in the Department of Medicine. Many of the recommendations are based on current best evidence and are aligned to provincial, national and international guidelines. For more information on UCT’s Department of Medicine, please visit the website.


To watch more videos like these, visit the Department of Medicine’s YouTube channel.

Useful information from UCT

External resources


News and opinions


Statements and media releases


Media releases



Read more  

Statements from Government



 
 

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.

 

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