All lectures and tests at the University of Cape Town (UCT) were suspended in anticipation of student protesting today. UCT management made this decision pending Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande’s announcement concerning the 2017 fee increase.
UCT vice-chancellor Max Price explained that one of the reasons behind the shutdown was to give management time to reflect on the announcement without having to deal with protestors at the same time. Today Price addressed the increase of fees. He said that “for us to continue delivering the level of education we’re doing, next year would require a revenue increase of 8 percent”.
However UCT management does realise that the student movements will not accept this.
“We support the view that education has become unaffordable for the significant part of the student population,” Price said.
As a response Price has proposed that the university allocates as much money as it can to the poor students while not allocating money to the rich students. He has suggested that families that can afford to pay the suggested fees for 2017 should not benefit from a 0 percent fee increase once again.
