Durban - Students protested on Monday outside the gates at the Unisa Smiso Nkwanyana campus in Durban over a range of grievances, including issues with the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS).
A memorandum of demands was handed to the institution’s regional director Joyce Myeza.
More than 100 aggrieved students took part in the protest.
In their memorandum, the students said they wanted the university to accommodate students who were doing higher certificate courses and wanted the university management to intervene in NSFAS-related issues.
One of the protesters, Bongiwe Majola, said she was shocked when her registration was cancelled earlier this month.
She appealed to both Unisa and NSFAS to immediately intervene and fix these issues. She added that she had been funded by NSFAS for the past three years and did not know why she was not being funded for this year.
Student Representative Council (SRC) chairperson at Unisa Lungile Nhlenyama said the most pressing issue was the student registrations that were cancelled last week, adding that most returning students were affected.
“NSFAS did not update accounts for returning students on time. There are two systems, the Unisa system and the NSFAS system. So Unisa has to cancel registrations if payments were not made by NSFAS.
“We tried to engage Unisa to accommodate those affected students, but then there are documents that are needed, (which) students cannot provide like the acknowledgement of debt form,” said Nhlenyama.
An official from Unisa in Durban said the university was aware that students were having a challenge with NSFAS and the issues raised in the memorandum would be addressed.
Unisa acknowledged a request for comment yesterday, but had not responded by the time of publication.