UCT's response to Mr Lucky Thekisho of HETN

18 July 2014

The University of Cape Town has taken note of the points discussed by Mr Lucky Thekisho, the Chairperson of the Board of the Higher Education Transformation Network, regarding the new admissions policy at UCT.

I refer Mr Thekisho and other interested readers to www.uct.ac.za, where UCT provides an explanation of the new admissions policy and how it is expected to accelerate the admission of black students beginning with the 2016 first-year intake. And on behalf of UCT I repeat our invitation for a meeting with the HETN executive to discuss the new policy.

I need to address the following facts behind the admissions policy, which are misrepresented in Mr Thekisho's letter:

1. Race has not been removed from the new admissions policy; indeed, it is a factor in two segments of the policy where race will be considered in an admissions decision. This is explained more fully at www.uct.ac.za.

2. HETN's letter appears to assume that black applicants cannot be accepted to university on merit alone. This assumption is incorrect.

3. Obstacles to transformation of academic staff are discussed in an article on www.uct.ac.za by Dr Price titled"Staff transformation at UCT". To summarise, the slow pace of transformation at the level of full professors is a sector-wide problem. UCT is seeking to address this problem in a number of ways, as are other universities in South Africa.

4.   No political party had any influence in the adoption of the new admissions policy.

Professor Sandra Klopper writes in her capacity as Acting Vice-Chancellor of UCT while Dr Price is on leave.

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