DASO UCT rejects race-based admission policy and proposes fairer alternative
Note to editors: The following statement was distributed during a DASO press conference held at UCT this morning.
The Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (DASO) has made a submission to the Commission into UCT Student Admissions rejecting the current admissions policy, which seeks to achieve specific racial targets and uses race as the sole criterion for disadvantage.
The aim of the Admissions Policy at the University of Cape Town (UCT) needs to shift from trying to artificially achieve predetermined racial outcomes and should aim instead at achieving equality of opportunity to in order to realise genuine redress.
Equality of opportunity can be achieved by selecting applicants who have either demonstrated their academic ability or who have demonstrated the potential to achieve excellent academic outcomes despite an inadequate primary and secondary education.
Universities must play their part in achieving redress, and they do through programmes that work with schools to help improve learner pass rates and grades in key subjects as well as through intervention programmes that help to bridge the gap between potential and demonstrable ability.