Albertina Nakale
Windhoek-Some prospective students who have qualified for, and applied at, the University of Namibia (Unam) for studies are in limbo over their admission status as the institution has not yet given them feedback on whether they have been accepted or not.
Over the years until last year, all students who applied for studies at Unam were normally informed about their
admission status by December, which gave them ample time to apply elsewhere if their application was rejected.
Aggrieved students who spoke to New Era yesterday raised concern that they do not know their fate, while Unam’s registration for first year students will start on Monday next week, January 22, until January 30 across all campuses. Senior students are expected to start registration today online until February 2, while postgraduates will start registration on January 31 to February 2. For late registration, Unam will extend the process from February 7 – 9 for all students across all campuses at a flat fee of N$600 payable excluding for the health sciences campus
Students say the delay will jeopardise their chances of securing financial assistance since the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) already opened its online registration application on Friday to end on February 28. For a student to seek any financial assistance she or he must be in possession of an admission letter from a university.
Those affected allege that their student portals have since last year November to date been displaying a message, “Its [application letter] forwarded to the faculty for consideration.”
A qualifying student who wrote her Grade 12 last year and obtained 32 points in five subjects says this message has been on the portal since they received their acknowledgement letters on November 27 last year.
According to the worried students, whenever they seek answers from the respective faculty officers regarding their admission letter, they are told to bear with the university as they will apparently be told whether they are admitted or not before registration starts.
“We are concerned because Unam is delaying the process for us to know whether we are admitted or not. It’s getting very late for us to apply at other universities if we are not taken by Unam. We feel that they should give us our admission letters so that we can apply for financial assistance,” complained a student. Moreover, other affected students say their portals are showing a message, “Application provisionally verified.”
However, these students said that when they contacted the faculty officers for feedback, the officers said they didn’t receive anything from “student records” while student records are sending them back to the faculty officers. “It is really a mess but we need to know our application status. The registration date is approaching and we are just hanging in the air. We are very disappointed by Unam, which is regarded as a national university. Their services are disappointing,” an aggrieved student bemoaned. In response, Unam spokesperson Simon Namesho said some of the affected students’ cases are due to their not being admitted for their first choice of field of study.
He explained that they are expected to get their response for their second choice field of study before the end of this month.
However, he urged students to continually enquire with their faculty officers to find out their fate since some of them were not taken for their first choice field of study.
“I will advise they should wait when registration starts and continue to enquire with the faculty officers on available space which they desire to study in,” he noted.
For all Unam campuses, there are compulsory minimum deposits for 2018, which include a total package registration fee of N$2,000 for Namibian students, of which N$1,425 is a registration fee and N$575 a connectivity fee. SADC students are required to pay a total package of N$4,500, which includes N$1,425 registration fee, N$575 connectivity fee and N$2,500 for an international student levy.
Non-SADC students are required to pay a total package of N$4,500, which includes N$1,425 registration fee, N$575 connectivity fee and N$2,500 as an international student levy.