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Thousands of graduates could potentially receive their academic certificates following a lucrative fundraising gala dinner hosted by the WSU Convocation Executive (ConvEx) in a bid to solicit funding towards clearing student debt at the university.
The public and private sector alike made a monumental contribution to the university at the gala dinner when these stakeholders collaborated to raise at least R35 million during the launch of the Graduate Debt Clearance Fund held at the East London Golf Club recently.
In academic use, convocation refers to a statutory body of all of an institution's alumni that assists the university with fund-raising activities.
On hand to bear witness to this watershed moment was the university’s chair of Council, representatives from the institution’s executive management, the local business community, government, staff, Convocants and friends of the university.
Speaking under the theme “Collaboration and Partnership for Graduate Debt Clearance”, Convocation secretary general Misheck Mugabe set the tone for the rest of the night by painting a well-crated context regarding the student debt crisis in the country and its impact in relation to WSU.
“Universities South Africa (USAf) recently indicated that the total national debt has snowballed to above R16,5 billion causing a serious threat to the sustainability of higher education. Here at WSU the ballooning student debt is now at approximately R1,3 billion and about 34 000 graduates are owing the university. The idea of this kind of event is to ensure that graduates who find the burden of debt struggle to be too heavy and too exhausting, are able to get their certificates thereby enabling them to be employable,” said Mugabe.
He said the dinner was to kick-start a multi-stakeholder strategy encompassing both the public and private sector – an approach, in his view, that would go a fair way in ensuring students obtain their certificates so they can be employed and in turn give back to the university.
In his remarks when launching the fund, ConvEx president, Dr Lunga Mantashe, sought to provide a contextual analysis of the “catch 22” challenge the university faces regarding the student “debt trap”.
“I call this the catch 22 situation because the university wants the student to pay what they owe to it. On the other hand, the student wants the certificate so they can go into the job market and secure employment so they can be able to settle their debts to the university. This is where this initiative and others like it that will follow are critical because they seek to help students settle their debts and thereby allowing them to obtain their certificates so they can enter the job market,” said Dr Mantashe.
He assured donors and potential donors that strict governance processes had been established regarding the handling of the funds and that all moneys would be used exclusively for their intended purposes.
The night’s biggest donation came from the Eastern Cape Office of the Premier which injected R20 million into the fund, to gasps of amazement and rapturous applause.
WSU alumnus and special advisor to the EC Premier, Zuko Godlimpi, outlined the importance of sourcing of funds by Convocation, particularly in light of the ever-shrinking fiscal allocation to universities from national government.
“In light of a fiscal base that continues towards a downward trajectory, there’s an obligation for us all to find creative ways to draw up alternative sources of funding so that our university sector can be sustainable. As part of this initiative, the premier of the province took a decision to contribute R20 million towards the settling of student debt at this university,” said Godlimpi.
Other notable contributions included a R1 million debt forgiveness scheme from the University Council; R100 000 donation from the VC’s office; R100 000 from Avbob; R100 000 from ConVex; R100 000 from the SRC; R20 000 from a union, and purchases of artwork worth approximately R100 000 from a local businessperson.
By Thando Cezula
