Dear CUT Staff and Students

Greetings to you all and hope that you are well, under the circumstances.

The President of the Republic of South Africa, Honourable Cyril Ramaphosa, in his address on Sunday, the 25th of July 2021, announced that the country is moved to Adjusted Alert Level 3 with immediate effect. The President’s announcement came at a time when the first semester Main Assessments have been re-scheduled for Friday, 30 July –Tuesday 17 August 2021. 

Since it is too late to change the plans for each faculty, therefore, the revised plans for each faculty towards completing contact classes and for the first semester Main Assessment, which were communicated to you on 19 July 2021, will remain as follows:

Faculty of Engineering, Built Environmental and Information Technology (FEBIT)

• All practicals in FEBIT were concluded by Wednesday, the 30th of June 2021.
• All subjects in FEBIT are scheduled for on-line assessments.
• The only subject for students of FEBIT that is scheduled for F-2-F is a service subject (Chemistry) serviced by FHES that is scheduled for an on-campus assessment. This subject’s assessment is a matter for FHES to handle.
• FEBIT can continue with main assessment from 30 July to 17 August 2021.
• Main Assessment may be both tests and assignments.
• The 2021 assessment guidelines will apply.

Faculty of Humanities (FHUM)

• All practicals in FHUM were concluded by Wednesday, the 30th of June 2021.
• All subjects in FHUM are scheduled for on-line assessments.
• FHUM can continue with main assessment from 30 July to 17 August 2021.
• Main Assessment may be both tests and assignments.
• The 2021 assessment guidelines will apply.

Faculty of Management Sciences (FMS)

• The backlog varies between 1 to 3 weeks and tests are also outstanding in some cases.
• We will continue with the main online assessment from 30 July to 17 August 2021 since it will cover by far the majority of subjects.
• The contact classes at stake are predominantly in the Hotel School and Department in Accounting and Auditing – and also in the learning programme in Office Management and Technology (OMT) to a lesser extent.
  We will have to find a way to complete the outstanding practical/lab subjects as soon as students are allowed back on campus since there is no way in which we can conclude them online. This needs to be done before we can start with the second semester for these specific subjects.

It includes the following students:

• Second-year Hotel School students: 3 weeks in groups of 18 students. The provisional date of return to campus for these students is on 19 August 2021. Confirmation will be sent from the Hotel School to students in due time.
• Third-year Hotel School students: 3 weeks in groups of 14 students. The provisional date of return to campus for these students is on 19 August 2021. Confirmation will be sent from the Hotel School to students in due time.
• Department of Accounting and Auditing (FIL 21 AB; FIL 31 AB; ATS 11AB – in total 223 students in Bloemfontein and 133 in Welkom respectively). The provisional date of return to campuses for these students is on 16 August 2021. Confirmation will be sent from the Department to students in due time. There are also other continuous evaluation (CE) subjects (e.g. BNE41AB and PRSD216) that have either one or two ONLINE assessments outstanding from 19 July until 28 July 2021.
• In OMT we can continue online but we know from experience that some students who work from their smartphones will be unable to access the Word 365 software. Therefore, these students will need access to the Library and Student Academic Support Centre.

Regarding Main Assessment:

• Main Assessment may be both tests and assignments.
• The 2021 assessment guidelines will apply.

Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences (FHES)

• Contact classes were completed by Wednesday, the 30th of June 2021 (for semester modules) and can continue with the main assessment as per the revised calendar.
• Since most of our students are required to do WIL and practical assessments in the practices, that must continue otherwise the students will not be able to meet the requirements from the HPCSA to progress or graduate. Thus, it will be business as usual for WIL conducted in hospitals/clinics for various programmes in the FHES. The practical modules (RDP5000, RDP6000, RDP7000 and RDP8000) must be on campus.
• The clinical competency assessments (practical assessments) are scheduled for 10 and 12 August and will continue on campus in the Radiography skills venues. Students will attend in small groups and individually with all COVID-19 protocols in place. All students are already in Bloemfontein attending workplace learning.
• All assessments for the Department of Health Sciences will be conducted online, except for the Clinical Technology programme. However, students with connectivity and device issues may make use of the relevant, on-campus facilities.
• For students in the Clinical Technology (medical field) an open book/online exam is not an option. Therefore, the assessment model was amended and the mid-year exam for the year modules of the programme has been waived. As a result, the Clinical Technology students will write only one on-campus assessment at the end of the academic year (instead of two) which will be a combination of semester 1 and 2 assessments. The facilitation of these Clinical technology year modules will continue during the mid-term assessment period, as per CUT and COVID regulations (e.g. online theory and face-to-face practical sessions).
• For ECP: Health Sciences, main assessment opportunity for semester 1 was moved to the proposed 2-20 August timeframe. (For level 3 = sit-down assessments in two separate venues, for level 4 = online). September recess was moved to the proposed 6-10 September. ECP health sciences use continuous assessment and will complete the last scheduled assessments between 1-19 November with special assessments scheduled between 29 November and 3 December (hopefully sit down).
• All theoretical assessments for first to third-year students will be written online using the Respondus lockdown browser. Students qualifying for supplementary assessments (48-49%) for assessments completed during 31 May-18 June will be written on campus in the two separate venues if the country moves to level 3. Assessments for final year Radiography students will be written on campus. Radiography module PRP8011 (for the 4th years- on the 06th of August 2021) will be having online exams, but they will be written on campus and be monitored in CUT computer labs so that students with device issues can be catered for and those with connectivity issues can be assisted on the spot.
• The department of Agriculture switched to online teaching on 21 June 2021. All the modules for 1st and 3rd years will be assessed online.

Prof. DP Ngidi

Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning

Download the DVC Communique, 28 July 2021 (PDF)