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This report was produced by the EBE Postgraduate Student Council
Research Group (EBEPGSC Research Group 2018) in collaboration
with the UCT EBE Postgraduate Student Council (EBEPGSC). The
report aims to give an outlook on the University of Cape Town
postgraduate student Cost of Attendance (CoA) and funding outlook.
AUTHORS: Gcinisizwe Dlamini, Reuben Dlamini, Thobani Gambu, De
Waal Hugo, Thabo Mabuka, Sikozile Ncembu, Adli Peck, Brenda
Mehlo, Eugene Fotso Simo
EDITORS: Thabo Mabuka, De Waal Hugo, Eugene Fotso Simo
For any queries regarding this report. Please contact:
Email: [email protected]
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Contents
LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................... 5
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................. 6
LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................ ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.
1 CURRENT POSTGRADUATE FUNDING FRAMEWORK ................................................ 7
1.1 LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY LANDSCAPE .................................................................................. 7
1.1.1 OVERARCHING ISSUES ....................................................................................................... 7
1.1.2 NATIONAL FUNDING FORMULAS AND FRAMEWORKS ............................................................... 8
1.1.3 DEMOCRACY AND SUBSEQUENT PLANNED CHANGES ............................................................. 9
1.1.4 INITIAL IMPLEMENTATION AND GOALS ................................................................................. 11
1.1.5 REASSESSMENT AND EMERGENT ISSUES ........................................................................... 12
1.1.6 EARMARKED FUNDING ...................................................................................................... 13
1.1.7 NRF AND NEW WHITE PAPER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ............................................. 14
1.2 MAJOR THEMES AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................... 15
1.2.1 CONTRACTION OF GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE .................................................................. 15
1.2.2 STRATEGIC EXPANSION OF RESEARCH ACTIVITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT .................................. 15
1.2.3 EQUITABLE FUNDING PARADIGMS ...................................................................................... 16
1.2.4 LINKAGE TO POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF LIVING ....................................................... 17
1.2.5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 18
2 HISTORY OF FUNDING MODELS IN SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES ........................ 19
2.1 THE HOLLOWAY FORMULA (1953) ..................................................................................... 19
2.2 THE VAN WYK DE VRIES FORMULA (1977) ......................................................................... 20
2.3 SAPSE FORMULA (1984) ................................................................................................ 21
2.4 THE NEW FUNDING FRAMEWORK (NFF) STRUCTURE ........................................................... 22
2.4.1 BLOCK GRANTS ............................................................................................................... 22
2.4.2 EARMARKED GRANTS ....................................................................................................... 23
2.5 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................ 23
3 UCT POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF ATTENDANCE AND FUNDING OUTLOOK
.......................................................................................................................................... 24
3.1 UCT POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF ATTENDANCE AND FUNDING OUTLOOK BACKGROUND .. 24
3.1.1 RESEARCH AND POSTGRADUATE DILEMMA IN SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES ........................ 24
3.1.2 DEFINITION OF UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF ATTENDANCE
(LIVING) ................................................................................................................................... 27
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3.2 UCT STUDENT OVERALL POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF LIVING OUTLOOK ......................... 30
3.2.1 COST OF ATTENDANCE FOR UCT HONOURS STUDENTS ....................................................... 30
3.2.2 COST OF ATTENDANCE FOR UCT MASTER’S STUDENTS ....................................................... 34
3.2.3 COST OF ATTENDANCE FOR UCT DOCTORAL STUDENTS ..................................................... 37
3.3 UCT STUDENT COST OF LIVING EXPENSES OUTLOOK ............................................................ 40
3.3.1 UCT POSTGRADUATE TUITION OUTLOOK............................................................................ 40
3.3.2 UCT POSTGRADUATE ACCOMMODATION ........................................................................... 41
3.3.3 UCT POSTGRADUATE TRANSPORT (TO AND FROM WORK AND VACATION) ............................. 47
3.3.4 UCT STUDENT FOOD COSTS ............................................................................................ 49
3.3.5 UCT STUDENT TOILETRIES COSTS .................................................................................... 50
3.3.6 DATA COSTS ................................................................................................................... 51
3.3.7 UCT MEDICAL COVER COSTS ........................................................................................... 52
3.3.8 UCT POSTGRADUATE DEPENDENTS’ COST ........................................................................ 53
UCT POSTGRADUATE FUNDING EXPERIENCES: THE REALITY ON THE GROUND ............................... 54
RECOMMENDATIONS (EBEPGSC RESEARCH GROUP) ................................................. 58
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 59
APPENDIX......................................................................................................................... 62
UCT FACULTY POSTGRADUATE TUITION RAW DATA (2015-2018) ................................................ 62
FACULTY OF COMMERCE .......................................................................................................... 62
FACULTY OF EBE .................................................................................................................... 64
FACULTY OF HEALTH SCIENCES ................................................................................................ 65
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES .......................................................................................................... 68
FACULTY OF LAW ..................................................................................................................... 70
FACULTY OF SCIENCE ............................................................................................................... 71
DATA USED IN EBEPGSC RESEARCH GROUP UCT POSTGRADUATE STUDENT COST OF LIVING MODEL
.............................................................................................................................................. 72
UCT POSTGRADUATE ACCOMMODATION ..................................................................... 74
UCT 3RD TIER RESIDENCES COSTS .......................................................................................... 74
UCT OFF CAMPUS ACCOMMODATION COSTS............................................................................. 75
UCT POSTGRADUATE TRANSPORT (TO AND FROM WORK) .......................................................... 76
UCT STUDENT TRANSPORT (VACATION) .................................................................................. 77
UCT STUDENT TOILETRIES .................................................................................................... 78
DATA COSTS ........................................................................................................................ 79
UCT POSTGRADUATE DEPENDENT COSTS ............................................................................... 80
UCT MEDICAL COVER .......................................................................................................... 81
UCT POSTGRADUATE FUNDING EXPERIENCES .......................................................................... 82
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List of Figures
Figure 8: UCT Honours average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
........................................................................................................................ 31
Figure 9: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance
for UCT honours students (2015 -2018) .......................................................... 33
Figure 10: UCT Master’s average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
........................................................................................................................ 34
Figure 11: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance
for UCT master’s students (2015 -2018) .......................................................... 36
Figure 12: UCT Doctoral average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
........................................................................................................................ 37
Figure 13: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance
for UCT doctoral students (2015 -2018) ........................................................... 39
Figure 14: UCT average accommodation costs on and off campus (2015-2018)
........................................................................................................................ 42
Figure 15: UCT average rates of increase of accommodation cost on and off
campus (2015-2018) ....................................................................................... 42
Figure 16: UCT on campus accommodation costs (2015-2020) ...................... 43
Figure 17: UCT off campus accommodation costs (2015-2020) ...................... 45
Figure 18: Response by UCT postgraduates on their rental costs. .................. 46
Figure 19: UCT postgraduate transport costs (to and from work) (2015-2020) . 48
Figure 20: UCT postgraduate transport costs (vacation) (2015-2020) .............. 48
Figure 21: UCT accomodation ......................................................................... 49
Figure 22: UCT student toiletry costs (2015-2020) ........................................... 50
Figure 23: UCT student data costs (2015-2020) .............................................. 51
Figure 24: UCT student medical cover costs (2015-2020) ............................... 52
Figure 25: UCT postgraduate dependent costs (2015-2020) ........................... 53
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List of Tables Table 1: UCT honours average student cost of attendance breakdown between
2015-2020 ....................................................................................................... 32
Table 2: UCT Master’s average student cost of attendance breakdown between
2015-2020 ....................................................................................................... 35
Table 3: UCT Doctoral average student cost of attendance breakdown between
2015-2020 ....................................................................................................... 38
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1 Current postgraduate funding framework
The organisational and policy systems which govern postgraduate funding can
arguably be two sides of the same coin, as the institutions and actors which are
involved in postgraduate funding by and large derive their mandates from the
various elements which make up the funding legislative and policy environment.
The following sections therefore aim towards providing a pragmatic view of the
current framework by considering this system and some of the historical
developments which make up the current policy environment. It also aims to draw
out major themes and conclusions with respect to postgraduate funding.
1.1 Legislative and policy landscape 1.1.1 Overarching issues
There are several legislative and policy instruments which play a role in creating
the regulatory environment which governs postgraduate funding. At the same
time, essentially none of these documents are focused solely on this matter, and
so the true nature of the regulation is somewhat disseminated. In addition, there
have also been various developments and changes to this system in the past
decades, with these changes reflecting the changing nature of the higher
education landscape in South Africa. Indeed, the status quo of postgraduate
funding can only be understood in the context of these historical developments.
According to Cloete (2006) (referencing Johnstone, 1998), there have been five
themes or overarching concerns which have driven this process in the broader
higher education landscape over the last 30 years: Firstly, and most importantly,
the system has grappled with the numerous implications of diversification1 and
expansion of access to higher education with respect to enrolment and
participation – although many issues remain, the current arrangement is one far
removed from the apartheid-era university and technikon system. One of these
implications is of course changes to the funding framework. Secondly and
relatedly, there has been increased fiscal pressure on universities due to
1 This refers to changes to the national structure of higher education, including new institutional mandates and amalgamation of campuses into new institutions. This refers to changes to the national structure of higher education, including new institutional mandates and amalgamation of campuses into new institutions. 2 It is worth nothing here that a recent report names some South African universities, and Wits in particular, as having some of the highest rates of industry income worldwide.
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decreasing per-student government subsidies (in real terms). This idea is
repeated in several statements and data stemming from different parties – c.f.
Heher (2017), Cherry (1997) as well as DHET (2013a).
As such, there has been an increased reliance placed on non-governmental
sources of income (i.e. stemming from tuition fees as well as so-called third-
stream income2). In addition to placing increased strain on students and their
families, this development also affects the equitability of the system, as different
institutions are not able to attract the same amounts of third-stream funding for
largely historical reasons (Heher, 2017).
There have also been calls for increased accountability within the system from
staff and students, as well as in terms of the usage of taxpayer-funded resources.
Relatedly and finally, there have also been understandable demands made in
terms of greater quality and efficiency within the system. These themes have
arisen in the context of a number of explicit policy and legislative changes:
1.1.2 National funding formulas and frameworks
Internationally, there are three major funding frameworks used by governments
to determine the level and distribution of funding to higher education institutions –
incremental funding, formula-based or performance-based respectively (DHET,
2013a). In practice, a combination of these is typically used to address different
aspects of the funding landscape.
In South Africa, the system has largely been funded according to a formula-based
model. Introduced in 1982, the South African Post-Secondary Education
(SAPSE) funding formula built on the previous funding formulas which had been
used (Holloway and Van Wyk/De Vries, respectively3) (Steyn, 2002). It is
important to note that at this stage, only historically white institutions were funded
according to this process, whilst other institutions (including technikons) were
funded under a system of “negotiated budgets”. The cutting edge of this
distinction was felt in the increased government oversight associated with the
budgeting process, as opposed to the case of formula-based funding where
2 The following section provides more information on the distinctions between these. 2 The idea that higher education is both a private and public good, and that the cost should therefore be shared between student and state. 3 The following section provides more information on the distinctions between these.
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individual institutions had considerable autonomy in the use of funds provided
(Cloete, 2006).
By 1988 however the use of the funding formula had been extended to include
both technikons and historically black institutions (Steyn, 2002; Cloete, 2006). At
this stage, the formula took on the following form: central was an assessment of
“subsidy units”, a function of the number of enrolled and completing students as
well as factors for libraries, maintenance etc. These subsidy units were also
scaled depending on whether they were associated with either the humanities or
the natural sciences, reflecting the understanding that different fields of study
required different amounts of resources. Similarly, different levels of study were
also weighted differently (e.g. doctoral students attracted four times the funding
as undergraduates) (Steyn, 2002; Cloete, 2006).
These factors were then used to calculate gross funding totals which
hypothetically reflected the amount of subsidy required to fund institutional
activities. As a result of the cost-sharing principle4, however, the amount
ultimately disbursed was this gross value minus the amount of funding institutions
were able to source from student fees and third-stream income.
Lastly, very soon after the introduction of the formula, even these net values
exceeded the amount budgeted for higher education funding and so the amount
provided was scaled to match using so-called “a-factors” (Cloete, 2006). The
result (a recurring theme) was that institutions typically increased their tuition fees
to make up the difference – from 1988 to 1993 there was on average a 20% real
increase in fees in the South African higher education sector.
1.1.3 Democracy and subsequent planned changes
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With the transition to democracy, the 1996 Commission on Higher Education
(Cloete, 2006) and the subsequent 1997 White Paper, “A Programme for the
Transformation of Higher Education” (DE, 1997) set the scene for a number of
important changes to the overall funding landscape.
The initial thrust focused on a number of areas in which the SAPSE formula was
deemed to be deficient: a key assumption of the SAPSE formula – that market
forces and competition between universities would create a balanced university
sector producing the required stock of graduates – was rejected in favour of a
policy which would aim to manage enrolment in line with national developmental
objectives (Cloete, 2006; DE, 1997).
Furthermore, the direct linkage between enrolment numbers and funding created
an unsustainable incentive to increase student enrolment, and in practice skewed
enrolment towards certain fields of study (e.g. humanities over natural sciences)
as well as creating an incentive for the expansion of low-cost distance learning
programmes. Similarly, although postgraduate study received a higher formula
weighting, the economic reality was that undergraduate enrolment was financially
incentivised over postgraduate enrolment. Additionally, the formula did not have
any explicit mechanisms for addressing increased equity in terms of disadvantage
and access (Cloete, 2006; DE, 1997).
The recommendations of the 1997 white paper were thus that the SAPSE formula
be dropped for a fundamentally different approach, including a focus on equity,
redress, development, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability as well as
retaining the shared cost principle (DE, 1997). In particular, there would be an
increased role played by government in terms of institutional planning and
national programme enrolment numbers (Cloete, 2006; DE, 1997).
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1.1.4 Initial implementation and goals
Although this policy was disseminated in 1997, it was not until after the 2000
report of the Council on Higher Education, “Towards a New Higher Education
landscape” (CHE, 2000) and the then-Department of Education’s 2001 “National
Plan for Higher Education in South Africa” (DE, 2001) that the policy became
cemented, being introduced in the new university sector in November 2003
(Heher, 2017). This new plan, however, only came into effect in 2004/5 and only
became fully functional from 2007/8 – the implementation of its requirements was
therefore gradually phased in over a number of years (DHET, 2013a).
In 2012, the NDP 2030 was published. Although it reiterated a number of other
policy guidelines when compared to the previous white papers and reports, of
particular relevance for this review was its vision for a university system with
increased knowledge output, increased graduation rates, the establishment and
operation of centres of excellence in research and innovation as well as a goal of
75% of university staff holding PhDs by 2030 (DHET, 2013a). At the same time,
a response to this plan from Higher Education South Africa (HESA), now
Universities South Africa, outlined a number of concerns (HESA, 2012):
Firstly, there was concern about the lack of targets for increasing the availability
of funding for universities with HESA further noting that the share of GDP destined
for higher education had fallen from 0.76% in 2000 to 0.69% in 2009. Secondly,
the planned increase in PhD qualifications would amount to an unrealistic
expansion of output barring a massive financial and infrastructural intervention.
In terms of research specifically, HESA noted that increasing outputs of research
at the time could not be sustained without further increased funding – whilst the
total amount of funding had increased, the amount of research output had
increased more rapidly, resulting in a lower subsidy per research output. Overall,
the consensus of HESA was that “much more input is needed about a stable
funding model” whilst also recommending that 1.5-2% of GDP should be allocated
for research and development expenditure.
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1.1.5 Reassessment and emergent issues
As part of the process of realising the NDP’s 2030 goals, 2013 saw the publication
of two additional documents which lay out visions and assessments of the
university sector: firstly, the DHET’s “Report of the Ministerial Committee for the
Review of the Funding of Universities” (DHET, 2013a) examined the role of
funding mechanisms in terms of their contribution to realising the goals of the
1997 white paper and the 2001 NPHE and made a number of recommendations
along these lines and in terms of the NDP. Secondly, the DHET also promulgated
the “White Paper for Post-School Education and Training (PSET)” (DHET, 2013b)
– although it had a relatively wide ambit, a number of policy statements are laid
out in terms of research and postgraduate funding.
The DHET report included an assessment of the effectiveness of the funding
framework: in particular, it highlighted the low completion rate of entrants into
masters and doctoral students – in 2013, 50% of masters candidates had not
graduated within 9 years. Furthermore, there was a consensus that the level of
government funding was not enough to meet the needs of the public university
system, with the proportion of university funding stemming from government
falling from 49% in 2000 to 41% in 2010 – the report highlighted that there was no
regulatory mechanism to determine the absolute amount of funding appropriate
(in contrast to the funding formula, which essentially determines the distribution
of funds). Even in the context of the cost-sharing principle, the report
acknowledges that the real value of government subsidies should not be allowed
to be eroded as there is a limit to which universities can raise funding from student
fees and third-stream sources (DHET, 2013a).
On the other hand, the report also highlighted the successful use of ring-fenced
funding incentives as the most significant driver for the observed increase in
research outputs since 2005 – although this did not necessarily lead to a
concomitant increase in masters and doctoral graduates, and with its opacity
potentially leading to a degree of abuse in terms of incentivising, inter alia,
quantity over quality in terms of outputs (DHET, 2013a).
In terms of the PSET white paper, there was also a recognition that the number
of enrolments in masters and doctoral programmes was too low, with these
accounting for only 5% and 1% of students respectively in 2011. The white paper
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also recognises the necessity of increasing the number and quality of masters
and doctoral graduates in order to achieve developmental goals dependent on a
research and innovation culture. In this context, the white paper sets out that the
role of the DHET as one of managing the distribution of funds and of generating
support for postgraduate students and researchers, as well as facilitating the
implementation of a more stable funding model for institutions which conduct
research (DHET, 2013b).
The PSET white paper also acknowledged the role that increased doctoral
outputs will play in ensuring that universities remain adequately staffed into the
future – it noted that the rapid expansion of enrolment in the university system had
not been matched by an equivalent increase in the number of academics. Lastly,
the white paper referred to the importance that student financial aid plays within
the higher education landscape in terms of improving accessibility and equity,
although it couches this within the context of cost sharing and the possibility of
graduate service programmes (DHET, 2013b).
1.1.6 Earmarked funding It is important to note the other major funding mechanism for universities –
earmarked funding. This funding is provided for specific purposes as designated
by the minister of higher education (Heher, 2017). This accounts for
approximately 25% of the total funding disbursed to universities from government
(with about half of this going towards funding NSFAS) (DHET, 2013a). The
remainder of the funding is, in principle, to be used for the expansion and
development of infrastructure and capacity as opposed to meeting running costs,
with these purposes generally still within the ambit of overarching policy goals
(DE, 1997). At the same time, the 1997 white paper refers to the use of such
funding for “expanded postgraduate training”, upon application by institutions
(DE, 1997) – with the DHET’s 2013 report providing further elaboration on the use
of this mechanism for “specific research projects” (DHET, 2013a).
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1.1.7 NRF and new white paper for science and technology
Most recently there have been two policy developments which are touch on the
funding of postgraduate and research funding. Firstly, there is the NRF
amendment bill which seeks largely to centralise policy-related decision-making
powers with the ministry rather than delegate these to the NRF itself. Relatedly,
the bill also seeks to slightly modify the objectives of the NRF – its activities now
work within the broader ambit of contributing to national development. The link
between national development and research support and funding is made
implicitly in the new formulation. It appears therefore that the NRF will in future be
more strongly associated with broader policy and developmental objectives, as
determined through ministerial action, although the practical ramifications of
these changes are less clear.
Secondly, in 2017 the Department of Science and Technology (DST) published
their “White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation” (DST, 2017). This
report seeks largely to define national science, technology and innovation (STI)
policy in the context of emerging global trends. The ambit is therefore quite wide,
including not only policy guidance for the university system, but also private-
sector research as well as innovation at the small or grassroots level. As such
there are only a few points which speak directly to the funding of university-based
postgraduate research:
Firstly, it again highlights the important contribution of mechanisms such as the
SARChI chairs and NRF Centres of Excellence – it should be noted that a large
function of these instruments relates to the provision of funding to specific
strategic programmes and skill areas. Secondly, it notes that DST aims to provide
more bursaries to expand enrolment in postgraduate programmes, with the key
requirement that bursaries should compare favourably with entry-level salaries to
promote the retention of graduates in higher education. In this context it also
highlights that in many cases, the limiting factor remains a lack of supervisory
capacity – particularly for the case of PhDs, there is not enough capacity to reach
the goals of the NDP in this regard (as predicted by HESA five years earlier). To
this end, the report concludes that more direct support should be given towards
obtaining PhDs (including from “latent” sources such as research staff).
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There is also a commitment to developing policies which evaluate the direction
and value of research with respect to developmental goals and prioritise funding
in this way – with a focus on engineering and science research. Overall, to achieve
these goals, the report commits to increasing government expenditure on
research and development almost two-fold from 0.8% of GDP to 1.5%.
1.2 Major themes and conclusions 1.2.1 Contraction of government expenditure
The first takeaway from the above discussion must be that there has been a
consistent erosion in overall government expenditure on the university system
since the advent of democracy. The implications of this have been thoroughly
witnessed and debated in the context of undergraduate students and the effects
on tuition fees. Concessions made by government along these lines have,
however, caused ripple effects into other sectors of the higher education
landscape – this appears to have come at the cost of a contraction in funding
available for postgraduate study and research (as well as TVET colleges).
Overall, however, the root cause is clear inasmuch several government policy
documents note that the decrease of subsidy and other funding being provided to
higher education is broadly responsible for the lack of progress being made
towards e.g. the NDP’s goals. Although there may be some potential for much-
lauded increases in “efficiency” and reprioritisation of funding within the higher
education budget, the ground truth appears to simply be that the levels of current
government subsidy are not high enough to achieve the kind of system expansion
envisaged by the policy landscape – this remains true within the sub-unit of
postgraduate study and research activities.
1.2.2 Strategic expansion of research activities for
development
Bearing these practical difficulties in mind, the overarching policy direction for
research and associated postgraduate studies is consistent and clear: that the
research system should be systematically expanded in line with broader strategic
objectives (including the diversification). The most important change has been the
increased focus on the value of research activities and associated skills in the
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context of national development as the specific articulation of the strategy. There
is a tacit implication that certain study fields (STEM, generally) are more valuable
in this context, although the policy typically adds caveats around the “supporting
role” of the humanities, social sciences and the integration of indigenous
knowledge systems. It is not clear to what degree, this is simply verbal or
represents a meaningful commitment.
Nevertheless, it is also clear that, apart from a few institutions, most universities
currently have relatively low research outputs (CHE, 2000), and similarly low
numbers of postgraduate students. There is a recognition that increased support
to postgraduate students, particularly masters and PhD, is required to increase
these outputs, as students play a key role in research activities. There are also
numerous mechanisms which can contribute to this support, but it should be
noted that a mere redistribution of current funding is not, in principle, sustainable
nor enough to achieve the stated policy and developmental goals in this regard.
1.2.3 Equitable funding paradigms
An additional lens is one of equity. The first and most obvious constituent of this
is a need to ensure that the face of research and academia is more reflective of
the nation in terms or race, gender and disability (several the above policy
instruments refer also to urban/rural and household income as additional
categories along these lines). Whilst progress has been made, it is also clear that
there is an important role for directed funding and incentivisation to play in the
pursuit of these goals – there is a recognition that in many cases graduates are
disincentivised from postgraduate study due to the economic opportunity cost
compared to a career in the private sector.
Secondly, there is also a broader question relating to equitability of the subsidy
system. It is not clear whether there are mechanisms to determine an appropriate
level of government allocation to higher education as opposed to the mere
distribution of funding between institutions. A recurring theme in the above
discussion is that the overall sustainability of the higher education landscape is
contingent on finding a solution to this problem and that it may require large-scale
changes such as those suggested by the Heher Commission due to overarching
fiscal constraints.
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1.2.4 Linkage to postgraduate student cost of living
These higher-level policy and legislation-related discussions may seem
somewhat removed from the reality of postgraduate funding. Since the decisions
around these policies are distributed across a number of documents and tend to
make sweeping and relatively vague proclamations, this disconnect is
understandable. Fundamentally, however, there is a strong relationship between
them – on two of the fronts discussed above.
Firstly, any changes to the real budgetary provision to the higher education
system will in turn affect tuition fees, although the results may differ slightly
between institutions. Institutions are limited in terms of how much third-stream
income they can access, and so a change in subsidy tends to be reflected in an
opposite change in student fees. As tuition is essentially a large contributor to the
cost of attendance, this cost is sensitive to changes made on this level. At the
same time changes to the NSFAS system made in the wake of Fees Must Fall
protests do not affect postgraduates.
Secondly, there are several channels through which government provides funding
assistance to students through bursaries and grants. Whilst changes to the higher
education budget affect all students to some degree, changes to bursary and
grant allocations affect a sub-section of students – according to Heher (2017) the
NRF for example funds only 10% of postgraduate students (and not at full cost).
By funding through mechanisms such as the NRF, there is significantly more
scope for providing targeted assistance in line with national policy objectives. At
the same time, the recent reprioritisation of higher education and research funding
has meant that many of these programmes have been forced to make do with
less, which does not bode well for the achievement of said objectives.
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1.2.5 Conclusions
Overall then, we see that national-level policy decisions and legislation can have,
and have had, a significant influence on the postgraduate student cost of
attendance, with these impacts affecting the enrolment of graduates into
postgraduate studies. At the same time, these kinds of ground-level realities and
decisions do not feature heavily in discussions about the system, in the small
number of occasions where postgraduates and research are mentioned in
policies and legislation relating to higher education. There are clear opportunities
to make positive changes to the system if the dynamics of students costs of
attendance are better understood.
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2 History of funding models in South African
Universities
The funding of universities in South Africa, is largely influenced by the institutions’
graduate throughput, research performance, and student intake. Since the 1950s,
there have been four frameworks that have informed funding for universities,
which are discussed below.
2.1 The Holloway formula (1953)
The Holloway formula informed the funding of universities in the period 1953 to
1970s (Styger, 2014). This followed from the implementation of the Holloway
Commission which was tasked to investigate Funding in Higher Education,
particularly the financial implications of providing separate universities for black
people (Styger, 2014). The Holloway Commission led to the following formula
which informed Funding for Higher Education institutions.
𝐹(𝐻) = 𝑆𝑏 + 𝑆𝑠 + 𝐴
Where,
Sb is referred to as the basic teaching determination, which includes the salaries
of academic staff and librarians
Ss standard teaching determination
A is standard tuition fees
The factor Sb encompassed the remuneration of basic academic staff, as well as
remuneration of librarians. This factor was independent of the number of students
in the institution or the size of the institution. The Ss included the other
remuneration of other academic staff and was heavily dependent on the number
of modules offered by the different academic faculties. The Ss factor also included
the number of laboratory modules which would help fund equipment, the
remuneration of administration staff computed as a factor based on the number
of academics. This factor also catered for other university expenditure. Finally, A
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was the standard tuition fees from students. This factor was subtracted from the
other factors, which then gave a final funding value for (F(H)) for the institution.
2.2 The Van Wyk de Vries formula (1977)
The Van Wyk de Vries Commission was implemented in 1968, with the aim of
improving the Holloway formula (Styger, 2014). The Van Wyk de Vries formula
shown below was implemented in 1977.
𝐹(𝑉𝑊) = 𝑔. (𝑆𝑑𝑒𝑝 + 𝑆𝑎𝑑𝑚 + 𝐿𝑖𝑏 + 𝐿𝑎𝑏 + 𝑅𝑒𝑠 + 𝑅𝑇 + 𝐶𝑆 + 𝑀𝐵)
Where
g is the contribution ratio from government which factors the economies of scale
of an institution. This factor ranges from 0.75 to 0.85. This factor compensated for
factor A in the Holloway formula, which deducted funding based on student tuition.
Sdep is the remuneration of academic staff.
Sadm is the remuneration of administration staff, plus a fixed ratio of Sdep.
Lib is the amount dedicated to the library, which included a fixed fraction of Sdep.
The remuneration was determined through weighted student-lecturer and
student-support staff ratios. The weighted number of students per faculty
determined the amount allocated to journals and books.
Lab is the amount dedicated to laboratories based on the weighted number of
students in each faculty.
Res is the amount dedicated to research in the institution, which was based as a
ratio of Sdep.
RT this is the amount dedicated to teaching activity costs, which is computed from
the weighted number of students.
CS this is the amount dedicated to computer facilities, computed based on the
weighted number of students.
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MB this is the amount dedicated to building maintenance, campus property and
furniture, determined from the total number of students in the institution.
The challenges of the both the models above, the Holloway and the Van Wyk de
Vries model is that they did not account for inflation (Steyn & de Villiers, 2007).
2.3 SAPSE formula (1984)
The SAPSE formula made a very important assumption which is that students are
the ones in a better position to decide which courses to enroll for at academic
institutions (Steyn & de Villiers, 2007). Therefore, the SAPSE formula was
enrollment driven.
𝐹(𝑆𝐴𝑃𝑆𝐸) = 𝑎 ∙ 𝑔 ∙ 𝑅
Where,
a is the government contribution ratio based on the government’s ability to fund
the subsidy
g is a ratio that accounts for that institutions can fund their expenditure through
student tuition
R is the basic amount that an institution requires to function.
The factor R included a wide range of items. This provided for additional
equipment that was needed by the institution, subsidies for buildings,
maintenance of infrastructure, furniture, equipment and the provision of student
housing. Also, included in this factor were both academic and administration staff
remuneration costs, as well as books and journals.
The SAPSE equation has been praised for also rewarding institutions for research
output, such as research papers. In addition to this, funding for institutions also
increased based on the student qualification studies, whether undergraduate
level or PhD. However, from this report, it is unclear from the formula, which factor
accounts for this. Another upside of the SAPSE equation is that the costs
mentioned in R, were adjusted annually to account for inflation.
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2.4 The New Funding Framework (NFF)
structure
The NFF was implemented in the financial year 2004/2005. The NFF structure is
a function of two items, block grants and earmarked grants.
2.4.1 Block grants
Teaching inputs which contributed to Block grants, are determined based on
student enrolment, and the student qualification types. Block grants are also a
function of the institutions research output, which are determined by the following
manner:
𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑝𝑢𝑡
= 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 + 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 + 3
∙ 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑
The research output in every institution is normalized per permanent academic
staff. The Department of Higher Education grants a guideline ranging from 1.1 to
2.5 units. Each institution is granted a normal research output score, with highly
productive institutions being given a high normal research score per financial
year. A score of 2.4 was recorded for UCT in the financial year 2013/2014 to
2015/2016 (Styger, 2014).
Another contribution to Block grants is based on teaching output, which
investigates the number of graduates per qualification. This is further weighted
based on the qualification type of each graduates, with higher qualification
graduates receiving a high weighting ratio.
Other forms of grants to institutions include institutional factors. These institutional
factors include the fraction of black and colored students, of which a value higher
than 0.4 will result into a grant being granted. Another institutional factor is the
number of students enrolled in the institution. This factor adjusts for the
economies of scale for each institution.
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2.4.2 Earmarked grants
The purpose of Earmarked grants is to focus on specific institutional areas. This
includes, and not limited to: infrastructure development, National Student
Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), interest and payment of loans prior to 1 April
1991.
2.5 Conclusions
Over time, the funding models of Higher Education in South Africa have been
improved to consider inflation in the institutional costs, and to reward research
and teaching outputs for institutions. Thus, the funding of an institution is largely
dependent on two activities: teaching activities, and research activities.
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3 UCT Postgraduate student cost of attendance
and Funding outlook
3.1 UCT postgraduate student cost of
attendance and funding outlook background
3.1.1 Research and postgraduate dilemma in South African
universities
Increased calls for transformation in South Africa’s higher education sector have
increased the pressure on a system already straining under a broader demand
for increased throughput and access. Current university resources are limited and
outweighed by the growing demand within this key sector, which is regarded as a
pillar for the creation of a sustainable society (Branson et al., 2009). It is therefore
of paramount importance to understand some of the elements such as the student
cost of attendance (living) and funding in South African universities to help inform
decisions and strategies towards increasing and improving access to meet the
growing demand and creating ways that allow for university sustainability.
Postgraduate studies have generally been relegated in the debates on funding in
South Africa. This is reflected by the budget allocation by government towards
postgraduate funding as well as the low enrolment by students compared to the
youth population in South Africa (DHET, 2018; National Treasury, 2018).
Societally, postgraduate studies are largely not regarded as a necessary skill
considering that the ratio of bachelor’s degrees to population is still low (CHE,
2009)– a bachelor’s degree still adequately allows access into government/private
job sector where there is improved quality of life due to the increased income from
these sectors vs funding in universities. Hence there is generally a lack of debate
and investigation towards postgraduate studying in South Africa, where the
system is largely driven by research interests and now recently access to cheaper
research labour. This is reflected by the number of companies shutting down their
Research and Development departments and outsourcing this to universities
(Kahn, 2007). This issue is not only limited to research but also the higher
education teaching space. The debate of postgraduate students being perceived
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as cheap labour for private companies and universities is not only a South African
one but global and a relatively old debate (Russell, 1968; Couvee, 2012).
There is pressure on students who come from the low-middle class (which makes
up the majority of South Africa (World Bank, 2018) as they are regarded as
investments by their families, who must often make sacrifices in terms of their
household budgets and necessities to fund these students in Higher Education.
When these students attain their undergraduate degrees, they then bear the
responsibility of supporting that low-middle class as funders of their cost of
attendance. This makes it difficult for these students to access postgraduate
education. In the cases where they do, part of their funding also goes towards
dependents. This has come to be known as black tax because most people in the
low middle class in South Africa are black (Magubane, 2016; SACBC, 2016). The
dire consequences of this conundrum are a system which lacks integration,
management and overarching scope towards research and postgraduates.
The impact can be seen by the low university output, delayed postgraduate time
of completion in universities and high dropout rates (Styger et al., 2015). The Fees
Must Fall movement which came into effect in South African universities in 2015
focused more on undergraduates, with most of the demands being focused on
undergraduate study (Ndelu et al., 2017). The push and pull of this movement led
to the policy change where National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS)
loans were converted into grants (Zwane, 2018), whilst the National Research
Fund (NRF) took a more drastic policy change towards postgraduate funding: not
only did NRF decrease their funding but also outsourced their system
administration towards universities (NRF, 2018). This has the potential to
increase strain on the already pressured universities, but also introduces new
systematic exclusion in access to funding in the postgraduate space by the
administrative pressure on the funding application process.
The University of Cape Town (UCT), located in Cape Town, was founded in 1829.
It is the oldest higher education institution in South Africa (UCT, 2019a) and is
regarded as the best university in Africa holding a ranking of 200 in the QS World
university ranking (QS, 2019) and 156 in the Times Higher Education World
University Rankings (Timeshighereducation, 2019). It has emerged as a power
house of research and postgraduate studies in Africa. Although UCT is still one
of the better performing universities in Africa with a notable reputation, it still faces
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its own challenges with regards to funding, highlighted during the protest’s era
(Ndelu et al., 2017). The need to understand postgraduate student cost of living
and funding is an important starting point to ensuring that the university can
strategize in the bottom-up approach towards budgeting, as well as enabling
accurate benchmarks of university performance towards postgraduate access
and sustainability. UCT has an active strategic planning framework from the
period of 2016 to 2020 (UCT, 2016a). This framework has 5 goals in which 2 are
most relevant to postgraduate research. These goals being:
• “Goal 1: To forge a new inclusive identity that reflects a more representative profile of
students and staff, and the cultures, values, heritage and epistemologies of the diversity
of UCT’s staff and students.”
• “Goal 3: To advance UCT as a research-intensive university that makes a distinctive
contribution to knowledge, locally and globally.” (UCT, 2016a)
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3.1.2 Definition of University of Cape Town postgraduate
student cost of attendance (living)
Student cost of living generally enshrines its core definition within constitutional
rights that accompany human rights particularly in the education sector. The
definition is of a general nature and is summarized below:
“Cost of Attendance (COA) is the total estimated price for one year of
university before financial aid is applied: It includes tuition and fees, housing,
food, and other additionals” (Baum & Ma, 2014)
Although the term “cost of attendance” is used, this cost may be viewed as a cost
required for living “cost of living.” UCT does not have a specific policy definition
with regards to the term “student cost of attendance (living).” UCT takes its
definitions of CoA based on funders such as NRF and NSFAS, however it does
have a set recognition of the expenses which students may incur highlighted in
its website (UCT, 2019b). This is with regards to which expenses the term
encompasses, considering that different model students incur different expenses
and expenses vary with some regulating towards necessity with regards to
constitutional rights and others being non-population representative therefore not
as pertinent. To first understand cost of attendance in South Africa or at the
University of Cape Town, a clear definition needs to be made which is inclusive,
relevant and representative to the expense students face on the ground. An ideal
definition would include all model student expenses. This is, however,
problematic as CoA is used for university budgeting and therefore the “bare
bones” approach is generally taken as funds are limited. Therefore, a more
important approach in the development of the definition is consideration of all
model students with a focus, firstly, on expenses which are constitutional rights.
Expenses which do not meet this criterion can then be considered in terms of
relevance and necessity.
Generally, postgraduates incur the same costs as undergraduates. These costs
include tuition, registration fees, accommodation, transport costs (to and from
work), transport costs (vacation), food costs, toiletries, data costs (internet),
dependents, medical aid. Postgraduates are generally older than undergraduates
and some in the stages of starting families (CHE, 2009), particularly with
reference to postgraduates studying towards doctoral and postdoctoral research.
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Therefore, cost of living for such postgraduates does not only include their own
CoA but dependant costs as well. Dependents also include costs incurred by
students who come from low-middle class income households. In this report all
these costs were considered and are defined as the following:
• Tuition – Costs associated with registered course as outline in the UCT Fees Handbook
(UCT, 2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a).
• Registration fees – Cost of registration fees at UCT as outlined by the UCT Fees
handbook (UCT, 2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a).
• Accommodation – The commissioning or rental of a place by a student to reside during
their studies at UCT.
• Transport costs (to and from work) – Cost of travelling to and from work in attendance of
registered course.
• Transport costs (vacation) – Cost of travelling during the vacation period of the UCT
Calendar
• Food costs – Cost of meals that is in line with UCT First tier residences. (UCT, 2015,
2016b, 2017a, 2018a).
• Toiletries – Cost of essentials required for oral, body, laundry, accommodation hygiene
• Data costs – The cost of access to at least 3 gigabytes per month of data in an
accommodation for registered research work.
• Medical aid – Cost of medical aid required for pre-registration of international students.
• Dependents – Cost of dependents on UCT postgraduates.
• Total cost of attendance – The summation of all expenses mentioned in the points above
to give a single value representative of all costs.
A more detailed breakdown of these costs is given below. In this report, model
students were defined, and the following criteria considered:
• UCT Faculty – The University has 6 faculties, and these are Faculty of Engineering & the
Built Environment (EBE), Faculty of Commerce, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of
Science, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Law.
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• UCT Career – The university has 4 main categories of postgraduates which are honours,
masters, doctorial and postdoctoral. In this outlook only honours, masters and doctorial
were considered as post doctorial are sometimes considered as UCT staff.
• Course – This refers to the postgraduate available courses at UCT as outline by the UCT
fees handbooks.
• Country – This refers to whether a student is South African which includes permanent
residences or Non-South African.
• Gender – This refers to whether a student is male or female.
• Accommodation location – This refers to on campus accommodation (also known as 3rd
tier residences as outlined in the UCT fees handbook (UCT, 2015, 2016b, 2017a,
2018a)) and off campus accommodation in the proximity of UCT which covers
Rondebosch, Rosebank, Mowbray Claremont and Observatory.
• Dependents – This refers to the student’s dependents costs that the student has
responsibility towards.
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3.2 UCT student overall postgraduate student
cost of living outlook
The average UCT honours, masters and doctoral cost of living outlook was
produced by creating a model UCT student based on weighted averages. The
honours, masters and doctorial tuition for each faculty for the year 2015 to 2018
were extracted from UCT (2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a) and an unweighted
average of this was calculated. To estimate a weighted model with regards to
country, UCT (2017b) provides that there are 18 % international students relative
to local. This data was used to weight the average for registration fees as well as
medical aid costs. UCT (2017b) also stated that out of the 27000 students at UCT
only 6600 students can be accommodated on campus which is 24%. Although
this value might be an over estimate for postgraduates, this percentage
distribution on and off campus was used to weight the accommodation costs,
transport costs (to and from work) to provide a UCT average. For gender, UCT
(2016c) stated that there were 56 % females relative to males. This percentage
distribution in gender was used to give a UCT weighted average of toiletry costs.
It should be noted that females incur more expenses than males with addition of
R 3000 towards toiletries, while international students have a higher cost of
attendance than locals due to the addition of registration fees (R 3750), visa
application (unaccounted) and medical aid costs (R 4400). Therefore, the most
expensive model student is a non-South African female and the least expensive
model student is a South African male.
3.2.1 Cost of attendance for UCT honours students
Figure 8 shows the average total cost of attendance for honours at UCT increased
from R139 400 in 2015 to R 167 700 in 2018 and it is expected to increase in 2019
to R 174 300. In general, the cost of UCT honours is increasing at an average
rate of 6% (R9000) per year which is slightly above the country inflation rate.
Table 1 shows a more detailed breakdown of the UCT honours costs. Figure 9
shows the breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance
in each year for the year 2015 to 2019. Figure 9 shows that for the year 2018,
41% of the total cost attendance for honours at UCT goes towards
accommodation followed by tuition at 32%, food costs at 13%, transport at 6%
and the remainder being less than 3%. Over the years from 2015 to 2018,
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accommodation contribution towards the total cost of attendance for honours at
UCT has increased from 39% to 41% while tuition has decreased from 34% to
31%. This is due to the rate of increase in accommodation costs being higher than
that of tuition, although both expenses increased over the years (2015-2018).
Figure 8: UCT Honours average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
116529
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134898
140535
149744
159602
100000
110000
120000
130000
140000
150000
160000
170000
To
tal co
st
of
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en
da
nce
pe
r ye
ar
(ZA
R)
Year
UCT Honours average cost of attendance
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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Table 1: UCT honours average student cost of attendance breakdown between 2015-2020
Expenses per year (ZAR) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Tuition 47500 47500 50200 52000 53600 55200 Registration fee 590 590 630 675 707 740 Accommodation 54800 58600 63800 68100 73200 78700 Transport Costs (To and from work) 8890 9310 9970 10500 11100 11600 Transport Costs (Vacation) 1910 2000 2140 2250 2370 2490 Food Costs 17300 17300 19100 21800 23600 25500 Toiletries 4230 4430 4740 5000 5260 5530 Data Costs 3620 3630 3650 3660 3670 3685 Dependents 0 0 0 0 0 0
Medical aid 557 634 718 797 894 1003 Total Costs per year (ZAR) 139000 144000 155000 165000 174000 184000 Total Costs per month (ZAR) 11600 12000 12900 13700 14500 15400 Rate of increase (%) 3 8 6 6 6 Rate of increase (R) 4490 11000 9810 9550 10200
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Tuition 34%
Registration fee1%
Accommodation 39%
Transport Costs (To and from
work)6%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
1% Food Costs13%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 0%
2015 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 33%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 41%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
1%Food Costs
12%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 3% Dependents
0%Medical aid
0%
2016 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 32%
Registration fee1%
Accommodation 41%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
6%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
1%
Food Costs13%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 2%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 1%
2018 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 32%
Registration fee1%
Accommodation 41%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
1%
Food Costs12%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 2%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 1%
2017 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Figure 9: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance for UCT honours students (2015 -2018)
“More than 40 % of UCT student’s costs are accommodation costs and 30 % are tuition fees.”
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3.2.2 Cost of attendance for UCT master’s students
Figure 10 shows the average total cost of attendance for masters at UCT
increased from R124 000 in 2015 to R 153 400 in 2018 and it is expected to
increase in 2019 to R 164 800. In general, the cost of UCT masters is increasing
at an average rate of 7% (R10 600) per year. The total cost of attendance for
masters at UCT is less than that for honours due to less coursework in masters
and therefore fewer tuition fees. Table 2 shows a more detailed breakdown of the
average UCT masters expenses. Figure 11 shows the breakdown of the costs as
a percentage of the total cost of attendance for the year 2015 to 2019. Figure 11
shows that for the year 2018, 44% of the total cost attendance for masters at UCT
goes towards accommodation followed by tuition at 27%, food costs at 14%,
transport costs (to and from work at 7% and the remainder being less than 2%.
Over the years from 2015 to 2018, accommodation contribution towards the total
cost of attendance for masters at UCT has remained at about 44% while tuition
has increased from 26% to 27%. This is due that the rate of increase in tuition
costs being higher than that of accommodation, although both expenses
increased over the years.
Figure 10: UCT Master’s average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
116529
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134898
140535
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100000
110000
120000
130000
140000
150000
160000
170000
To
tal co
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pe
r ye
ar
(ZA
R)
Year
UCT Master's average coost of attendance
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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Table 2: UCT Master’s average student cost of attendance breakdown between 2015-2020
Expenses per year (ZAR) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Tuition 32000 32600 36000 40700 44100 47700 Registration fee 590 590 630 675 707 740 Accommodation 49300 49300 54300 59700 63700 67900 Transport Costs (To and from work) 0 0 0 0 0 0
Transport Costs (Vacation) 1900 2000 2140 2250 2370 2490 Food Costs 17300 17300 19100 21800 23600 25500 Toiletries 4230 4430 4740 5000 5260 5530 Data Costs 3620 3630 3650 3660 3670 3690 Dependents 0 0 0 0 0 0 Medical aid 557 634 718 797 894 1000 Total Costs per year (ZAR) 110000 110000 121000 135000 144000 155000 Total Costs per month (ZAR) 9130 9210 10100 11200 12000 12900 Rate of increase (%) 1 10 11 7 7 Rate of increase (R) 914 10700 13300 9680 10400
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Tuition 26%
Registration fee1%
Accommodation 44%
Transport Costs (To and from
work)7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs14%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 0%
2015 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 25%
Registration fee1%
Accommodation 45%
Transport Costs (To and from
work)7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs13%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 1%
2016 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 26%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 45%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs14%
Toiletries3%
Data Cost
s 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 0%
2017 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 27%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 44%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs14%
Toiletries3%
Data Costs 2% Dependents
0% Medical aid 1%
2018 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Figure 11: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance for UCT master’s students (2015 -2018)
“Student accommodation and tuition costs are both increasing at 8 % to10 % and 5 % to 10 % respectively.”
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3.2.3 Cost of attendance for UCT doctoral students
Figure 12 shows the average total cost of attendance for doctoral at UCT
increased from R117 000 in 2015 to R 140 535 in 2018 and it is expected to
increase in 2019 to R 149 744. In general, the cost of UCT doctoral is increasing
at an average rate of 7% (R 8 600) per year. The total cost of attendance for
doctoral at UCT is less than that for masters and honours due to less coursework
and supervision requirements, resulting in fewer tuition fees. Table 3 shows a
more detailed breakdown of the average UCT doctoral expenses. Figure 13
shows the breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance
for the year 2015 to 2019. Figure 5 shows that for the year 2018, 48% of the total
cost attendance for doctoral studies at UCT goes towards accommodation
followed by tuition at 20%, food costs at 15%, transport costs (to and from work)
at 7% and the remainder being less than 4%. Over the years from 2015 to 2018,
accommodation contribution towards the total cost of attendance for doctorate at
UCT has increased from 47% to 48% while tuition has decreased from 22% to
20%. This is due that the rate of increase in accommodation costs being higher
than that of tuition although both expenses are increasing over the years.
Figure 12: UCT Doctoral average student cost of attendance between 2015-2020
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110000
120000
130000
140000
150000
160000
170000
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(ZA
R)
Year
UCT Doctoral average coost of attendance
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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Table 3: UCT Doctoral average student cost of attendance breakdown between 2015-2020
Expenses per year (ZAR) 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 Tuition 24600 27900 30100 27800 29000 30300
Registration fee 590 590 630 675 707 740 Accommodation 54800 58600 63800 68100 73200 78700 Transport Costs (To and from work) 8890 9310 9970 10500 11100 11600 Transport Costs (Vacation) 1900 2000 2140 2250 2370 2490 Food Costs 17300 17300 19100 21800 23600 25500 Toiletries 4230 4430 4740 5000 5260 5530 Data Costs 3620 3630 3650 3660 3670 3690 Dependents 0 0 0 0 0 0 Medical aid 557 634 718 797 894 1000 Total Costs per year (ZAR) 117000 124000 135000 141000 150000 160000 Total Costs per month (ZAR) 9710 10400 11200 11700 12500 13300 Rate of increase (%) 7 8 4 7 7 Rate of increase (R) 7820 10500 5640 9210 9900
2019
39
Tuition 21%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 47%
Transport Costs (To and from
work)8%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs15%
Toiletries4%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 0%
2015 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 22%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 47%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs14%
Toiletries4%
Data Costs 3% Dependents
0%Medical aid
1%
2016 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 22%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 47%
Transport Costs (To and from work)
7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs14%
Toiletries4%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 1%
2017 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Tuition 20%
Registration fee0%
Accommodation 48%
Transport Costs (To and from
work)7%
Transport Costs (Vacation)
2%
Food Costs15%
Toiletries4%
Data Costs 3%
Dependents0%
Medical aid 1%
2018 expenses
Tuition
Registration fee
Accommodation
Transport Costs (To and from work)
Transport Costs (Vacation)
Food Costs
Toiletries
Data Costs
Dependents
Medical aid
Figure 13: Breakdown of the costs as a percentage of the total cost of attendance for UCT doctoral students (2015 -2018)
“ 15 % of UCT student’s costs are food costs.”
2019
40
3.3 UCT student cost of living expenses outlook
The information on UCT postgraduate tuition for honours, masters and doctoral for each Faculty for the year 2015 to 2018 was extracted from the fees handbook (UCT student fees
handbook,2015-2018) (UCT, 2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a). From this data, an average of each of the career and a rate of change of tuition costs was calculated (Data presented in
Appendix). The average rate of change of tuition costs for the year 2015 to 2018 were then used to predict the average tuition costs for the year 2019 and 2020. It must be noted that
tuition rate of changes at UCT are subject to UCT decisions therefore this model approach is limited in taking to account previous decisions in the hope of making accurate predictions
of future tuition costs.
3.3.1 UCT Postgraduate tuition outlook
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(ZA
R p
er
ye
ar)
UCT Faculty honours costs
Commerce Engineering Health Humanities
Law Science UCT
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(ZA
R p
er
ye
ar)
UCT Faculty Masters costs
Commerce EBE Health Sciences
Humanities Sciences Law
UCT
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(ZA
R p
er
ye
ar)
UCT Faculty PhD costs
Commerce EBE Health Sciences
Humanities Science UCT
The UCT average for an honours course at UCT ranged from R 47500 in 2015 to R
52 000 in 2018. The outlook shows that Health Sciences and EBE honours average
costs are above the UCT average and are expected to increase drastically above
average with the EBE Faculty being the most expensive and fastest increasing at a
rate of 6% per year. Health Sciences shows a drastic change from being at average
between 2015 to 2017 and going above average in 2018. The Commerce faculty
showed a decrease in its average honours tuition between the year 2017 and 2018,
decreasing at a rate of 2% per year.
The UCT average for a master’s course at UCT ranged from R 32 000 in 2015 to
R 40 700 in 2018. Commerce and EBE master’s course are above average while
the rest are 15% below average. The Faculty of Humanities and Commerce have
the highest average rates of master’s tuition change at 19% and 10% per year,
respectively. Generally, all faculties are increasing their master’s tuition at
average rates of change above 5% per year.
The UCT average for a doctorate ranged from R 24 600 in 2015 to R 27 800 in
2018. All Faculties have the same tuition costs for doctoral courses except for the
Commerce faculty whose cost for a doctoral course is 125% above the UCT
average. The UCT doctoral tuition costs have been increasing at a rate of 5% per
year.
2019
41
3.3.2 UCT Postgraduate accommodation
Cape Town is regarded as the city with one of the highest costs of living in South
Africa. This is largely due to real estate and property costs in the city (SACN,
2016). The accommodation costs are almost double that of other South African
cities. Generally, there are few regulations on rental prices, with most being
market regulated. Accommodation costs in Cape Town increase at a rate of 8%
to 10% per annum which is twice that of the average national inflation rate
(Properties 24, 2019). In 2016 during the Fees Must Fall protests, one of the big
outcries was related to student housing at UCT. That outcry led to the publishing
of some of the accommodation statistics in the UCT (2017b). UCT (2017b) states
that out of the 27000 students at UCT only 6600 students can be accommodated
on campus, i.e. 24%. For postgraduates, most students stay off-campus as their
age is considered as “older” or mature enough to stay off-campus or off the
premises of campus, therefore most of the student housing is allocated to
undergraduates. There are however third-tier UCT residences which offer
postgraduate accommodation.
UCT accommodation for students can be broken down into two types, off-campus
and on-campus accommodation. On-campus accommodation refers to
residences that are on UCT premises and are owned and regulated by the
university. Data on on-campus accommodation for third-tier residences were
obtained from the UCT (2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018). Off-campus refers to any
accommodation housing students from UCT which are not owned or regulated by
the university. Off-campus accommodation for the year 2016-2018 was obtained
from the OCSAS (2019). In this report, off-campus accommodation close to UCT
was considered. This included accommodation in Rondebosch, Rosebank,
Mowbray, Claremont and Observatory. A more detailed breakdown of
accommodation costs (off and on campus) is given below. Figure 14 and Figure
15 show the average UCT accommodation costs (off and on campus) and rates
of increase for the year 2015 to 2018. In 2018 the average accommodation costs
for on campus was R 59 700 while for off campus It was R 70 800. UCT on
campus accommodation costs have been growing at a rate of 10% per year since
2016 while off campus accommodation costs are at an average rate of 8% per
year.
2019
42
Figure 14: UCT average accommodation costs on and off campus (2015-2018)
Figure 15: UCT average rates of increase of accommodation cost on and off campus (2015-2018)
56,62961,553
66,90570,793
49,330 49,33054,265
59,696
0
10,000
20,000
30,000
40,000
50,000
60,000
70,000
80,000
2015 2016 2017 2018
Ave
rag
e c
ost
(ZA
R p
er
ye
ar)
Years
UCT average accomodation cost (2015-2018)
Off Campus
On Campus
UCT
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
9%
10%
11%
2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018
Ra
te o
f in
cre
ase
Time interval
UCT average rates of increase of accomodation cost
On-Campus Accomodation
Off-Campus Accomodation
2019
43
3.3.2.1 UCT ON-CAMPUS ACCOMMODATION
Figure 16 shows the UCT on campus accommodation residence costs for year
2015 to 2018. The outlook shows that although 15 out of the 24 residences remain
below the UCT on campus accommodation average there are residences which
are even higher than the UCT off-campus accommodation average. These
residences are JP Duminy, Edwin Hart Annex and TB Davie at values of (R71
900, R89 000, R114 00), R76 600, R76 400 respectively for the year 2018.
Conversely, the least costing residence is Linkoping at a value of R 36 300 in
2018. Some of the residences seem regulated as they have the same cost per
annum and increasing at the same rate. These residences are Forest Hill (F), Ex-
Air, Harold Cressy Hall, Inglewood, one of the Edwin Hart Annex residences and
North Grande. Their value was R 52 700 for the year 2018. The exact figures can
be found in the Appendix: UCT Accommodation.
Figure 16: UCT on campus accommodation costs (2015-2020)
-15000
5000
25000
45000
65000
85000
105000
125000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
UCT On-campus accomodation costs
Amalinda House Avenue Road 8 Edwin Hart Annex Edwin Hart Annex
Ex-Air Forest Hill (F) North Grande Harold Cressy Hall
Inglewood JP Duminy JP Duminy JP Duminy
JP Duminy Linkoping Obz Square Rondeberg Flats
Rondeberg Flats TB Davie TB Davie TB Davie
TB Davie Woodbine Road Woodbine Road Average
2019
44
3.3.2.2 UCT OFF-CAMPUS ACCOMMODATION
Figure 17 shows the UCT off campus accommodation residence costs for year
2015 to 2018. Figure 14 was produced from data extracted from the OCSAS
(2019) website and this data can be found in Appendix: UCT Accommodation.
The outlook on UCT off campus accommodation shows that Rondebosch and
Rosebank costs are expected to decrease below the UCT off-campus
accommodation average which is higher than the on-campus average at a value
of R 70 800 in 2018. The Observatory area which has been below average for the
year 2015 to 2017 exceeded the average in 2018 and is expected to increase
drastically in 2019 and 2020. This maybe partly due to the market shift in
competition in that area with the introduction of the CampusKey accommodation
in 2017. Their costs range from R 80 000 to R 115000 according to CampusKey
(2018). Interestingly their prices for the same services in Bloemfontein range from
R 47 600 to R 76 500 while in Port Elizabeth from R 47 600 to R 80 000 and in
Pretoria R 60 500 to R 99 000. This shows the impact of location in
accommodation costs and market regulation. There are several student housing
projects currently under construction in Observatory and Rondebosch. Student
off campus accommodation pricing in areas around UCT is not regulated by
specific policy but by market demand, this market being largely students from
UCT. Claremont is the most expensive area of student residence at a value of R
91 300 per annum in 2018. Mowbray was the cheapest area of residence at a
value of R 60 600 per annum in 2018.
2019
45
Figure 17: UCT off campus accommodation costs (2015-2020)
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
60000
70000
80000
90000
100000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(ZA
R p
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UCT Off campus accomodation costs
Rondebosch Rosebank Mowbray Observatory Claremont UCT
2019
46
3.3.2.3 THE HARSH REALITY ON THE GROUND
A survey was conducted to study the prices that postgraduate students pay for
their accommodation. This study was done at the UCT EBE faculty and the survey
had 37 responses and Figure 15 shows the results of that survey. The survey
showed that 42 % of the postgraduates who responded to the survey pay between
R 4 000 to R 5 000 per month (R 48 000 to R 60 000 per annum), 25 % said they
pay between R 5 000 to R 6 000 per month (R 60 000 to R 72 000 per annum),
19 % said they pay R 6 000 to 8 000 (R 72 000 to R 96 000 per annum), 6 % said
they pay R 3 000 to R 4 000 (R 36 000 to R 48 000 per annum).
With the rental prices of off-campus accommodation going up at an average rate
of 8% per year, it is expected that percentage of students in the higher rental cost
bracket will increase. This has major implications with respect to funding.
Accommodation has been shown in Section 3.2 to contribute between 39 % to 48
% of the student cost of attendance. The accommodation expense is a threat to
funding and its increase will mean decreased potential for student access towards
postgraduate studies.
Figure 18: Response by UCT postgraduates on their rental costs.
5%
6%
42%
25%
19%
3%
How much do UCT postgraduates pay for their accomodation?
2000 to 3000
3000 to 4000
4000 to 5000
5000 to 6000
6000 to 8000
to 9700
2019
47
3.3.3 UCT Postgraduate Transport (to and from work and
vacation)
Transport to and from work space is important for access to facilities and
resources to conduct the work that is required. For this cost in this report it was
assumed that all off-campus accommodation requires transport to and from work.
UCT has a Jammies shuttle service which covers all the UCT residences. During
postgraduate studies, most students need access to their work space for facilities
such as laboratories, internet access, written research resources such as books
and journals, as well as access to supervision. A survey was conducted to
ascertain how much postgraduates at UCT spend on their transport costs per
week. This study was done at the UCT EBE faculty and the survey had 37
responses and the raw data is presented in Appendix: UCT transport (to and from
work). From this survey it was calculated that UCT postgraduate students spend
an average of R 350 per week on transportation costs to and from work. This data
was then extrapolated for the previous year’s using the average South African
inflation rate for the years 2015 to 2018 obtained from Trading Economics, (2019).
The average of the inflation rate for the period 2015 to 2018 was obtained to be
5.17 % and this was used to predict the costs for 2019 and 2020. This data is
shown in Figure 16. The cost of transportation costs to and from research work
for UCT postgraduate students for year 2018 was R 11 800. This transportation
costs included fuel costs, taxi cost or cab (e.g. Uber or Taxify) costs.
UCT attracts students from all over the world and country and the UCT Calendar
has vacation periods to allow students time to break from studies. Breaks in
research work are equally as important and postgraduates not originally from
Cape Town generally travel home to be with their families. Travelling home has
an incurred cost and to calculate this only travel within South Africa and SADC
was considered. 2 trips per year were considered for intra South African travel
and 1 per year for SADC. A trip being a journey from UCT to home and back to
UCT. Grey hound prices were considered extracted from Grey Hound (2019)This
data is given in Appendix: UCT Transport (vacation). The cost of transportation
for vacation purpose for 2018 was calculated to be an average of R 2 300. This
data was then extrapolated for the previous year using the average South African
inflation rate for the years 2015 to 2018 obtained from Trading Economics, (2019).
The average of the inflation rate for the period 2015 to 2018 was obtained to be
2019
48
5.17 % and this was used to predict the costs for 2019 and 2020. The results are
shown in Figure 20.
Figure 19: UCT postgraduate transport costs (to and from work) (2015-2020)
Figure 20: UCT postgraduate transport costs (vacation) (2015-2020)
11,76612,322
13,19113,913
14,63315,389
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(Z
AR
pe
r ye
ar)
Year
UCT Postgraduate Transport costs (to and from work)
19061996
21362253
23702492
0
500
1000
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2000
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3000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
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(ZA
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Year
UCT PostgraduateTransport costs (vacation)
2019
49
3.3.4 UCT Student Food costs
The UCT food costs were extracted from the UCT 1st tier residences 3 meal option
for the year 2015 to 2018 UCT (2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018). This data is show in
Figure 18. Figure 18 shows that the food cost in 1st tier residents at UCT in 2018
was R 21 800 per year this is R 1820 per month. The average rate of increase for
food costs in UCT 1st residences is 8.2 % which is above the average South
African inflation rate.
Figure 21: UCT student food costs.(2015-2020)
17300 17300
19,100
21800
23583
25512
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
s (
ZA
R/p
er)
Year
UCT Student Food costs
2019
50
3.3.5 UCT Student Toiletries costs
This report considered gender in the toiletries with the inclusion of feminine care.
The raw data of the considered materials for toiletries including oral, body,
laundry, kitchen and house, bathroom, feminine care hygiene. The raw data for
these costs for 2018 is displayed in Appendix: UCT student toiletries. This data
was then extrapolated for the previous year using the average South African
inflation rate for the years 2015 to 2018 obtained from Trading Economics (2019).
The average of the inflation rate for the period 2015 to 2018 was obtained to be
5.17% and this was used to predict the costs for 2019 and 2020.The result of the
extrapolation and prediction is given in Figure 22. The costs for UCT student male
toiletries was R 3 000 per year while that for females it was R 6 560 per year.
Female toiletry costs are twice that of male costs. Toiletry cost contribute to less
5% of the student cost of attendance.
Figure 22: UCT student toiletry costs (2015-2020)
2543 26632851 3007 3162 3326
55535816
62266567
69067263
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
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R/y
ea
r)
Year
UCT student toiletry costs
Male Female
2019
51
3.3.6 Data costs
Access to Information Communication Technology (ICT) is increasing in Africa.
ICT has played a significant role in transformation of society in particularly to
research and innovation. For postgraduate students access to internet is vital for
their research. UCT provides unlimited wireless internet which covers most of its
campus with a strong signal known as UCT Eduroam. However, UCT Eduroam
does not cover off-campus residences. Therefore, postgraduates living off
campus need to outsource their data from market providers general Vodacom,
MTN, Cell C and Telkom. Data from these 4 network providers were extracted
from Vodacom (2019), MTN (2019), Cell C (2019) and Telkom (2019). This data
is given in Appendix: Data Costs. This data was then extrapolated for the previous
year using the average South African inflation rate for the years 2015 to 2018
obtained from Trading Economics (2019). An assumption was made that
postgraduates need about 3 GB per month for research work and the cost of
average for 3 GB from the 4 internet providers in 2018 was R 3 700 per year. The
average rate increase for data costs was found to be 0.35 %. The average rate of
increase for data cost was then used to extrapolate for the period 2015 to 2018
and predict the costs for 2019 and 2020.The result of the extrapolation and
prediction is given in Figure 23.
Figure 23: UCT student data costs (2015-2020)
3622
3634
3647
3659
3672
3685
3590
3600
3610
3620
3630
3640
3650
3660
3670
3680
3690
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
st
(ZA
R/y
ea
r)
Year
UCT Student Data costs
2019
52
3.3.7 UCT Medical Cover costs
For international students at UCT, medical aid is mandatory for their pre-
registration with the International Academic Programmes Office (IAPO). There
are 3 main medical aid schemes recommended by UCT (2016d, 2017c, 2018b).
These are Comp Care medical scheme, Discovery Health medical scheme (This
scheme was not recommended for the year 2017 and 2018) and Momentum
health medical scheme. Data from UCT (2016d, 2017c, 2018b) was used to used
calculated an average UCT medical cover cost. The raw data extracted from the
UCT (2016d, 2017c, 2018b).is given in Appendix: UCT Medical Cover. Figure 24
shows the average UCT Medical Cover costs. For 2018 the UCT medical cover
costs were R 4 430 and the average rate of change of medical cover costs is at a
rate of 12.2% per annum.
Figure 24: UCT student medical cover costs (2015-2020)
3092
3520
3990
4428
4967
5571
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Co
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(ZA
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Year
UCT Student Medical Cover costs
2019
53
3.3.8 UCT Postgraduate dependents’ cost
As outlined in Section 1.1 dependents’ costs are a reality for postgraduates at
UCT. To ascertain this cost in the UCT postgraduate space, a survey was carried
to study to find out how many students have dependents and their dependents’
costs. This study was done at the UCT EBE faculty and the survey had 37
responses. The raw data of the responses is given in Appendix: UCT
Postgraduate Dependent costs. Of the 37 responses 62% said they have
dependents while 38% said they did not. The average UCT postgraduate
dependent cost was found to be R 15 700 per dependent per year. This data was
then extrapolated for the previous year using the average South African inflation
rate for the years 2015 to 2018 obtained from Trading Economics (2019). The
average of the inflation rate for the period 2015 to 2018 was obtained to be 5.17%
and this was used to predict the costs for 2019 and 2020.The result of the
extrapolation and prediction is given in Figure 25.
Figure 25: UCT postgraduate dependent costs (2015-2020)
1331713946
1492915747
1656117417
0
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6000
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2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
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UCT Postgraduate Dependent costs
2019
54
UCT postgraduate funding experiences: The reality on the ground
97%
3%
Is funding enough?
No Yes
73%
8%
11%
5%3%
Most challenging expense?
Accomodation (Rent) Food
Tuition Internet
Transport
2019
55
81%
11%
8%
How do you subsidize your funding?
Part time job Family/Friendly support Loan
18%
4%
39%
17%
22%
Salary from part time job in ZAR per month?
0-1000 1000-2000 2000-3000
3000-4000 5000-10000
2019
57
It is important to not only understand the student cost of attendance but also the
funding of postgraduates which are meant to meet this cost of attendance. To do
this a survey was carried out to find out if funding is enough for postgraduates at
UCT, the most challenging expenses UCT postgraduates face, how
postgraduates at UCT subsidize for their funding if the funding is not enough, how
much do they raise from their subsidizing activities and how much time do they
spend in their subsidizing activities. This survey was conducted in the UCT EBE
Faculty and received 37 responses. The raw data of the responses is given in
Appendix: UCT Postgraduate funding experiences.
From the response, 97% said funding was not enough while 3% said it was. 73%
said accommodation was the most challenging expense followed by Tuition at
11% then Food costs at 8%. This correlates with the order of contribution of these
expenses toward the cost of attendance highlighted in Section 3.2. 81% of the
postgraduate students said they subsidise their funding using a part time job
which was mostly tutoring, 11% from friendly or family support and 8% from a
loan. 39% make between R 3000 to R 4000 per month from their subsidising
activities while 22% make between R 5000 to R 10 000, 18% make between R 0
to R 1000 and 17% between R 3000 to R 4000. 47% spend between 10 to 20
hours working in their subsidizing activity, 27% between 5 to 10 hours, 13 %
between 0 to 5 hours, 10% between 20 to 30 hours and 3% between 30 to 40
hours.
This outlook shows the need for more funding but also that postgraduate at UCT
are working to subsidise their own funding for their cost of attendance. The
worrying corollary of this is the time spent by UCT postgraduates in working in
their subsidising activities, as this takes time from their registered research work
and increases the risk of delayed completion. This pressure on UCT
postgraduates may be one of the causes for the observed high dropout rates and
delayed course completions. Accommodation costs remain the biggest threat to
postgraduate funding at UCT with tuition adding on to the pressure as the second
highest costs for UCT postgraduates.
2019
58
Recommendations (EBEPGSC Research Group)
▪ A clear UCT policy definition of what “UCT postgraduate cost of attendance (living)” means or encompasses is needed urgently. This internal university policy definition must be in line with funding bodies such as NRF however it must also be representative of the needs of students particularly with student costs which will be regarded as necessities.
▪ A review on UCT postgraduate tuition needs to be conducted. There needs
to be a clear outline of how tuition costs are calculated and what they cover. This should be published to all stakeholders of the university to show transparency of what students are paying for.
▪ Tuition should be looked at as a potential variable to reduce UCT
postgraduate cost of attendance. There must be sensitivity in the approach of rates of increase in tuition.
▪ UCT must try to provide a supportive role in postgraduate part time jobs by
creating a space which allows for this subsidizing source of funding.
▪ The NRF and bursary limits for student working hours are already being violated by students. There needs to be a review to this policy as it does not reflect what is happening on the ground. Although it is meant to protect students from losing focus from their registered research work, this policy will be difficult to adhere to considering the need for subsidized funding through part time jobs.
▪ A re-look into UCT On-campus accommodation rates of increase
comparative with market price increase off-campus around UCT. Currently, UCT On-campus accommodation rates of increase are higher than that of the market related price increase off campus.
▪ A consolidated effort by UCT towards reducing accommodation prices
increases around UCT by approaching the local government towards the regulation of student accommodation. UCT is a big market for the real estate industry around UCT. This must be used as a bargaining chip for lower affordable student housing. Accommodation costs remain the biggest threat to UCT’s funding. Over 43 % of UCT’s funding goes towards paying student accommodation costs. It is not only for the student that this issue must be addressed but for university sustainability and access.
2019
59
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2019
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Appendix
UCT Faculty postgraduate tuition raw data
(2015-2018) This data is extracted from UCT (2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a)
Faculty of Commerce
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Bachelor of Commerce Honours
specialising in Accounting 62780.00 62780.00 68890.00 67500.00
specialising in Actuarial Science 36590.00 36590.00 39530.00 42700.00
specialising in Economics 56880.00 56880.00 61470.00 59040.00
specialising in FAPM 56880.00 56880.00 61470.00 66420.00
specialising in Finance 40510.00 40510.00 43770.00 51610.00
specialising in Quantitative Finance 42750.00
specialising in Information Systems 58160.00 58160.00 49190.00
specialising in Management Information Systems 58160.00 58160.00 62820.00 50880.00
2nd year 50880.00
specialising in Organisational Psychology Change Management 46530.00 46530.00 50260.00 54290.00
specialising in Statistics 45090.00 45090.00 48700.00 52600.00
specialising in Taxation 58390.00 58390.00 52380.00
Tax Technical & Compliance 1st Year 56620.00
Tax Technical & Compliance 2nd Year 11520.00
Tax Opinion & Consulting 1st Year 56530.00
Tax Opinion & Consulting 2nd Year 11520.00
Master of Commerce, Master of Business Science or MPhil where appropriate:
specialising in Accounting 74500.00
specialising in Accounting Education (1st Year) 55610.00
specialising in Actuarial Science by Coursework 80730.00 80730.00 88550.00 95640.00
specialising in Economics 44240.00 44240.00 47810.00 51660.00
specialising in Economics Development (1st Year) 25280.00 25280.00 27320.00
specialising in Economics Development (2nd Year) 8370.00 8370.00 9040.00
specialising in Applied Economics (1st Year) 25280.00 25280.00 27320.00 29520.00
specialising in Applied Economics (2nd Year) 8370.00 8370.00 9040.00 9770.00
specialising in Economics Science (1st Year) 37920.00 37920.00 40980.00
specialising in Economics Science (2nd Year) 31600.00 31600.00 34150.00
specialising in Economics & Demography 28320.00 28320.00
Dissertation 6320.00 6320.00
specialising in Finance (Financial Management) 60920.00 60920.00 65810.00 71090.00
specialising in Financial reporting, analysis and governance 1st year 42870.00
2019
63
2nd year - option 1 29020.00
2nd year- option 2 15460.00
specialising in Finance (Financial & Risk Management) 70790.00 70790.00 68130.00
specialising in Finance (Investment Management) 67750.00 67750.00 73200.00 79070.00
specialising in Finance (Corporate Finance and Valuation) 82610.00
specialising in Information Systems (Coursework) 40740.00 40740.00 44000.00 57290.00
Dissertation 8370.00 8370.00 9040.00
specialising in Mathematical Finance 88660.00 70180.00 75870.00 81980.00
specialising in Organisational Psychology (Coursework) 44580.00 44580.00 48150.00
specialising in Demography 26100.00 26100.00 28220.00 30510.00
specialising in Programme Evaluation 44580.00 44580.00 48150.00 52020.00
specialising in Taxation (South African Taxation) (1st Year) 48460.00 48460.00 52340.00 56530.00
specialising in Taxation (South African Taxation) (2nd Year) 59820.00 42040.00 64630.00 20750.00
specialising in Taxation (International Taxation) 66300.00 66300.00 64630.00 77370.00
Master of Commerce in Risk Management of Financial Markets 73600.00
Master’s in philosophy 22990.00
Master’s in philosophy in People Management 44610.00 44610.00 48200.00 52070.00
Master’s in philosophy in Development Policy Practice 140000.00
140000.00
151200.00
163310.00
Master of Development Policy & Practice 198320.00
Master of Industrial and Organisational Psychology 52010.00
Thesis (per year) 16520.00 19280.00
Masters by Dissertation 18840.00
Doctor of Philosophy
specialising in Information Systems 37630.00
specialising in Economics (with Coursework) 85700.00
PhD in Philosophy in Economics (with Coursework) Coursework Year 1 56880.00 73400.00 79320.00
2019
64
Faculty of EBE
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Engineering & the Build Environment
BSc (Hons) (Geographical Info Systems) 58 170 58 170 62 830 67 920
BSc (Hons) (Construction Management) 54 560 53 960 58 280 63 740
BSc (Hons) (Property Studies) 47 550 45 430 49 070 52 520
BSc (Hons) (Quantity Surveying) 55 350 54 750 59 130 64 670
BSc (Hons) (Materials Science) 54 750 57 900 62 540 69 780
Bachelor of Architectural Studies (Hons) 49 720 49 720 53 700 58 060
Bachelor of Nuclear Power (Hons) 55 470 59 910 64 820
Bachelor of City Planning (Hons) 56 720 61 260 66 240
Master’s by Dissertation only (180 credits) 25 200 27 800 30 030 32 440
Master’s by Dissertation only (120 credits) and Coursework (1st Year) 26 920 26 920 29 080 31 410
Master’s by Dissertation only (120 credits) and Coursework (2nd Year) 22 950 22 950 24 790 31 410
Master of Architecture (Professional) 55 580 55 580 60 030 64840
Master of City & Regional Planning (1st Year) 56 710 56 710 61 250 66150
Master of City & Regional Planning (2nd Year) 36 100 36 100 38 990 42 110
Master of Geotechnical Engineering 50 040 54 050 58 380
Master of Transport Studies (1st Year) 64 190 69 330 74 880
Master of Transport Studies (2nd Year) 8 140 8 790 9 500
Master of City Planning & Urban Design (1st Year) 56 710
Master of City Planning & Urban Design (2nd Year) 38 380
Master of Science in Property Studies 84 410 84 410 91 630 98 960
Master of Science in Project Management 75 240 75 240 81 260 87 760
Master of Landscape Architecture (1st Year) 59 400 59 400 64 150 69 290
Master of Landscape Architecture (2nd Year) R35 870 35 870 38 740 41 840
MPhil In Conservation of Built Environment (1st Year) 28 570 28 570 30 860 33 330
MPhil In Conservation of Built Environment (2nd Year) 24 620 24 620 26 590 28 720
MPhil (Transport Studies) 65 870 65 600 70 850 76 520
MPhil (Urban Infrastructure Design & Man.) 65 870 65 870 71 140 76 480
Doctoral (PhD) 16 520 16 520 17 850 19 280
2019
65
Faculty of Health Sciences
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Health Sciences
BMedSc (Honours) 45790.00 R45 790 49 460 53 420
BMedSc (Honours) specialising in Medical Physics 48 490 48 630
BMedSc (Honours) in Nutrition & Dietetics
1st Year 61430.00 R61 430 66 590 71 750
2nd Year 36130.00 R36 130 39 040 42 190
MPhil specialising in Addictions Mental Health 10550.00 R10 550
Coursework (per year)
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) . 4760.00 R4 760
MPhil specialising in Biokinetics 31990.00 R31 990 34 320 37 120
Coursework (per year) 15620.00 R15 620 16 870 18 220
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Biomedical Forensic Science 38020.00 R38 020 41 730 45 110
Coursework (per year) 15620.00 15 620 16 870 18 220
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Clinical Paediatric Surgery 10550.00 R10 550 11 400 12 320
Coursework (per year) 4760.00 4 760 5 150 5 570
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Clinical Pharmacology 23460.00 R23 460 25 350 27 400
Coursework (per year) 15620.00 25 280 27 310
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Clinical Research Administration 39770.00 R31 220 43 050 50 850
Coursework (per year) 15620.00 R15 620 16 870 18 220
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Forensic Mental Health 31220.00
Coursework (per year) 15620.00
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
MPhil specialising in Intellectual Disability 23400.00 R23 400 25 280 27 310
Coursework (per year) 23400.00 R23 400 25 280 27 310
Minor Dissertation (90 credits)
MPhil specialising in Liaison Mental Health 10550.00 R10 550 11 400 12 320
Coursework (per year)
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 4760.00 R4 760 5 150 5 570
MPhil specialising in Maternal & Child Health
1st Year (Coursework) . 19350.00 R19 350 21 620
2nd Year (Coursework) 17290.00 17 290 21 620
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 R15 620 16 870 18 220
MPhil specialising in Occupational Health
2019
66
Coursework (per year) 31220.00 R31 220 24 830 26 820
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 R15 620 16 870 18 220
MPhil specialising in Paediatric Forensic Pathology
Coursework (per year) 10550.00 R10 550 11 400 12 320
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 4760.00 R4 760 5 150 5 570
MPhil specialising in Paediatric Pathology
Coursework (per year) 10550.00 R10 550 11 400 12 320
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 4760.00 4 760 5 150 5 570
MPhil specialising in Palliative Medicine
Coursework (per year) 23400.00 R23 400 25 280 27 310
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 R23 400 R25 280 27 310
MPhil specialising in Sport & Exercise Medicine
1st Year (Coursework) 15620.00 R15 620 R16 870 18 220
2nd Year (Coursework) 10430.00 R10 430 R11 270 12 180
3rd Year (Coursework) 10430.00 R10 430 R11 270 12 180
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 R15 620 R16 870 18 220
MPhil specialising in Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy
Coursework (per year) 31410.00 R31 410
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 R15 620
MPhil in Emergency Medicine
(Clinical Emergency Care Stream)
37980
1st Year 21835.00 21835 R16 960 27 303
2nd Year 11760.00 11 760 R16 960 33175
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 15 620 R16 870 18 220
MPhil in Emergency Medicine
(African Emergency Care Stream)
1st Year 17915.00 17915 R8 480
2nd Year 7840.00 7 840 R21 200
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 R25 280
MPhil in Emergency Medicine
(Patient Safety & Clin Decision-making Stream A)
1st Year 14380.00 14 380 R12 720 33175
2nd Year 14380.00 14 380 R21 200
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 15 620 R16 870 18 220
MPhil in Emergency Medicine
(Patient Safety & Clin Decision-making Stream B)
1st Year 14380.00 14 380 R12 720 28380
2nd Year 7190.00 7190 R12 720
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 R25 280 27 303
MPhil in Health Innovation
Coursework (per year) 39590.00 25 640 R34 190
Electives R11 130
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 15 620 R16 860
MPhil in Health Innovation Coursework (per year) 34 190
2019
67
Electives +/_ 11 130
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 16 860
Master of Public Health
(All streams except Health Economics)
Coursework (10 courses @ R3 430 each) 34300.00 34 300 R37 100 44 100
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 15 620 R16 870 18 220
Master of Public Health (Health Economics)
Coursework (8 courses @ R3 430 each) 27440.00 27 440 R29 680 35 280
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 R25 280 30 040
MMed (Speciality training)
Training per year (Years 1 – 4) 10960.00 10 960 R11 840 14 070
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 7750.00 7 750 R8 370 9 950
MPhil (Sub-speciality training)
Training per year (Years 1 & 2) 10550.00 10 550 R11 400 13 550
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 4760.00 4 760 R5 150 6 130
MSc in Exercise and Sports Physiotherapy
Coursework (per year)
R33 970 36 720
Minor Dissertation (60 credits)
R16 870 18 220
MMedSc specialising in Biomedical Engineering
Compulsory coursework 34460.00 34 880 R33 230 35 900
Electives variable depending on choice
10 000 R10 800 11 680
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 R25 280 27 310
MMedSc specialising in Genetic Counselling
Coursework (per year) 46470.00 47 180 R50 990 55 090
Minor Dissertation (60 credits) 15620.00 15 620 R16 870 18 220
MSc in Nursing (by coursework and dissertation)
Compulsory coursework 13140.00 13 140 R14 200 15 350
Electives variable depending on choice
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 R25 280 27 310
MSc in Occupational Therapy (by coursework and dissertation)
Coursework (per year) 28305.00 28305 30605 33100
Minor Dissertation (90 credits) 23400.00 23 400 25 280 27 310
MSc in Nursing in Child Nursing
1st Year (Coursework) 27190.00 27190 29 380 31 750
2nd Year (Coursework) 11440.00 11 440 12 360 13 350
Research-related Independent Study 11730.00 11 730 12 670 13 690
Professional Master’s in Paediatric Neurosurgery
Coursework 39230.00 39 230 42 380 45 790
Research Report 11720.00 11 720 12 660 13 680
MPhil by Research & Dissertation (per year) 22990.00 22 990 24 830 26 820
MSc(Med) by Research & Dissertation (per year) 26180.00 26 180 28 280 30 550
MSc by Research & Dissertation (per year) 24340.00 24 340 26 290 28 400
PhD (per year) 16520.00 16 520 17 850 19 280
MD (per year) 16520.00 16 520 17 850 19 280
2019
68
Faculty of humanities
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Humanities
Honours Honours Honours
4 Honours courses + research essay 33 900 33 900 36 650 39 600
BEd Hons (6 Honours courses) 41 520
BEd Hons (4 Honours courses) 29 280 31 640 34 200
BA Hons in Drama
4 Honours courses + research essay 33 900 33 890 36 630 38 400
BMus Hons specialising in Dance Studies 37 050 37 050 40 020 43 230
BMus Hons specialising in Performance (Music) 35490 36 060 37 790 42 100
BMus Hons specialising in Musicology 35660 33 900 36 650 39 600
BMus Hons specialising in Composition 33 810 33 810 36 530 39 460
Master’s by Coursework
4 Master’s course work courses 30 640 30 640 R33 120 35 800
Minor dissertation 13 990 13 990 16 320
Masters in Education (M.Ed)
4 Master’s course work courses 35 800
Minor dissertation 16 320
Research Master’s 22 990 22 990 24 830 26 820
Master of Library & Information Science
2 Master’s course work courses 30 540
Minor dissertation 13 990
Master of Fine Art
By dissertation 22 990 22 990 24 830 26 820
Master of Music by Composition & Dissertation 51 980
Composition 30 560 30 560 33 010
Dissertation 13 990 13 990
Master of Music by Performance & Dissertation 55 000
1st Year Recitals 16 560 22 040 23 820
2nd Year Recitals 16 560 11 080 11 980
Minor Dissertation 13 990 13 990 15 110
Masters in Theatre & Performance
2 Master’s course work courses 36 740 24 900 26 900
Minor dissertation 29 730 32 110 34 680
Masters in Applied Drama and Theatre studies
5 Master’s course work courses 52 350 56 570
Masters in Television Production or Media Theory & Practice
4 master’s course work courses 30 640 33 120 35 800
Research Project. 29 730 32 110 16 320
2019
69
Master’s in music specialising in Choreography 22 990 24 830
Master of Music specialising
2 master’s course work courses 41 250 44 560
Master of Music specialising in Choreograph and Dissertation
2 master’s course work courses 27 980 30 220
Master of Music by Dissertation 24 830 26 820
MMus by Coursework and Dissertation 52 120
MMus by Performance, Coursework and Dissertation 53 560
MMus (Dance) by Performance & Dissertation 48 130
MMus(Dance) by Choreography & Dissertation 32 650
Doctoral (PhD) (per year) 16 520 16 520 17 850 19 280
2019
70
Faculty of Law
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Law
LLM/MPhil by Coursework and Dissertation
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Dissertation 7 210 7 210 7790 8 420
Master of Laws in Commercial Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 R7 000
Master of Laws in Dispute Resolution
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Intellectual Property Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in International Trade Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Labour Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Private Law & Human Rights*
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Shipping Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Tax Law
Coursework (4 courses) 57 440 57 440 62 040 67 040
Research Project 5 970 5 970 6 450 7 000
LLM/MPhil by Dissertation only 13 640 13 640 14 740 15 920
Master of Laws in Environmental Law*
Coursework (4 courses) 62 040 67 040
Research Project R6 450 7 000
Master of Laws in Marine & Environmental Law*
Coursework (4 courses) 62 040 67 040
Research Project R6 450 7 000
2019
71
Faculty of Science
Tuition (Per year of study)
2015 2016 2017 2018
Faculty
Science
Bachelor of Science Honours 45 500 45 500 49 500 52 800
Per year of study
Master of Science & MPhil
MSc by Dissertation only 23 000 23 000 25 000 27 000
MSc by Coursework & Dissertation
Coursework (full year) 45 500 45 500 50 500 53 000
Coursework (half year) 23 000 23 000 25 000
Dissertation 23 000 23 000 25 000 27 000
Doctoral (PhD) (per year) 16 520 16 520 17 850 19 280
2019
72
Data used in EBEPGSC Research Group UCT postgraduate
student cost of living model
Call on Column 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 rate (ave)
Commerce !Honors!Average 51997 51997 53848 48204 48686 49173 -2%
Commerce !Honors!Lower 43005 43005 44463 31117 31429 31743 -9%
Commerce !Honors!Upper 60989 60989 63233 65291 66800 68344 2%
Engineering & the Build Environment!Honors!Average 53350 54015 58340 63469 67286 71334 6%
Engineering & the Build Environment!Honors!Lower 49414 49632 53606 57865 61027 64362 5%
Engineering & the Build Environment!Honors!Upper 57286 58398 63074 69072 73552 78323 6%
Health Sciences!Honors!Average 47783 47960 50930 55787 58780 61934 5%
Health Sciences!Honors!Lower 35016 37530 39469 40865 43029 45307 5%
Health Sciences!Honors!Upper 60551 58390 62391 70708 74624 78757 6%
Humanities!Honors!Average 35904 33984 36559 39513 40871 42275 3%
Humanities!Honors!Lower 33150 31539 34051 36626 37929 39277 4%
Humanities!Honors!Upper 38658 36430 39066 42399 43813 45275 3%
Law!Honors!Average
Law!Honors!Lower
Law!Honors!Upper
Science!Honors!Average 48325 49267 51150 52800 54383 56014 3%
Science!Honors!Lower 48325 49267 51150 52800 54383 56014 3%
Science!Honors!Upper 48325 49267 51150 52800 54383 56014 3%
UCT!Honors!Average 47472 47445 50165 51955 53555 55205 3%
UCT!Honors!Lower 41782 42194 44548 43855 44587 45331 2%
UCT!Honors!Upper 53162 52695 55783 60054 62584 65221 4%
Commerce !MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 45633 44660 51172 60858 67223 74254 10%
Commerce !MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 15956 15152 19672 16255 16657 17069 2%
Commerce !MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 75310 74169 82671 105461 118648 133485 13%
Engineering & the Build Environment!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 47789 46412 50163 54536 57066 59714 5%
Engineering & the Build Environment!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 27895 24816 26789 29603 30335 31085 2%
Engineering & the Build Environment!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 67684 68007 73537 79470 83887 88550 6%
Health Sciences!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 18790 18279 20185 23305 25105 27043 8%
Health Sciences!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 9107 9008 10220 11762 12839 14014 9%
Health Sciences!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 28473 27551 30149 34848 37378 40091 7%
Humanities!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 20618 26687 29372 34814 41548 49583 19%
Humanities!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 13423 15998 18831 21542 25224 29536 17%
Humanities!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 27813 37376 39913 48086 57968 69880 21%
Law!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 30819 30819 33455 34761 36204 37707 4%
Law!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 4817 4817 5421 4544 4589 4635 -1%
Law!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 56822 56822 61489 64978 67986 71134 5%
Science!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 28625 28625 31375 35667 38435 41418 8%
Science!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 17375 17375 18625 20656 21902 23223 6%
Science!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 39875 39875 44125 50678 54987 59662 9%
2019
73
UCT!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Average 32046 32580 35954 40657 44059 47745 8%
UCT!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Lower 14762 14528 16593 17393 18405 19476 6%
UCT!MCom, Mbus, Mphil, MSc!Upper 49330 50633 55314 63920 69768 76151 9%
Commerce !PhD!Average 56880 73400 79320 61665 64718 67921 5%
Commerce !PhD!Lower 56880 73400 79320 27674 27951 28231 -9%
Commerce !PhD!Upper 56880 73400 79320 95656 114055 135992 19%
Engineering & the Build Environment!PhD!Average 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Engineering & the Build Environment!PhD!Lower 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Engineering & the Build Environment!PhD!Upper 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Health Sciences!PhD!Average 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Health Sciences!PhD!Lower 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Health Sciences!PhD!Upper 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Humanities!PhD!Average 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Humanities!PhD!Lower 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Humanities!PhD!Upper 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Law!PhD!Average
Law!PhD!Lower
Law!PhD!Upper
Science!PhD!Average 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Science!PhD!Lower 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
Science!PhD!Upper 16520 16520 17850 19280 20312 21400 5%
UCT!PhD!Average 24592 27896 30144 27757 29013 30326 5%
UCT!PhD!Lower 24592 27896 30144 20959 21168 21380 -3%
UCT!PhD!Upper 24592 27896 30144 34555 38716 43379 12%
UCT!PhD!Upper 18134 18795 20309 20975 20975 20975
2019
74
UCT Postgraduate Accommodation
UCT 3rd tier residences costs UCT 3rd tier residences extracted from the UCT (2015, 2016b, 2017a, 2018a)
UCT 3rd tier accomodation
Prices in Rands (2015)
Rate of increase(2015-2016)
Prices in Rands (2016)
Rate of increase (2016-2017)
Prices in Rands (2017)
Rate of increase (2017-2018)
Prices in Rands (2018)
Price in Rands (2019-Prediction)
Price in Rands (2020-Prediction)
Bound with respect to on campus
Amalinda House
44400 0
44400 0.0991 48,800 0.1004 53700 57282 61103
Average
Avenue Road 8
44400 0
44400 0.0991 48,800 0.1004 53700 57282 61103
Average
Edwin Hart Annex
59300 0
59300 0.1012 65,300 0.0995 71800 76589 81698 Upper
Edwin Hart Annex
40900 0
40900 0.1002 45,000 0.1000 49500 52802 56324 Lower
Ex-Air 4080
0 0 4080
0 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
Forest Hill (F) 4080
0 0 4080
0 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
North Grange
40800 0
40800 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
Harold Cressy Hall
40800 0
40800 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
Inglewood 4440
0 0 4440
0 0.0991 48,800 0.1004 53700 57282 61103 Average
J P Duminy 5570
0 0 5570
0 0.1005 61,300 0.0995 67400 71896 76691 Upper
J P Duminy 5240
0 0 5240
0 0.0992 57,600 0.1007 63400 67629 72140 Average
J P Duminy 6890
0 0 6890
0 0.1001 75,800 0.1003 83400 88963 94897 Upper+
J P Duminy 8830
0 0 8830
0 0.0997 97,100 0.0999 10680
0 113924 121523 Upper+
Linkoping 3000
0 0 3000
0 0.1000 33,000 0.1000 36300 38721 41304 Lower+
Obz Square 4660
0 0 4660
0 0.0987 51,200 0.1016 56400 60162 64175 Average
Rondeberg Flats
59300 0
59300 0.1012 65,300 0.0995 71800 76589 81698 Upper
Rondeberg Flats
54200 0
54200 0.0996 59,600 0.0990 65500 69869 74529
Average
T B Davie 5920
0 0 5920
0 0.0997 65,100 0.0998 71600 76376 81470 Upper
2019
75
T B Davie 4080
0 0 4080
0 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
T B Davie 5410
0 0 5410
0 0.0998 59,500 0.1008 65500 69869 74529 Average
T B Davie 4080
0 0 4080
0 0.1005 44,900 0.1002 49400 52695 56210 Lower
Woodbine Road
41600 0
41600 0.1010 45,800 0.0983 50300 53655 57234 Lower
Woodbine Road
46100 0
46100 0.0998 50,700 0.1006 55800 59522 63492
Average
Average 49,33
0 0.000 49,33
0 0.1000 54,265 0.1001 59,69
6 63677 67925 Average
UCT off campus accommodation costs
UCT off campus accommodation (Data extracted from OCAS website sensitive
data was filtered and only the average of the areas is displayed).
UCT off-campus accommodation
Prices in Rands (2015) pm
Prices in Rands (2015) pa
Rate of increase (2015-2016)
Prices in Rands (2016) pm
Prices in Rands (2016) pa
Rondebosch 4722.955779 56675.46935 0.0870 5133.647586 61603.77103
Rosebank 5035.515733 60426.1888 0.0870 5473.386667 65680.64
Mowbray 4416.276233 52995.3148 0.0870 4800.300253 57603.60304
Observatory 4230.968702 50771.62442 0.0870 4598.879024 55186.54829
Claremont 5189.536 62274.432 0.0870 5640.8 67689.6
Average per year R56,629 R56,629 0.0870 R61,553 R61,553
UCT off-campus accommodation
Rate of increase (2016-2017)
Prices in Rands (2017) pm
Prices in Rands (2017) pa
Rate of increase (2017-2018)
Prices in Rands (2018) pm
Prices in Rands (2018) pa
Prices in Rands (2019) pa
Prices in Rands (2020) pa
Rondebosch 0.0870 R5,580 R66,960.6
2 -0.070 R5,191 R62,290.9
1 R67,108.5
7 R72,298.8
4
Rosebank 0.0870 R5,949 R71,392.0
0 -0.065 R5,564 R66,772.9
1 R71,937.2
2 R77,500.9
4
Mowbray 0.0870 R5,218 R62,612.6
1 -0.032 R5,053 R60,640.0
0 R65,329.9
8 R70,382.6
9
Observatory 0.0870 R4,999 R59,985.3
8 0.325 R6,623 R79,477.5
0 R85,624.4
0 R92,246.7
1
Claremont 0.0870 R6,131 R73,575.6
5 0.152 R7,065 R84,784.6
2 R91,341.9
7 R98,406.4
9
Average per year 0.0870 R66,905 R66,905 0.058 R70,793 R70,793
R76,268.43
R82,167.13
2019
76
UCT Postgraduate Transport (to and from
work)
Data obtained from the EBE postgraduate student cost of living survey (2018)
Number of participants Cost of transport per week (ZAR)
1 150
2 450
3 120
4 500
5 250
6 400
7 250
8 300
9 200
10 500
11 250
12 75
13 120
14 200
15 700
16 70
17 500
18 200
19 500
20 150
21 500
22 600
23 1500
24 100
25 500
26 400
27 150
28 50
29 400
30 350
Average 348
2019
77
UCT Student Transport (vacation)
Data extracted from Grey Hound (2019).
Destination Trips/year Cost/trip Total
WC WC 4
RSA
EC 2 R486.67 R1,946.67
FS 2 R480.00 R1,920.00
NC 2
NW 2
KZN 2 R650.00 R2,600.00
MPL 2 R860.00 R3,440.00
GP 2 R600.00 R2,400.00
LMP 2 R800.00 R3,200.00
SADC
LES 2 R500.00 R2,000.00
SWZ 2
NAM 1 R700.00 R1,400.00
BOTS 1 R870.00 R1,740.00
ZIM 1 R1,150.00 R2,300.00
MOZ 1 R920.00 R1,840.00
ZAM 1
OTHER
Total R2,253.33
2019
78
UCT Student Toiletries Data extracted from Clicks (2019).
No./year
price/unit total
oral
toothbrush 4 R21.6
6 R86.6
5
toothpaste 6 R20.9
9 R125.
94
dental floss 6 R56.9
9 R341.
94
mouth wash 6 R50.9
9 R305.
94
body
deodorant 6 R17.9
0 R107.
40
soap/shower gel 12 R29.9
9 R359.
88
shampoo/conditioner 6 R24.9
0 R149.
40
moisturiser 4 R59.9
9 R239.
96
laundry washing powder 4
R58.00
R232.00
fabric softner 6 R27.9
9 R167.
94
kitchen/house
dish soap 4 R28.0
0 R112.
00
cleaning consumables 4 R34.9
9 R139.
96
dish cloth 2 R16.9
9 R33.9
8
bathroom
pot cleaner 6 R23.9
9 R143.
94
freshner 2 R39.9
9 R79.9
8
handwash 4 R24.9
9 R99.9
6
toilet paper 4 R69.9
9 R279.
96
Feminine care sanitary pads 24
R24.00
R576.00
sanitary tampons 12
R12.00
R144.00
make-up (concealer, blush, eye liner, pencil, eye shadows, lip stick, lip gloss, face soap and face creams, make up remover)) 4
R419.00
R1,676.00
Medication (folic acid tablet, pain killers, 12
R97.00
R1,164.00
Total (male)
R3,006.83
Total (Female)
R6,566.83
2019
79
Data costs Extracted from Vodacom (2019), MTN (2019), Cell C (2019) and Telkom (2019)
Cost per month (2017) (ZAR)
Data amount (Gb)
Cost per month (2018) (ZAR)
Data amount (Gb)
Internet providers
Vodacom 299 3 299 3
MTN 330 3 330 3
Cell C 299 3 299 3
Telkom 299 10 301 10
Average 304 19 305 19
Cost per year 3647
3659
2019
80
UCT Postgraduate Dependent costs
Response from UCT EBE Student cost of living survey (2018)
Number of participants
How many financial dependents do you have?
How much do you spend on financial dependents per month?
1 0 0
Amount (ZAR) per dependent
2 1 1500 1500
3 3 600 200
4 4 5000 1250
5 0 0
6 0 0
7 0 0
8 0 0
9 3 2000 667
10 0 0
11 0 0
12 0 0
13 1 2500 2500
14 1 4500 4500
15 0 0
16 0 0
17 1 0 0
18 0 0
19 0 0
20 1 1500 1500
21 0 0
22 0 0
23 0 0
24 0 0
25 2 2000 1000
26 5 500 100
27 0 0
28 0 0
29 3 5000 1667
30 0 0
31 2 1000 500
32 3 6000 2000
33 0 0
34 0 0
35 1 1500 1500
2019
81
36 5 4000 800
37 0 0
Average 1312
UCT Medical Cover
Data extracted from the UCT (2016d, 2017c, 2018b)
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
COMPCARE MEDICAL SCHEME (ZAR per year) 3420 3960 4416
DISCOVERY HEALTH MEDICAL SCHEME (ZAR per year) 3480
MOMENTUM HEALTH MEDICAL SCHEME (ZAR per year) 3660 4020 4440
Average (ZAR per year) 3092 3520 3990 4428 4967 5571
rate of increase (%) 13.4 11.0
Average increase rate (%) 12.2
2019
82
UCT Postgraduate funding experiences
Response from UCT EBE Student cost of living survey (2018)
Timestamp
Which department are you in?
Are you full time/part time
Are you on a bursary/scholarship/sponsored funding?
How much do you spend on transport to and from your UCT research work place per week? (This includes Uber, Taxify, petrol costs etc)
How much do you spend on rent per month?
10/8/2018 5:28:
21
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R 150 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 12:14
:11
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R450 R 2000 to R 3000
10/18/2018 12:14
:24
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
Full time
Yes R120
10/18/2018 12:15
:02
Electrical Engineering
Full time
No R500 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 12:16
:55
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R 250 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 12:17
:20
Mechanical Engineering
Full time
Yes 400 R 6000 to R 8000
10/18/2018 12:18
:10
Electrical Engineering
Full time
No R0 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 12:18
:42
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes 250 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 12:21
:01
Mechanical Engineering
Full time
Yes 300 per week R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 12:21
:23
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R200 R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 12:38
:05
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes R500 R 4000 to R 5000
2019
83
10/18/2018 12:44
:43
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes 250 R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 12:54
:45
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes R75 9700
10/18/2018 12:57
:16
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes R0 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 13:27
:18
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes
R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 13:35
:36
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
Full time
No R 120 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 13:41
:36
Electrical Engineering
Yes 200 R 5000 to R
6000
10/18/2018 14:09
:13
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes 700 R 6000 to R 8000
10/18/2018 14:13
:00
Construction Economics and Management
Part time
No Don't know R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 14:37
:39
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes Use Jammie shuttle during the to-fro.Take Taxify when leaving campus very late. Walk down few times
R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 14:58
:32
Electrical Engineering
Full time
No R70 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 15:35
:05
Mechanical Engineering
Full time
Yes R500 R 4000 to R 5000
10/18/2018 16:12
:53
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R160 during holidays when Jammies are not operating frequently.
R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 17:15
:16
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes 200 R 5000 to R 6000
10/18/2018 18:27
:51
Civil Engineering
Full time
Yes 500 R 6000 to R 8000
10/18/2018
Electrical Engineering
Full time
No 150 R 3000 to R 4000
2019
84
19:14:45
10/19/2018 7:57:
12
Mechanical Engineering
Full time
Yes R500 R 5000 to R 6000
10/19/2018 10:26
:58
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes 600 R 5000 to R 6000
10/19/2018 10:46
:33
Construction Economics and Management
Part time
Yes R1500 R 2000 to R 3000
10/19/2018 11:22
:50
Civil Engineering
Full time
No R100 R 6000 to R 8000
10/19/2018 11:52
:50
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes 500 R 6000 to R 8000
10/20/2018 19:36
:38
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R400 R 6000 to R 8000
10/22/2018 3:35:
43
Chemical Engineering
Full time
No 0 R 4000 to R 5000
10/22/2018 9:36:
59
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes R150 R 3000 to R 4000
10/22/2018 13:49
:52
Electrical Engineering
Part time
Yes 50 R 4000 to R 5000
10/22/2018 14:01
:04
Chemical Engineering
Full time
Yes 400 R 6000 to R 8000
10/25/2018 12:55
:02
Electrical Engineering
Full time
No 350 R 4000 to R 5000
2019
85
Timestamp Which department are you
in? How many financial dependents do you have?
How much do you spend on financial dependents per month?
What is the most challenging expense relative to your budget.
If you are on a bursary/scholarship/sponsored funding, is the funding enough to cover all your living expenses?
10/8/2018 5:28:21
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accomodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:14:11
Chemical Engineering 1 R1500 Accomodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:14:24
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
3 R600 Food No
10/18/2018 12:15:02
Electrical Engineering 4 R5000 Accomodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:16:55
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accomodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:17:20
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 Accomodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:18:10
Electrical Engineering 0 0 Tuition No
10/18/2018 12:18:42
Civil Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:21:01
Mechanical Engineering 3 2000 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:21:23
Chemical Engineering
Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:38:05
Civil Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:44:43
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:54:45
Civil Engineering 1 2500 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 12:57:16
Civil Engineering 1 R4500 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 13:27:18
Civil Engineering
Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 13:35:36
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
0 0 Tuition
10/18/2018 13:41:36
Electrical Engineering 1
Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 14:09:13
Civil Engineering 0
Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 14:13:00
Construction Economics and Management
0 0 Tuition No
10/18/2018 14:37:39
Civil Engineering 1 R1500 Internet No
10/18/2018 14:58:32
Electrical Engineering 0 R0 Food
10/18/2018 15:35:05
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
2019
86
10/18/2018 16:12:53
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 17:15:16
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/18/2018 18:27:51
Civil Engineering 2 2000 Internet No
10/18/2018 19:14:45
Electrical Engineering 5 500 Accommodation ie Rent
10/19/2018 7:57:12
Mechanical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/19/2018 10:26:58
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Transport No
10/19/2018 10:46:33
Construction Economics and Management
3 5000 Food No
10/19/2018 11:22:50
Civil Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/19/2018 11:52:50
Chemical Engineering 2 1000 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/20/2018 19:36:38
Chemical Engineering 3 R6000 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/22/2018 3:35:43
Chemical Engineering 0 0 Accommodation ie Rent
Yes
10/22/2018 9:36:59
Chemical Engineering 0 R 0
No
10/22/2018 13:49:52
Electrical Engineering 1 1500 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/22/2018 14:01:04
Chemical Engineering 5 4000 Accommodation ie Rent
No
10/25/2018 12:55:02
Electrical Engineering 0
Tuition No
Timestamp
Which department are you in?
If you are on a bursary/scholarship/sponsored funding/self funding and it does not cover all your expenses. How do you subsidize your expenses?
How much is the subsidy from your other activities other than your funding per month?
How much time do you spend on activities to raise money to cover living expenses other than your registered research work (Hours per week)?
10/8/2018
5:28:21
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
R 3400 12 hours
2019
87
10/18/2018
12:14:11
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
R2500 9
10/18/2018
12:14:24
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support, Loan
R100 - R400 5 hours
10/18/2018
12:15:02
Electrical Engineering
Loan R3000 4Hrs
10/18/2018
12:16:55
Chemical Engineering
Family/Friendly support R 2500 9
10/18/2018
12:17:20
Mechanical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
7000 20
10/18/2018
12:18:10
Electrical Engineering
R0 0
10/18/2018
12:18:42
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
3000 40
10/18/2018
12:21:01
Mechanical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), 3 part time jobs
about R3000/ month 20 -30 hours /week
10/18/2018
12:21:23
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
R3000 10
10/18/2018
12:38:05
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support, tutoring and industry work for the university
its quite similar, report writing, concrete tests, reference editing etc
14
10/18/2018
12:44:43
Chemical Engineering
Family/Friendly support 7000 0
10/18/2018
12:54:45
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
1000 3
10/18/2018
12:57:16
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
Variable 6-8
10/18/2018
13:27:18
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Tutoring
2000 6
10/18/2018
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
Family/Friendly support 0 0
2019
88
13:35:36
10/18/2018
13:41:36
Electrical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Tutoring
2000 20
10/18/2018
14:09:13
Civil Engineering
Family/Friendly support
10/18/2018
14:13:00
Construction Economics and Management
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
0 0
10/18/2018
14:37:39
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Taking tutorials on campus.
R2360 9
10/18/2018
14:58:32
Electrical Engineering
17 hours per week
10/18/2018
15:35:05
Mechanical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
R600 2
10/18/2018
16:12:53
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
On average R5000/ month
15 hours/ week, on average
10/18/2018
17:15:16
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
3500 20
10/18/2018
18:27:51
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Loan
3000 30
10/18/2018
19:14:45
Electrical Engineering
5000 15
10/19/2018
7:57:12
Mechanical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
Contributes around 45% of my monthly expenses
10
10/19/2018
10:26:58
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
1600 15
10/19/2018
10:46:33
Construction Economics and Management
Loan None None
10/19/2018
11:22:50
Civil Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support, Loan
100% 20
2019
89
10/19/2018
11:52:50
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
10000 10
10/20/2018
19:36:38
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
R3000 12 hours
10/22/2018
3:35:43
Chemical Engineering
10/22/2018
9:36:59
Chemical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Part time jobs
R5000 - R8000 (It varies)
5 - 15 hours
10/22/2018
13:49:52
Electrical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below)
40
10/22/2018
14:01:04
Chemical Engineering
Loan 1000 15 HOURS
10/25/2018
12:55:02
Electrical Engineering
Part time job/ Full time job (If ticked please state job type by commenting below), Family/Friendly support
9500 20
Timestamp
Which department are you in?
Comments (State Job type from question 10 if ticked and any comments about funding in EBE):
10/8/2018 5:28:
21
Chemical Engineering
Job: tutoring
10/18/20
18 12:14:11
Chemical Engineering
Tutoring
10/18/20
18 12:14:24
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
10/18/20
18 12:15:02
Electrical Engineering
Tutoring
10/18/20
18 12:16:55
Chemical Engineering
2019
90
10/18/20
18 12:17:20
Mechanical Engineering
data analyst
10/18/20
18 12:18:10
Electrical Engineering
There needs to be more funding opportunities for postgraduate students. The faculty can consider liaising with companies in industry to provide small contract jobs for postgraduate students - this creates funding opportunities for the students as well as work experience in their field of interest.
10/18/20
18 12:18:42
Civil Engineering
Tutoring
10/18/20
18 12:21:01
Mechanical Engineering
Library assistant, tutoring, online transcription jobs
10/18/20
18 12:21:23
Chemical Engineering
tutoring on & off-campus
10/18/20
18 12:38:05
Civil Engineering
tutoring, laboratory and desktop work for the department
10/18/20
18 12:44:43
Chemical Engineering
10/18/20
18 12:54:45
Civil Engineering
Very occasional work for consultants
10/18/20
18 12:57:16
Civil Engineering
Part time work provided by my supervisor
10/18/20
18 13:27:18
Civil Engineering
10/18/20
18 13:35:36
Architecture & Planning Geomatics
No time for part time job. Have not been gifted a bursary. Will have to take out a loan
10/18/20
18
Electrical Engineering
Tutoring. I think EBE would rather sponsor fewer students with more money rather than have a lot of student and less money. This would improve the research as students would focus on research only
2019
91
13:41:36
10/18/20
18 14:09:13
Civil Engineering
10/18/20
18 14:13:00
Construction Economics and Management
I am self funding, hence don't know what to comment.
10/18/20
18 14:37:39
Civil Engineering
Academic Tutor. Postgraduate bursaries (faculty and department) should be inccreased to comfortably lessen tuition and rent financial burdens.
10/18/20
18 14:58:32
Electrical Engineering
10/18/20
18 15:35:05
Mechanical Engineering
Hostess at children's parties
10/18/20
18 16:12:53
Chemical Engineering
Tutoring in department, private tutoring, other university ad hoc jobs. Funding is not enough to live, obviously.
10/18/20
18 17:15:16
Chemical Engineering
Tutoring & student library assistant
10/18/20
18 18:27:51
Civil Engineering
Tutorial assisting
10/18/20
18 19:14:45
Electrical Engineering
The question should have been modified, some of us are not on any funding and still sort for other ways to get income like TUTORING
10/19/20
18 7:57:
12
Mechanical Engineering
Tutoring and Lecturing at UCT (Contract work paid per hour)
10/19/20
18 10:26:58
Chemical Engineering
tutoring
2019
92
10/19/20
18 10:46:33
Construction Economics and Management
Tuition
10/19/20
18 11:22:50
Civil Engineering
Part-time jobs
10/19/20
18 11:52:50
Chemical Engineering
TUTORING
10/20/20
18 19:36:38
Chemical Engineering
Tutoring
10/22/20
18 3:35:
43
Chemical Engineering
10/22/20
18 9:36:
59
Chemical Engineering
Part time jobs include: tutoring and teaching at university, private tutoring, housesitting, baby sitting, pet walker, etc. I had a departmental bursary and another scholarship as my income for research.
10/22/20
18 13:49:52
Electrical Engineering
Full time engineer
10/22/20
18 14:01:04
Chemical Engineering
10/25/20
18 12:55:02
Electrical Engineering
Supplemental work: Tutoring & Editing documents. I understand that the funding bodies expect you to finish a Master's degree in 2 years, but the reality is that, statistically, the average completion time in South Africa for a Masters degree is 3.5 years. I had some funding in the first 2 years, but my research encountered many difficulties (year 2) and so I had to re-register for year 3. But in year 3 I had no funding support, so more than half of my time was spent on other things to earn money in order to survive, which meant that my research was affected and I could not finish in year 3 either. So I had to re-register for year 4, and again I am spending much of my time and energy on other work and now also on household matters because our finances have become so tight that I have to very carefully plan our meals and our shopping and manage other things to save money. I am finally close to finishing my Masters, but the extra year of my life and the extra expenses and other things that we (not just me, my family as well) have had to sacrifice to make this happen have been incredibly difficult. Our funding bodies must recognise that the "expected" finishing time (and thus the funding time) is incongruent with the reality of completion times for research-based degrees. Same goes for PhDs, as well. Many students do not have the support of family as I did, and will just have to give up on their degrees when they are 60% or 70% of the way, but just don't have the money for that extra bit of time. And yes,
2019
93
extension funding exists, but you have to apply for it in March already, and most people do not know so early in the year that their research is going to go wrong and that they will need to re-register, so by the time you realise that this is what is happening to you, it's already too late.