Pretoria – The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has suspended year-end examinations until January next year.
The university said on Monday it had been under severe pressure for some time to postpone examinations due to prolonged protest action on its campuses and the trauma that students and staff had experienced.
“We resisted this as we were aware that the postponement of examinations could have a major impact on the future careers of some of our students. We thus explored alternative scenarios, including the use of off-campus venues to provide students an opportunity to write either in December 2015 or in January 2016,” said the university’s management.
The university said, however, following the incidents on Monday morning -- where examination venues were trashed and buses were forcibly prevented from transporting students to off-campus sites -- the Executive of the Senate took the unprecedented decision of postponing examinations until 11 January 2016.
The university said the safety and security of students and staff would be severely compromised if exams were to continue.
“There will therefore be no further examinations at the Bellville, Wellington and Wingfield venues this year. Timetables for the postponed examinations will be published on the university website in due course.”
The university apologised to all students and staff for the trauma that they had suffered and thanked everyone for their support and understanding over the past weeks. – SAnews.gov.za
