Over 30 students from Stellenbosch University’s (SU) student communities have been unable to continue in their leadership positions at the university as they did not meet the minimum academic requirements of SU’s Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS) for leadership.
This was according to Toni Solomon, chairperson of SU’s Prim Committee.
“It took a toll on our leadership structure. A lot of us weren’t sure how to react to it since it’s something we’ve never experienced before. It was a sad moment,” explained Vesta Private Student Organisation’s (PSO) vice primarius, Sinetemba Xesi. Both Vesta’s primarius and head mentor are no longer able to hold their leadership roles as a result of them not meeting their Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS) academic requirements for leadership. Vesta forms part of the Wimbledon Cluster. PHOTO: Jessica Hillier
HEMIS, according to a document provided by SU’s Academic Affairs Council, is a bi-annual calculation performed by students to determine whether they meet the different academic requirements necessary for residence placement, academic readmission and running for student community leadership.
The 34 students who are no longer able to serve consisted of prims, vice prims, house committee (HC) members, head mentors and mentors from various residences and private student organisations (PSOs), according to Solomon.
“Student leaders have to go to greater lengths to stay on course with their academic responsibilities,” stated Pieter Kloppers, director of the Centre for Student Communities, via email correspondence with MatieMedia.
“The disruption suffered by a student community when a student leader fails to meet the HEMIS requirements after election is outweighed by the academic health a student community enjoys as a result of the example set by their leaders and having leaders who do cope with the responsibilities of leadership and academic life,” Kloppers said.
Toni Solomon and Christo van der Bank, respectively chairperson and vice chairperson of the Prim Committee, provided its members with a platform to express how their communities have been impacted by the reinstatement of the Higher Education Information Management System (HEMIS) on 17 January 2022. Solomon said that multiple student leaders expressed that they faced challenges and emotional responses from their communities after losing vital members of their house committees. PHOTO: Jessica Hillier
Where the disruption started
On 8 April 2020, communication was sent to SU students via Professor Stan du Plessis, chairperson of SU’s Institutional Committee for Business Continuity, which stated that HEMIS for students registered at SU in 2020 would be waived for 2021.
On 17 November 2021, an email bulletin released by Dr Ronel Retief, SU’s registrar, reiterated the university’s decision to avoid the academic exclusion of students under the “extensive impact” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The bulletin explained that in order to compensate for the “no-HEMIS” year of 2020, the reimplementation of HEMIS for 2022 would mean a slightly lower minimum credit requirement would need to be met by returning undergraduate students, registered consecutively in both 2020 and 2021.
“As in all spheres of life, a disruption does occur when student leaders later need to vacate their positions for whatever reason. Therefore, student leaders have to go to greater lengths to stay on course with their academic responsibilities,” stated Pieter Kloppers, director of the Centre for Student Communities. PHOTO: Jessica Hillier
Leaders were informed that they could no longer hold their positions when their final results for the 2021 academic year were received, according to Solomon. Student community leadership terms consist of four terms, thus the affected leaders had already acted for one full term.
“For most of us, HEMIS had no influence on our university experience. A lot of us forgot about it,” stated Falak Modi, an HC member of Harmonie Residence, which lost a mentor and an HC member.
“[Not making HEMIS] becomes such tragic news because it’s like a family member not being able to participate in family meetings and events,” said Sinetemba Xesi, vice primarius for Vesta PSO, which lost both their primarius and head mentor.
*Disclaimer: MatieMedia journalist Jessica Hillier also serves as a member of the Prim Committee.