UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Robert Balfour. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim has called on universities to broaden their approach to student safety beyond campus gates, arguing that safe campuses must be complemented by safe student precincts, transport routes and accommodation.

Speaking at the National Student Safety, Security and Wellbeing Summit at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) recently, Cassim called for universities, municipalities and law enforcement agencies to take collective responsibility for safety beyond campus boundaries, noting that students remain part of the university community even when walking along municipal roads, waiting for transport or travelling to private residences.

“Campus gates cannot be the boundaries of responsibility. We need to move from safe campuses to safe student precincts,” he said, citing the rape and murder of UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana at the Claremont Post Office in 2019 as a stark reminder of the risks students face beyond university grounds.

The summit brought together student leadership from universities across South Africa, university management, government and other stakeholders to confront safety concerns at various campuses, including gender-based violence, harassment, unsafe transport, student accommodation, mental health and digital safety.

Officially opening the meeting, UWC Rector and Vice-Chancellor Prof Robert Balfour said the summit, themed “Leaving No Student Behind: Building a Safe, Inclusive, and Enabling University Community”, provided an opportunity for the University to strengthen its commitments to dignity and participation, while bringing its powerful theme of accountability to the forefront.

UWC SRC President Mcntosh Kasembe. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC

Discussions focused on five areas: campus security and emergency response; safe residences and student housing; financial security and affordability; mental health and psychosocial support; and, digital safety and emerging risks.

Prof Balfour said UWC’s own safety concerns could not be separated from those of the surrounding communities, including Bellville, Bishop Lavis, Mitchell’s Plain and Khayelitsha, which battle with gangsterism, violence, transport safety and insecurity in communities, noting that as “an institution we are also implicated in these issues”.

While university leaders had the responsibility to listen to student safety concerns, Prof Balfour said students also had an important role: helping institutions find solutions to the problems.

“I therefore want to encourage you to speak openly about what works and what still needs to be improved. Share with your institutions all those best practices that we are doing so well, and also the hard lessons that we have not done so well. The purpose is surely to learn from one another and to identify changes that will help make our sector stronger and better for our young people,” he told student delegates.

UWC SRC President Mcntosh Kasembe challenged university leaders, questioning whether institutions were doing enough to protect students from violence and trauma. He asked whether students could walk safely between residences and lecture halls, and report harassment without being blamed, or trust institutions to act when sexual violence is reported. 

Higher Education and Training Deputy Minister Yusuf Cassim wants universities to take student safety beyond campuses. Image: Sipokazi Fokazi

Furthermore, he criticised institutions for focusing on throughput rates and rankings while failing to sufficiently recognise safety, dignity, belonging and wellbeing as conditions for academic success. “Traumatised and fearful students cannot excel academically,” he said.

Kasembe also challenged student leaders to hold institutions accountable, saying their responsibility is not to make university management comfortable.  “The purpose of student leadership is to make institutions accountable, not comfortable,” Kasembe said.

He urged universities to move from awareness to prevention and implementation, warning that the true test of the summit would be what changed after participants returned to their campuses.

Minister Cassim proposed a national Student Safety Compact as one of the solutions to address campus safety. Such a formation would bring together universities, municipalities, provinces, SAPS, accommodation providers, private security companies, technology providers, student leaders, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) and the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) to collectively address student safety, drawing on their respective expertise. He said the compact should go beyond being a policy document by setting out clear responsibilities, measurable commitments and mechanisms to monitor progress.