Dear SPU Community
As communicated earlier this week, online classes were scheduled to take place from Wednesday to Friday. I am happy to announce that we had a positive attendance in the online sessions. The academic year will move into a blended mode beginning on Monday, 28 February 2022. All staff are expected to report to work as normal from Monday.
The staff in the Division of Student Affairs have worked closely with the SRC to place first-year students in university-owned or university-accredited accommodation. However, the demand for university owned on-campus student residence places exceeded what we can supply in 2022. It is a norm in the higher education sector that institutions are expected to set aside 30% of their overall accommodation for new first years annually. At SPU we have exceeded this norm by allocating 65% of the beds to first-year students, out of the total university owned beds of 1752.
Other first-year students who are Kimberley-based are awaiting the home assessment by the social worker should they need university-owned or off campus accommodation.
Students are invited to apply for a residence place in the prior year or when they apply for an academic place at SPU. A significant number of first-years students arrived at SPU in 2022 without a firm academic offer and/or did not apply for a residence place. These students were placed in emergency accommodation while their registration was resolved, and a place was found in either university-owned or accredited accommodation. The University has made every effort to assist students.
I wish you all well as we proceed with the 2022 academic year, and I look forward to another successful year for SPU.
Kind regards
Professor Andrew M Crouch
Vice-Chancellor and Principal