Varsity students contest caution fees

The National University of Rwanda (NUR) has introduced caution fees starting the new academic year. The fee, Rwf50,000 is uniform to both the public and private students, on top of the Rwf 30,500 registration fees.Speaking to The New Times, the University Academic Registrar, Augustin Rwagasore, said the decision was taken during a Senate meeting and was communicated earlier.Rwagasore explained that the decision was taken after realising a rise in destruction or loss of university property without anybody taking responsibility thus the university incurring losses in repair or replacement. “We took the decision to deal with any damage or loss of university property,” “We based it on observation of previous cases such as damage or loss of text books or other property and we believe that is the minimum amount,” Rwagasore said.Several students who The New Times spoke to complained saying the announcement caught them unawares and that the amount was too much.They said the normal system of paying what was damaged was in place because nobody can get his or her academic transcripts before clearing with the university authorities. “Students will not get the money, it is surprising there was poor communication between the students’ committee and the university, besides fifty thousand is too much,” said a second year student in the Faculty of Agriculture.“Normally, nobody gets any NUR document without clearing that they have no problem with the university. If anything is damaged or lost, it is first paid for. They should have consulted,” he said.“We were surprised by the decision, the announcement was released last week and they say the decision was taken long before, it is miscommunication. It is not easy to get that money, some of us normally fail to pay registration fees and come late or miss a year,” said another student. “And though they said the money is refundable, we are not sure that we will get it back if we don’t damage anything. And who monitors that?” he wondered.