Mozambique: UEM confirms that students must pay tuition fees for last semester

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Mozambique: UEM confirms that students must pay tuition fees for last semester

7:43 CAT | 24 May 2021

FILE - Illustrative photo.[ File photo: UEM]

The Faculty of Engineering of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) has said it considers the claims made by its students on Wednesday night to be unfair, and that those in arrears must pay the full price for the last (2020) semester of their course.

On Wednesday night, several students from the Faculty of Engineering at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo gathered to protest against the decision to charge them the full 25,000 meticais fees for the five months of the last semester. Students said they only had lectures for four weeks, and therefore should pay no more than 5,000 meticais.

On Thursday, the Board of the Faculty of Engineering of UEM called a press conference to clarify the matter.

According to Irene de Carvalho, the Director of the Faculty of Engineering at UEM, it is not true that students only studied for one month. “In their concern, the students claim that they only studied four weeks, this refers to a month,” she explained. “But this is not the case. We had the whole school year with minor interruptions because of the pandemic situation. And what happened was that, in the second half of last year, as in the first, there was a hybrid modality in the teaching of classes.”

In other words, the students had four weeks of classes face-to-face, and the rest online.

The Board of the Faculty of Engineering of UEM finds the conclusion of students who took into account only face-to-face classes to be unfair. De Carvalho even said that the demonstration caught the faculty by surprise since, last week, it held a meeting with the students to clarify the situation. A few days later, without even informing the faculty, the students in arrears decided to protest.

Also read: Mozambique: Engineering students at UEM demand reduction of 2020 fees

The Faculty of Engineering of UEM therefore concludes that the fees to be paid (25,000 meticais, or 5,000 per month for evening courses) are not only for face-to-face classes but for the entire cost of the semester’s education. The students took tests and exams, and have had their results. Now they must enrol in the new semester, to which end they must resolve the situation of their arrears, or else the faculty may reassign their places and put them on a debt amortisation plan.

Despite disagreeing with the protesting students, De Carvalho said that the Faculty of Engineering of UEM was willing to consider individual cases so that students should not miss classes through being unable to pay last semester’s fees all at once.

Source: O País