For the most part of December and January a blanket of silence descends upon Grahamstown; the students have left, families are on holiday and life is quiet.
For the most part of December and January a blanket of silence descends upon Grahamstown; the students have left, families are on holiday and life is quiet.
By mid-January, however, Rhodes students start trickling back in town. Those who have jobs at bars and shops might have to start the year early, but there is another group that are back for a less enticing prospect: supplementary exams.
Supplementary exams serve a very useful purpose for several reasons, says dean of students Dr Vivian De Klerk.
"There are always students who are unable to write their final exams in November: some fall ill, others suffer personal difficulties of various kinds, and it is important that the university can offer them a chance to write these missed exams in February," she explains.
These exams are called aegrotats, which means she or he is sick in Latin.
These aren't the only students getting a second chance in February, though. Those who narrowly missed a pass in a November exam or need to attain one of the last credits they need in order to complete their degrees can write a supplementary exam.
Not everyone is so lucky, though.
Students in the humanities faculty can only write aegrotats, not supps.
Hancu Louw, a Rhodes student starting his fourth year of Journalism and Media Studies this year, is returning early to write a third-year politics paper.
He missed it last year because he fell ill, but was shocked to find out that unlike most other universities, Rhodes is charging him a R700 fee to write his aegrotat exam.
"This year, as usual, there are supp or aegrotat exams offered in nearly every subject, and just over 1 700 exams will be written and marked before registration in early February," De Klerk says.
