Academic freedom is one of those terms which are easy to preach and tough to practise. But for the Community and Individual Development Association (Cida) academic freedom mean exactly what it says – in every sense of the term.
Located in the heart of Jo’burg city, Cida University caters to students from disadvantaged communities countrywide. Here, the students acquire much more than an academic degree. They control the daily running of the university, from administration work to computer maintenance and training, marketing and the upkeep of the campus. They also do the cooking and the cleaning.
But these chores do not interfere with their studies. Students have access to the latest in distance learning technology while studying for their bachelor of business administration degree. Starting off at R350 for the first year of study and R 1 200 a year thereafter, Cida costs about a tenth of the price at other tertiary institutions. This makes it South Africa’s first truly accessible inner city university – an institution where students are offered an affordable tertiary education.
Yet to date the campus has remained one of South Africa’s best-kept educational secrets. Although it has been fully operational for the past three years, Cida will only be officially launched this month.
‘We wanted to operate as low-key as possible until we were assured of Cida’s success,” explains Taddy Blecher, an actuary and consultant who has been deservedly lauded by President Thabo Mbeki as one of South Africa’s pioneers of change.
So what induced this white middle-class actuary to sacrifice a six-figure salary to serve South Africa’s most disadvantaged students?
In 1995, at a time when many of his contemporaries had left for less risky pastures, Blecher decided he ‘wanted to do more to help the country”. Initially he spent three years working in the townships, helping improve standards in schools. But by 1998, hundreds of students had approached him saying they didn’t know what to do after completing matric – they couldn’t afford university and there were no jobs available.
So Blecher and fellow Cida-founders Richard Peycke, Conrad Mhlongo and Mburu Gitonga, wrote to school principals around the country. They requested interviews with learners who, despite disadvantages, had succeeded academically and who had found time to make a contribution to their communities.
The result was 10 000 applications for 2001. Cida took 1 050 students. Today it accommodates 1600 – all of whom are studying for a four-year degree in Business Administration.
‘Key to the concept of Cida is the creation of a true learning community and a learning economy around the institution,” explains Blecher. ‘We apply a holistic, integrated and developmental educational model to assist students in becoming mature, integrated, responsible citizens able to build and uplift their own lives and those of their families and communities.”
In this sense, he says, Cida truly embodies the spirit of ‘ubuntu’. And it is this belief that has ignited Blecher’s vision and pervades Cida. In the corridors and classrooms, there’s a buzz of intellectual exuberance and high-octane energy. The campus puts paid to the belief that pride and appreciation comes only with a price-tag attached. At Cida pride emanates from the sense of ownership felt by the students who are its principal stakeholders.
‘The idea is that the students own the campus,” says Blecher. ‘There are no handouts. We expect the students to dress according to business code, although we do help them with clothing donations and accommodation in the city.”
Corporate sponsorship is also key to the University’s success. Lecturing staff are top guns from the corporate sector.
When those lecturers come in for a class, all the students attend that session. Further down the hall additional students watch the lecture on a monitor, with a facilitator providing assistance.
The facilitators are university graduates who are either paid or serve as volunteers, explains Nikki Behr, marketing and fund-raising executive at the university.
Cida has recently been accredited by the Department of Education and operates as a private university, with plans to build other campuses in inner cities countrywide.