A majority of students at the University of Cape Town are writing their final examinations in the wake of the #FeesMustFall protests‚ with overall attendance at 77% yesterday.

So far about 90 exam sessions have been completed with an additional 45 sessions scheduled for today‚ leaving about 470 sessions to go.

Characterising the exams as peaceful‚ UCT said in some specific courses‚ exam attendance has been 100%.

“UCT applauds the resolve of students and staff to continue exams in a calm manner and without incident‚” the university said in a statement. “There is a clear indication that the vast majority of students want to conclude the exams now. We encourage the campus community to stay the course.”

Without directly commenting on the absenteeism‚ nor the sporadic incidents such as the burning of a campus Jammie bus yesterday‚ UCT said “the option remains open to all students until 27 November 2015 to defer their exams if they wish”.

So far‚ UCT said‚ just over 1‚000 out of some 17‚000 students have chosen to defer their exams to January 2016.

Earlier today‚ the Home Affairs department announced it had granted a waiver to foreign students to allow them to stay in the country until the end of the year‚ to accommodate the delayed exam timetables.