An exploratory investigation into the feasibility of turning the student identification card into a debit card: The case for the University of the Western Cape.

Abstract

This study investigates the financial, marketing as well as technological feasibility of turning the current University of Western Cape (UWC) Student ID Card into a more featured debit card called the "Hoop Kaarf'. This debit card will offer the functionality of access to secure UWC areas, the purchase and use of photocopying credits, the purchase of printing credits, taking out library books; and identification, as the old student card does. It will also have the added functionality of replacing cash when paying for vending machines, cafés, takeaways, shops, supermarkets and withdrawing money from ATMs, at UWC, within South Africa and outside the country. The study demonstrates that the "Hoop Kaarf' could be a feasible product in the student market as 65% of students (sample interviewed) have accepted to carry and use the proposed all-purpose student debit card to utilise services on campus, as well as accessing retail services on and off-campus. As a hybrid card combining both magnetic stripe technology and smart chip technology, it will be technologically feasible by connecting online and off-line the on-campus and the off-campus point-of-sales to the current UWC computer network and to the computer system of the bank that will underwrite the operations.