The Unisa mess – a study in patience

Want to have your patience tested to its limit? Enrol as a student at the University of South Africa (Unisa).

One of the hardest things to do is to work full-time while studying. What makes it harder is doing both while having a
family and children to take care of.

But this is the life of many Unisa students, who have taken advantage of the distance-learning policy of the university to pursue their academic careers.

Looking at the Titanic-like building that is the main campus overlooking parts of Pretoria, the last thing one would expect is delays, poor communication and drastic changes that severely affect more than 400,000 of its students.

READ MORE: Unisa mum on ‘impractical’, long semester

I enrolled for a qualification at the university in 2019. But I was warned: “Unisa has issues. Sometimes they deliver your study material a day after your first assignment is due.”

A colleague added: “I once paid for my fees, but it didn’t reflect for a long time and by the time it did, it was already too late to register for the new semester. So, I had to skip about six months of my studies because of it.”

I had braced myself for a slew of issues and had mentally prepared to tackle each one of them until I completed my course.

While my first year was a breeze as the campuses were open and ready to help any student in need, the Covid-19 pandemic not only turned the world upside down, but also both basic and higher education, specifically Unisa.

Unisa announced that due to lockdown, examinations would be conducted online. But then the hiccups started.

ALSO READ: Unisa semester change raises students’ ire

Complaints started streaming in of the website crashing, being too slow to process answers and several exams were postponed to lessen the website traffic.

Some students waited longer than usual for results while some modules still had outstanding assignment marks which should have been released before commencement of exams.

Deep into SA’s first wave of Covid-19 infections at the start of the second semester last year, Unisa announced it would totally scrap venue-based exams, permanently remaining on the online platform, and the university would send study material to students via courier or post.

As I was warned in 2019, some students had still not received study materials months after the completion of the 2020 academic year.

Our patience was further tested this year when the university announced it only had capacity for a one semester period instead of two, with the academic period starting in April.

READ MORE: Unisa reduces number of first-time students

This was apparently due to a directive by Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande for higher learning institutions to wait for the release of the matric results in February and to commence the academic year in March.

This meant that both first and second semester modules should be registered by March and all modules were to be written over one exam period at the end of the year, instead of two exam periods.

Despite petitions, outcries in the media and scores of e-mails to the university, not much could be done about the decision.

“So, you will be writing 10 exams at the end of the year, instead of five per semester? What the hell is that big building for if Unisa is in such a state?” a friend asked.

Rorisang Kgosana.

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