media releases - New student hub opened at Unisa's Sunnytown Complex

A new student hub is being officially opened at Unisa on 30 November. This will take place at 11:30 in Building 15 Unisa’s Sunnyside Campus, Joubert Street Sunnyside. A map is attached.

To accommodate demand from Pretoria-based students, three buildings in Unisa’s Sunnytown complex have been set aside for the new Student Hub. This will have study space for at least 3 000 students, about 25 tutorial venues, well-equipped computer laboratories, an undergraduate library, student counselling services and an academic literacy and student information centre.

Building 15 will seat 500 students and have a computer laboratory with 50 PCs, a small undergraduate library, satellite-powered facilities for tutorial delivery and limited student counselling services. Other learner support facilities to be made available include academic literacy services and a student information centre.

Renovations to the second building in the Student Hub, Building 13, have been under way since June 2007 and are due to be completed by the end of August 2008. This building will be the main venue for tutorial classes, with 15 tutorial sites that will also serve as study space when not being used for tutorials.

Work on the third and largest building in the Hub, Building 14, is due to start early in the new year. It will be the home of Unisa’s Gauteng Learner Support team, now based in the Pretoria city centre, as well as the Tshwane Student Representative Council. This building will also have a student self-help registration facility.

Conveniently located on train, bus and taxi routes, the complex is will alleviate the demand for space on the main campus. Instead of being cramped into the limited study space at the main Library up on the hill, students visiting Sunnytown will have plenty of space to study, network, attend tutorial classes and use library, computer and other learner support facilities.

Unisa is an open distance learning institution and many students travel to the campus daily to study in peace and quiet, do their assignments and network with other students.

The Student Hub is only part of Unisa’s plans to turn Sunnytown into a vibrant centre of academic excellence and cultural diversity. Also in the pipeline are the African International Graduate Centre and Residence, the Centre for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Museum and the renovation of the Heritage Housing complex.

To smooth the way for disabled students, Gauteng Learner Support has been working closely with the Advocacy and Resource Centre for Unisa Students with Disabilities (ARCUSA), with the following results:

• Ramps are in place at building entrances so that students in wheelchairs can gain access from the ground floor.
• Parking spaces as close as possible to the Student Hub have been reserved for students with disabilities. At a later stage, covered parking will also be made available.
• In the undergraduate library, the floor layout and furniture is being designed to cater for students in wheelchairs or on crutches. The same approach is being followed for the computer laboratory.
• Computers will be equipped with devices or software to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities.
• The help desk of Gauteng Learner Support includes a visually impaired staff member, who has special equipment to assist him in serving students.