Unisa’s Online Accelerated Postgraduate Support Programme is a ground-breaking initiative offering anytime, anywhere access to world-class research skills support to postgraduate students.

Over its 145-year existence, Unisa has been hailed as a university that breaks social boundaries by ensuring unparalleled access to higher education to millions of students from previously marginalised populations. Throughout this time, the university has made barrier-breaking interventions that have been the hallmark of Unisa; ranging from being Africa’s largest university, to being the alma mater of Nelson Mandela, arguably the most iconic human being who has ever lived. The identification of it as a university in the service of humanity is by no means overstated – the greatest accolades of the university have often come as a result of the way in which it responds to adverse societal environment as seen in the way that it challenged (i) elitism in education and (ii) exclusive education, and (iii) acted as one of the world’s leading institutions in promoting the active inclusion of particular segments of South Africa's population, to accessing first-class higher education.

Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa

In a similar fashion, the arrival of Covid-19 spawned wide-ranging Covid-relief-related activities, one of which is the university's flagship online support programme – Unisa’s Online Accelerated Postgraduate Support Programme. Facilitated by the university's College of Graduate Studies (CGS), this Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET)-supported project marks another significant contribution by the university. Implemented in August 2020, the project offers a comprehensive suite of modules intended to support Unisa’s 25 000 master’s and doctoral candidates along with the 28 000 honours-level students within the university.

The project sponsor is Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa (Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation).

Project owners are Prof Lindiwe Zungu (Former Executive Dean: CGS) and Prof Patrick Ngulube (Acting Executive Dean: CGS).

Prof Patrick Ngulube

Prof Lindiwe Zungu

Students are supported to maximally explore ground-breaking, high-impact research in their fields with a clear emphasis on promoting decoloniality, Africanisation and the commercialisation of their research as a way of promoting entrepreneurship. This programme is ground-breaking primarily because it is 100% online and offers a combination of synchronous and asynchronous opportunities for nearly 60 000 students to receive training on all aspects of research, from development of their proposal to the completion of their dissertation or thesis and even in supporting them with skills on how to apply for study support grants and "Writing for Publication". More importantly, the programme is facilitated in the evenings to allow many of Unisa’s students who are otherwise occupied during the daytime, pioneering access to live teaching during the evenings. Never mind if you miss the sessions, students have 24-hour, "anytime, anywhere" access to replays of the lectures, and a dedicated YouTube channel that provides opportunities for students to showcase their studies with their peers.

The programme heralds a barrier-breaking innovation and is the product of a joint effort between CGS, Unisa’s project management office and the DHET, who is their primary funding agency.

We approached the programme’s conceiver and one of the session facilitators, Prof Tennyson Mgutshini (Acting Director: School of Transdisciplinary Research and Graduate Studies, and Project Leader), for comment.

Prof Tennyson Mgutshini

To what do you attribute the success of the programme?

"If there is one thing I have learnt on this journey, it is that collective effort can move mountains! Throughout the passage of human existence, there have been moments when the world has been called upon to focus only on one thing at that one time. For our generation, Covid-19 brought out that singular focus which, for our students, produced this example of unparalleled synergy between the country’s government, the university’s executive leadership, its administrative entities and student need.

Makuka Mathatho

The perfectly timed Covid Relief Grants (CRGs) from DHET; our tireless project manager (Makuka Mathatho) from the university’s project management office and our executive management in the form of the Vice-Principal for the Research and Innovation Portfolio and the College’s Acting Executive Dean, have extended themselves beyond comparison and in my opinion, are the true secret weapons to success. The most important realisation comes from recognising that academic support is at its best when collective energy is focused on a singular goal. For us, that goal is offering exceptional student support to our postgraduate cohort, 24/7/365."

Just in case you haven’t had the opportunity to be part of this ground-breaking initiative, visit us at https://youtube.com/channel/UCeBLoGpDQPebT5VsdafUJKw

or

https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Colleges/College-of-Graduate-Studies/Research-support/Online-Accelerated-Postgraduate-Support-Programme where learning never stops.

* By Hanli Wolhuter, Communication & Marketing Specialist, College of Graduate Studies