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Unisa: South Africa’s premier producer of world-class graduates

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With its autumn graduations underway at venues across the country, the University of South Africa takes great pride in again producing the largest cohort of graduates in the country – at all levels from diplomas to doctorates.

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Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, says, "Unisa boasts a proud tradition that spans 152 years of academic excellence, innovation, and service to the people. The university succeeded in producing, on average,  35 to 40 thousand graduates per year over the past 31 years."

This year, Unisa will confer 48 799 qualifications during its autumn graduations from 26 May to 30 June 2025. Graduation ceremonies will be held in Pretoria, Mbombela, Polokwane, East London, Durban and Cape Town.

Amongst the graduates will be a total of 463 master’s and 219 doctoral students, and, overall, 5 375 candidates will graduate cum laude. "Added to this," says LenkaBula, "we take great pride in our contribution to addressing the historical graduate gender imbalance: 78% of our graduates will be female."

The university’s outstanding performance regarding its teaching, learning, research and engaged scholarship mandates adds tremendous value to the prestige that a Unisa qualification holds in society. "In 2025," says LenkaBula, "most global rankings on teaching, research, and impact place Unisa in the seventh position nationally and in the top 1 000 band globally. In addition, the latest audited data indicates that Unisa sits in sixth position nationally in terms of research output, up from eighth."

LenkaBula says that graduations are the pinnacle of the trajectories that students follow in the lifelong pursuit of knowledge. "Universities," she continues, "showcase students’ successes and completion of the educational and research processes through graduation ceremonies. They attest to the investments in talent, expertise, research, and knowledge resources of the various academics and professional and administrative staff who, working in concert, contribute to comprehensive sets of academic outcomes that underscore the quality-driven completion of studies."

Her final words go to the Unisa graduates who will proudly harvest the fruit of their academic endeavours in May and June. "I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you for completing your studies at the University of the Land – the University of South Africa," she says. "Your success is indicative of your initiative, persistence, and resilience, which, through your graduate-ness, will positively impact our National Development Goals and Africa’s Agenda 2063."

* Compiled by the Department of Institutional Advancement

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Publish date: 2025-06-02 00:00:00.0

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