Unisa has noted several concerns that students have raised in the mainstream and social media platforms about the commencement of the 2021 Academic Year and associated student academic support concerns.
The University management has not been unmindful of these concerns. It has sought to address these issues through the relevant governance, consultative and decision-making structures within and outside the university. Part of these processes have entailed consultations with the National Student Representative Council (NSRC) (which included a consultation involving the Department of Higher Education and Training) on the “2021 academic calendar changes.” UNISA has also directly communicated with Accounting students on the Certificate in the Theory of Accounting (CTA) matters.
Further engagements within the university decision-making structures have been taking place and emanating from these, the university wishes to provide clarity and its official position on the following matters:
On changes to the 2021 academic year
On restricting the number of students to be registered in 2021
The DHET approved enrolment target for 2021 is 376 000. The university is required to scale back on first-time entering students in 2021, particularly in higher certificates as this generally and adversely affects the Technical, Vocational and Training Colleges enrolments. However, the number of students transferring from other institutions and the cohorts of returning students are unaffected by the enrollment targets.
On student communication and responsiveness
The university has long regarded the question of student support, communication and enquiries solution as critical to its interface with students, including to ensure agility in our response to students. To this effect, and at the behest of the new Principal and Vice Chancellor, the capacity of the Student Communication and Services Centre (SCSC) introduced in 2020 is being strengthened to ensure reliable availability and agile responsiveness.
The SCSC is available Monday to Friday, 08:00 – 19:00 and Saturday, 08:00 – 14:00. The centralised toll-free number is 0800 00 1870.
Further to this, the Principal and Vice Chancellor has directed that to complement the toll-free number and other general email contacts that Management set up an Ad Hoc Committee of Senior officials led by Prof. MS Mothata to expedite solutions to all student-related queries as they arise. This has thus resulted in, inter alia, to ensuring that students have access to all the contact details (including emails and telephone numbers) of specific functionaries in the departments responsible for Student Communication and Student support. These contact details are now available on the university website.
On CTA and related matters
All CTA examinations have been marked and moderated. There were instances where some scripts were flagged for suspicion of cheating and they accordingly had to be investigated. The university adopts such measures for all its examinations to uphold the integrity of Unisa’s assessment processes and qualifications. In the case of the CTA programmes, we must adhere to the strict requirements of the relevant accreditation bodies, and thus ensure that we do not place the accreditation of our qualifications in jeopardy.
In instances where the investigations found no wrongdoing, the marks have been reinstated. The remaining suspicious cases are still being subjected to further investigations with the aim of concluding them expeditiously. In both instances, the university has communicated directly with all the affected students.
Students who want to raise further concerns in relation to their CTA studies or need more clarity on CTA related matters are urged to contact the College of Accounting Sciences (CAS) on the contact details posted on the university website as indicated above.
Publish date: 2021-02-08 00:00:00.0