Unisa students get free data for exams
Unisa spends R59.72-million over a period of two months for about 24-million gigabytes for 390 000 students.
Unisa and MTN have reached an agreement in which students at the university will receive two months of free data to help them prepare for their upcoming exams.
“All currently registered Unisa students will receive 30GB of data per month from MTN,” said university spokesperson Edgar Rathelele.
This would be (10GB anytime data and 20GB night-time data for a period of two months from mid-May to mid-July.
Rathelele said this made possible because of a “ground-breaking” partnership between the university and the mobile telecommunications company.
He said the full details of this agreement, including how to access the offering, will be communicated to students shortly.
“The free data offer during this period is a necessary and timely intervention by the university to create an enabling environment for students who will be sitting for non-venue-based examinations,” he said.
Rathelele said examinations were due to start on 25 May 2020.
“It is vital students have access to sufficient data and connectivity to successfully complete their examinations.
“Unisa’s contribution, worth a whopping R59.72-million over a period of two months, is unique and unprecedented.”
The university will offer about 24-million Gigabytes of data during this period to a student population of about 390 000.
He said while the free data access had been provided specifically for the May/June 2020 exams, students could also use the data to conduct other academic activities such as the submission of assignments online, online contact with the university as well as preparing for exams.
Unisa principal and vice-chancellor Professor Mandla Makhanya said the Covid-19 lockdown rules necessitated this “rapid introduction of online modes”.
He said even though Unisa has always been an open distance and e-learning university, the pandemic compelled it to reconsider some of its academic activities that still required physical application.
“As a caring and responsible university and being fully cognisant of the socio-economic conditions many of our students find themselves in, we took a considered decision that all our students must have access to data, with the university carrying the cost.”
He said the partnership with MTN was also ideal in this regard, not only because of the favourable rates they had received but “most importantly because of the size of their footprint and reach”.
“We are proud to partner with Unisa on this important initiative,” said chief enterprise officer at MTN Business, Wanda Matandela.
“At MTN we believe in delivering the benefits of a modern connected life to all South Africans. This partnership allowed us to collaborate in the interest of enabling continuous learning for the benefit of the students at this difficult time.”
Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news.
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
