Unisa to address student concerns as academic year starts

Unisa has sought to address several concerns raised by students at the start of the 2021 academic year.

Unisa students took part in strike action on Monday, over an announcement that there would only be one semester.

SRC president Wadzanani Mazhetese said the decision to protest came after numerous unsuccessful meetings between the student leadership and university management team.

Mazhetese said they demanded two semesters in 2021, CTA concessions, space for qualifying student applications, examination integrity and assessment credibility and the registration of all NSFA students.

@unisa sunnyside campus completley shutdown. Our demands, Our future. Long live President of @EFFStudents @Shikwambanaman1 pic.twitter.com/NisFMVGkRB

— Vhadau vha Maangani (@R_nematswerani) February 8, 2021

https://twitter.com/W_Mazhetese/status/1357950684272996355

Our demands, Our future. pic.twitter.com/86QqMJHLNq

— Vhadau vha Maangani (@R_nematswerani) February 8, 2021

Unisa spokesperson Edgar Rathelele said the university heard the concerns that students had raised over 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.”

Rathelele said part of these processes entailed consultations with the national SRC, which included a consultation involving the department of higher education and training on the 2021 academic calendar changes.

He said Unisa had announced changes to the 2021 academic year to accommodate matriculants whose results would only be released on 22 February, and further to also cater for NSFAS students whose funding would only be released in April 2021.

“To make certain changes to the academic calendar has been necessary. This is meant to accommodate at least 250 000 students who are, currently writing examinations, supplementary examinations and whose examinations will still need to be marked,” Rathelele said.

He said this was also aimed at aligning the academic calendar with the ministerial directive for all universities to commence their academic programmes in March 2021.

“Importantly, this is not a Unisa-specific challenge, nor a decision occasioned by Unisa management, but rather a sectoral matter arising out of the need to properly manage the teaching and learning space in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Rathelele said on the issue of restricting the number of students to be registered in 2021, the DHET had only approved enrolment target for 2021 for 376 000 students.

“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 college enrolments.

However, “the number of students transferring from other institutions and the cohorts of returning students are unaffected by the enrolment targets,” he said.

READ MORE: Unisa mum on ‘impractical’ long semester

He said Unisa had also directly communicated with accounting students on the certificate in the theory of accounting (CTA) 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.”

Rathelele said CTA programmes also had to adhere to the strict requirements of the relevant accreditation bodies, and ensure that it did not place the accreditation of their 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.”

He said students who wanted to raise further concerns in relation to their CTA studies were urged to contact the college of accounting sciences on the contact details posted on the university website.

Rathelele said further engagements within the university decision-making structures had been taking place to resolve these matters.

He said the principal and vice-chancellor had further directed that management set up an ad-hoc committee of senior officials led by Professor Steward Mothata to expedite solutions to all student-related queries as they arose.

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