Unisa apologises for online exam ‘glitches’
"The university is aware of the various challenges that some students have been experiencing over the past two weeks."
The University of South Africa (Unisa) has apologised to students who were affected by technical glitches while writing online exams.
Online examinations, the institute’s solution to module assessments during the Covid-19 outbreak, have been taking place for two weeks.
“The university is aware of the various challenges that some students have been experiencing over the past two weeks,” it said in a statement.
This comes after students raised their concerns online, on social media platforms, in emails and across other channels.
“The institution… wants to reassure students that it is working around the clock to address these issues and finding a resolution remains a top priority.”
Unisa explained the Covid-19 pandemic had compelled it to reconsider some of its academic activities that require physical application, such as venue-based examinations and the submission of hard copy assignments.
“Unisa has been working tirelessly to ensure that the student body of 2020 is able to prepare and sit for their examinations this month.”
Exams have also been rescheduled.
In order to spread the load on the examination platforms, it had been necessary to change the times of about seven out of 2 000 exams, according to Professor Veronica McKay, Unisa acting vice principal: teaching, learning, community engagement and student support.
“Should it be necessary to move any more dates, students will be informed,” McKay said.
“In some cases, we have needed to move the exam to 18:00 on the same day, and in some cases we have moved the exam to 18:00 a few days later.
“We apologise to students who have been affected by these changes. We are aware of the pressures and dedication that goes into preparing for exams.
“We know that for many it is disconcerting when you have been studying and are prepared to sit for the exam only to learn that the time slot has been moved.”
Unisa said decisions to move exam dates were not taken lightly.
“They are made in the best interests of the students since we have needed to spread the load on the system,” McKay said.
“The examinations that have needed to be moved have been those with very large numbers of students – some modules have up to 32 000 students needing to write at the same time.
“These time changes have been necessary to ensure that students in large numbers are able to write their examinations at a time when the traffic on the system is low.”
Unisa has included alternative links to its MyUnisa and MyExam sites to download and upload exam papers.
“We encourage students who might struggle to upload their exams using the usual system to use the links to the portals that are provided with their exams,” she said.
ALSO READ: No online exam cheating, says Unisa
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
