The challenges and prospects of access to higher education at UNISA

Abstract

This article debates access and success at the University of South Africa (UNISA). UNISA is an open distance learning (ODL) institution that provides higher education opportunities to working adults who would otherwise not have the opportunity to acquire a higher education qualification at full-time contact institutions. The article sketches the challenges and prospects of ODL. It teases out the challenges of ODL articulation, learner support, recognition of prior learning, and poor throughput rate. Substantively though, the article argues a case for well managed ODL programs to provide access to quality higher education to previously marginalised individuals and to enable developing countries such as South Africa to make a meaningful contribution to the global economy through knowledgeable citizenry and workforce.

Keywords:

• University of South Africa
• open distance learning
• access
• success
• prospects
• challenges

Notes

1. In South Africa technikons have, since 2004, been merged with universities or converted into universities of technology. See CHE (2004b, 2000).

2. In accordance with the conversion system used by the Admissions Departments at the so-called ‘Big Five’ universities – the University of Cape Town (UCT), the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), the University of Pretoria (UP), and the University of Stellenbosch (US), in order to gain admission prospective students are required to achieve a matriculation exemption with a required number of points. UP's entry requirement is 30 points. The format for calculating the points is as follows: an A symbol (80–100) is 7 points; a B symbol (70–79) is 6 points; a C symbol (60–69) is 5 points; a D symbol (50–59) is 4 points; an E symbol (40–49) is 3 points; an F symbol (30–39) is 2 points, and a G symbol (0–29) is 1 point.

3. Currently UNISA's formal and informal students' enrolment headcounts are estimated to be around 285,000 (Pityana 2009a; Subotzky 2009).

4. Sanjaya Lall (2001) identifies technology and innovation as the main drivers of national competitiveness. Yet while technology and skill-intensive activities tend to consistently produce more competitive advantage, they are areas in which Africa is most deficient. Even South Africa, which is classified as an upper–middle income country, represents a lower level of capacity to acquire integrated technology applications (Silberglitt et al 2006).