DURBAN - The University of South Africa (Unisa) has extended registration until Thursday, acceding to the request made by students.
This comes after hundreds of students protested outside Unisa’s Durban office last week and earlier this month over a range of issues.
In a statement released at the weekend, Unisa spokesperson Martin Ramotshela said Unisa had extended the registration deadline for undergraduate qualifications.
“The final date for the initial minimum payment that will enable a student's registration to be finalised remains January 31,” said Ramotshela.
He said the academic programme for the year, including dates for the submission of assignments and examinations, remained unchanged.
“All students are urged to register as soon as possible and not to wait for the final date. Students may register online at www.unisa.ac.za/register or via a self-help terminal at a Unisa regional office,” said Ramotshela.
Durban campus SRC treasurer Nkanyiso Zwide said students were happy that the institution had extended the registration period as it would assist those who were still facing challenges.
“We are very happy but there are still some issues that we are facing,” Zwide said.
He said some students were in the process of appealing Unisa’s decision not to allow them to re-register due to poor performance last year.
“Some students performed poorly and did not pass the required number of courses required to progress. How are they expected to learn and pass if they are only receiving their National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) book allowance in November, when the year is over and exams have been written?” Zwide asked.
He also alleged that some students received R10000 from NSFAS, while others received R3000.
In an agreement reached by students and Unisa to end strike action on January 12, the SRC welcomed the decision to supply NSFAS-funded students with laptops; however, they rejected the provision of laptops as a substitute for the R5000 textbook allowances.
“The demand is essentially for both the device and the relevant textbooks,” said the SRC.
In response, Unisa said that while several advances were made to secure laptops for students, the choice of either a laptop or a textbook allowance in any one year of student funding was informed by the policy of NSFAS.
“To assist students, Unisa further made an allocation of R5 million from its coffers to purchase additional textbooks that are now available to registered students at all Unisa libraries,” the institution stated in the agreement document.