Nzimande appoints task team to review Unisa
The Minister of Higher Education Blade Nzimande has appointed a ministerial task team to conduct an independent review of the University of South Africa (Unisa).
Nzimande announced the appointment of the task team last week when he took part in the debate on his department's readjusted budget during a virtual sitting of Parliament.
The minister confirmed the review would also look the mandate of the university.
“Given the size of Unisa, not only in South Africa but on the entire African continent – having 407 759 students in 2020 and growing – it is clearly too big to fail as too many people depend on its success,” he said.
The department spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said on Tuesday that Nzimande is concerned about the high failure rate at the university.
"There has been no comprehensive reflection on implications of new technologies on the operations of the university and there has been concerns raised regarding the quality of offerings/programmes.”
The task team would also look into the de-accreditation of some of its academic programmes and the instability of senior management, Mnisi explained.
The team consists of Dr Vincent Maphai as chairperson, Professor John Volmink, Professor Louis Molamu, Nonkululeko Gobodo and Professor Brenda Gourley.
Listen to Mnisi below: