DURBAN - Unisa says it is committed to expediting the delivery of certificates locally and internationally for all students who have completed their studies and have fulfilled all the requirements for their qualifications.
This comes after some students launched an online petition demanding that the institution give them their certificates.
IOL reported that the students said that despite passing their respective courses months ago, they were yet to receive word on when they would get their certificates.
The university, in a statement on Tuesday, said due to the Covid-19 pandemic and no in-person graduation ceremonies being held, it arranged courier services locally and internationally to deliver certificates to students.
The university admitted that due to the scale of the operation, there had been challenges, and they, therefore, decided to make changes.
It said it therefore had arranged for the collection of certificates at Unisa regional offices or centres across the provinces and students would be notified via SMS, the Unisa website and/or formal media communication.
Unisa said over 60 000 certificates were due for delivery to students.
“These entailed uncollected certificates from 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. A total of 46 071 certificates were due for collection for 2021. To date, 31 000 of the 46 000 certificates have been issued to students.
“The 2021 supplementary certificates will be distributed later in the year.”
Unisa said at the beginning of her tenure early in 2021, vice-chancellor and principal of Unisa, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, recognised the issuing of outstanding certificates as a critical area requiring expediting and finalisation.
“It is through her express intervention that this project is accelerated.”
THE MERCURY