Abstract
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest open distance e-learning (ODeL) university in the continent of Africa, with a student headcount more than 300,000. Over two decades after the transition from apartheid to democracy, vast inequalities across race, class, gender and socio-economic status persist in South Africa, with the majority of the African people being the most affected. Demographically, the African people constitute about 80.8% of the country’s total population, compared to whites, who constitute a meagre 8.8%, yet African households carry the highest burden of poverty, living way below the official poverty line of $1.90/day as determined by the World Bank and other international agencies. This chapter explores these inequalities and ponders on the role of e-learning for this poorest section of society in a country where modern technological devises in the form of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and access to the Internet are perceived to be ubiquitous. South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) commits to “an expansion of open and distance education and the establishment of more ‘satellite’ premises where universities or colleges provide classes at places and times convenient to students (including in rural areas)”. This chapter also explores the role of UNISA in the provision of distance learning through structured and sustainable e-learning.
Highlights
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest open distance e-learning (ODeL) institution in the continent of Africa, with a massive student headcount more than 300,000 [1–4]
According to UNISA [5], in 2011, 91% of its students were South Africans, 6.6% came from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, 1.3% came from the other African countries, 0.5% came from the rest of the world, while there was no information about the
We outlined the way by which UNISA, which is the oldest mega university in the continent of Africa with a student enrolment more than 300,000, is ideally placed to play a leading role in the delivery of distance learning through structured and sustainable e-learning
Summary
The University of South Africa (UNISA) is the largest open distance e-learning (ODeL) institution in the continent of Africa, with a massive student headcount more than 300,000 [1–4]. South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) [15] is committed to “an expansion of open and distance education and the establishment of more ‘satellite’ premises where universities or colleges provide classes at places and times convenient to students (including in rural areas)” The reason for this is that just over two decades after the transition from apartheid to democracy, South Africa remains a vastly unequal society, by race, class, gender and socioeconomic status. The second and larger nation of South Africa is black and poor, with the worst affected being women in the rural areas, the black rural population in general and the disabled This nation lives under conditions of a grossly underdeveloped economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. In the fourth and final sections, we offer some concluding remarks
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