Expanding Unisa’s footprint in Africa

Unisa’s Department of Institutional Advancement, College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, College of Law and College of Human Sciences participated in a recruitment and marketing drive in Africa from 24 September to 05 October 2021.

Pictured here with a group of learners from the Stahere Boys‘ Centre and School in Nairobi are their teacher (front centre) flanked by Irina Matthews, Director, International Student Fairs in Africa (front left) and Unisa’s Ellen Mokoena (Manager: Student Recruitment and Marketing)

Three teams visited Windhoek in Namibia, Harare in Zimbabwe, Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, and Nairobi and Mombasa in Kenya. The aim of the visits was to position Unisa with a view to becoming more competitive in Africa and to attract and recruit more students from the continent.

In recent years Unisa has experienced a decrease in its number of international students and the visits served to increase awareness of the university and its wide array of programme offerings. Furthermore, the marketing drive was aimed at promoting Unisa’s brand reputation and positioning it as the university of choice on the African continent.

The Unisa team sharing information with attendees in Harare

There was keen interest in the career sessions hosted during the visits and they were well attended by governmental officials, university administrators, directors of research centres and high school and tertiary students.  

The recruitment drive was also a good platform to expand Unisa’s footprint in Africa, says Ellen Mokoena, Manager: Student Recruitment and Marketing. “As Africa's leading open distance eLearning institution,” she said, “we offer internationally accredited qualifications and have world-class resources that allow learners to create meaningful futures on their own terms. We trust we have reached many prospective students with this positive message.”

* Submitted by Student Recruitment and Marketing, Department of Institutional Advancement