This week marked two years since the Gauteng High Court interdicted the then minister of higher education, science and innovation from placing the University of South Africa (Unisa) under administration, and the establishment is reportedly thriving.

Management of Unisa explained that it went to court to obtain an interdict against the minister at the time, as it believed that the decision to place the university under administration was premature.

Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Puleng LenkaBula, and Unisa management have maintained that the report of the independent assessor into the affairs of Unisa, on which the minister’s decision was premised, is fundamentally flawed, and its recommendations totally misplaced. It was for this reason that the university took the report on legal review to be set aside.

The university said it pursued this route not out of malice, but because it sought to ensure that its constitutional rights and those of affected officials are not infringed upon. It also believes that placing it under administration is not necessary and may only serve to harm the university. Unisa said it believed at the time, as it does now, that its governance and academic programmes are not in jeopardy and remain intact, and its finances are healthy.

The record will show that since 2021, the performance of the university has continued to surpass expectations, it said. According to the latest performance data released by Times Higher Education, Unisa’s performance on the UN Sustainable Development Goals rose to 66.3 as compared to 65.3 last year.

It ranked in the top quartile worldwide for decent work and economic growth, quality education, and gender equality. It was also ranked seventh amongst the 13 South African universities included in this year’s rankings.

Unisa has also risen significantly in its research environment and made strides in relation to its publication output units. According to the 2025 Shanghai Ranking’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, Unisa remains among the eight best universities in the country and the top 1,000 universities globally.

Unisa, meanwhile, said it continues to play a vital role in producing quality graduates for the economy and the corporate market, with an average of 50,000 students graduating with Unisa every year. This constitutes a third of all graduates produced by the university system in South Africa.

This year approximately 65,000 students graduated through Unisa, including 512 PhD and 922 Master’s graduates. Unisa said the fact that it attained unqualified audit opinions consecutively since 2018 affirms that it continues to maintain the highest standard of financial prudence, transparency, and governance.

zelda.venter@inl.co.za

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