University of the People (UoPeople) enrolments for the 2021-2022 academic year are now open worldwide, including in SA.
This comes after the global online higher learning institution revealed it’s witnessing strong demand for online higher education from South African students.
In addition,the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed tertiary institutionsthe world over to ramp up their digital transformation initiatives to accommodate the increase in online learning.
Founded in 2009, UoPeople bills itself as the first non-profit, American-accredited online university dedicated to providing access to higher education globally, to help qualified high school graduates overcome the financial, geographic, political and personal constraints keeping them from university studies.
In a statement, UoPeople invites all eligible South African students to apply for the 2021-2022 academic year, noting the term starts in November.
The university currently has about 1 600 students in SA studying with the institution.
It notes its online model means students can study from anywhere in the world, on any device. All learning materials and textbooks are open educational resources, which are free to the student.
Pragashnie Naidoo, a current Master of Education student, says: “I love having online discussions with people from all over the world. I am an introvert and suffer from anxiety, but I made such valuable connections on a global scale, many of whom I still keep in contact with today.”
UoPeople highlights its affordability model is ideal for the missing middle students, which includes marginalised students and those who cannot afford to attend university themselves, but are above the income threshold to qualify for governmental funding.
While traditional on-campus bachelor’s degrees can cost approximately R150 000, a bachelor’s degree from UoPeople will cost R36 200 to R71 000 – reducing the total cost by more than 50%, it says.
Local student Shannon Duncan says UoPeople presented an opportunity to get affordable higher education, while being flexible enough to allow her to work while studying.
“I fall into that in-between space where my income is not low enough to get funding but not high enough to be able to afford university,” explains Duncan. “UoPeople is affordable, and not being tied down to physical classes means I can earn money while working towards getting my health science degree.”
UoPeople collaborates with Harvard Business School Online, University of Edinburgh, New York University and McGill University in Canada, offering bachelor’s degrees in academic programmes like business administration, computer science and health science, as well as a master’s in education and an MBA.
Graduates have gone on to work at companies and organisations such as Google, IBM, Apple, Dell, Microsoft and the United Nations, it states.
For more information on admission requirements, click here.
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