University of South Africa (Unisa) opens online application

Africa’s biggest open distance e-learning university, Unisa opened online application 2026 yesterday. Giving a chance those hopping to study at Unisa an opportunity to do their application.

If you have not applied to Unisa yet, note a few things before you apply. This is especially important if you are a first-time applicant.

Unisa application for study space is divided into two parts: first-time and returning applicants. First-time applicants are those who do not have formal Unisa students’ numbers. Unisa students changing to new qualification.

Student completing a higher certificate or any other programme and now want continue with further undergraduate studies. Applicants previously applied and were not offered a space or accepted and offer but did not register. according to Unisa website.

Returning applicants are those with formal student numbers. It is current students want to change their application. Former students looking to do another qualification.

Before you hit apply button do this first.

• Go to qualifications and navigate around the qualification you interested in.
• Check the admission requirements, these include subjects that are compulsory e.g. Unisa may require you to have at least 50% for ENGLISH.
• Sort out your required documents. This is important, especially for new applicants. Those who have submitted documents before may not have to submit them this time around.
  • Put aside a fee of R135 for your online application. New applicants must pay this fee. Once the application is done, the fee must be paid. If you have paid this fee before, then you don’t have to pay it again.

In the past, you had to choose at least two qualification options. However, Unisa has changed this now; there are three options and must be ranked in order of preference. It is important that when navigating through qualification to pick three possible qualifications that you are qualifying for.

Now that you understand the basic, it is time to launch your application

• Go to www.unisa.ac.za
• Look where it says ‘apply’ and click on it
• Next, click ‘First-time Unisa applicants’ if this is your first time applying. Select ‘Returning students’ if you already have a student number. From there you can hit ‘start the process’ then follow instructions that are pretty much easy. They will ask if you apply for undergraduate (these include higher certificates, diplomas and bachelor’s degrees, honours degrees and postgraduate diplomas, master’s and doctoral degrees. They may ask you if you want to submit documents or pay application fee (for those already applied).
• From there you can fill in your details and follow the prompts and then confirm everything.

After you have launched your application, you will get your application details. This includes the application fee. You will also see outstanding documents needed if they have not been uploaded.

Now you can track your application. Tracking an application is very important. It should be done regularly. This is the only way you may know the status of your application. During the tracking process, you may know if your application was a success. You need to accept or decline an offer that will expire in 10 days.

If you will apply for a higher certificate as a bridging course, note this. Upon completion of that certificate, you must apply for the relevant degree that matches your higher certificate. For example, a law certificate can grant you an opportunity for a law degree, not accounting or agriculture degrees.

Visit the Unisa website to gather more information, as a lot of aspects were not covered in this post.

Goodluck