UNISA Application Form For New Student 2024 

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UNISA Application Form For New Student 2024

 Apply for a student number and apply for admission

Who must apply?

  • Everyone wanting to start a new master’s or doctoral degree must apply for admission. This includes first-time Unisa applicants, applicants completing an honours or master’s degree who wish to continue with further postgraduate studies, and Unisa students changing to a new qualification.
  • You must re-apply for admission if you previously applied for admission and received feedback, but did not register for any reason.

Online application dates: closed (with the exceptions listed below)

No hard copy or self-help applications will be accepted.

You may apply for the following qualifications outside the prescribed application dates:

College of Science, Engineering and Technology (excluding Computing students) Contact the Master’s and Doctoral Qualifications Section (+27 11 471 3296; mandd@unisa.ac.za) for assistance, as you will not be able to apply online once applications have closed for other qualifications.
Master of Science in Nature Conservation (Full Dissertation) (98022)
Decision Sciences Contact the Master’s and Doctoral Qualifications Section (+27 12 441 5702; mandd@unisa.ac.za) for assistance, as you will not be able to apply online once applications have closed for other qualifications.
Selection degrees Selection degress have different closing dates for applications and are administered by the respective academic departments. Only a limited number of students are selected per academic year.

Selections for most master’s and doctoral degrees take place during December 2024 and January 2024. The master’s and doctoral administrative section will inform applicants during February 2024 of the outcome of their application.

What’s new for 2024?

  • Unisa will inform you of the outcome of your application and, if successful, the qualification for which you can register for the 2024 academic year.
  • If your application for admission is successful, you must register for the 2024 academic year. Should you not register for the 2024 academic year, you will be required to re-apply in 2024 for the 2024 academic year.

1. Application for a student number

Who must apply for a Unisa student number?

  • You must obtain a Unisa student number if you have never before studied towards a formal qualification at Unisa. Student numbers issued for Unisa’s short learning programmes are not valid for formal qualifications.
  • No application or registration will be processed without a valid student number.
  • You do not need re-apply for a student number if you already have a student number for a formal qualification.

How to apply for a Unisa student number

  • Apply online for a student number and pay the non-refundable application fee of R100* (online payment by credit card is available when applying online).
  • Your application for a student number will only be finalised upon receipt of the application fee. Please note the application fee is non-refundable even if you decide not to study through Unisa or do not qualify for admission to your qualification of choice.
  • Upload copies of ID/Passport document.

* Some exceptions may apply.

Pay application fee

Pay the online application fee of R105,00 (online payment by credit card is available). This fee is non-refundable even if you decide not to study through Unisa or do not qualify for admission to Unisa. Unisa does not accept cash at any of its offices. You may deposit cash into the university’s Standard Bank account:

  • Payment information for students living in South Africa
    • Pay online using your credit card: https://registration.unisa.ac.za/info/payment/index.html
    • Pay via bank deposit. Further details will be communicated once a reference number has been allocated to you.
  • Payment information for international students
    • International students must pay fees via SWIFT payment:
      • Beneficiary: Unisa student deposits
      • Standard Bank
      • Account number: 011554622
      • Branch code: 010645
      • SWIFT code: SBZAZAJJ

Please e-mail proof of SWIFT payment to susdepid@unisa.ac.za.

2. Application for admission

Who should apply for admission?

  • First-time applicants for master’s or doctoral qualification, including final year Honours or Master’s students (whether studying through Unisa or another institution).
  • If you previously applied for admission to a master’s or doctoral qualification and did not register (for whatever reason), you must re-apply for admission to the qualification.
  • If you are a previously registered Unisa student who did not register in 2024 but want to study in 2024.
  • If you were previously registered for a qualification, applied for a formal deferment and received formal approval, you do not need to re-apply for admission.

Check your documents & confirm that you are ready to apply
  I am sure that

  • I have a valid Unisa student number for a formal qualification.
  • I have chosen the correct Unisa qualification.
  • I have prepared a research outline in line with the departmental focus area requirements (applicable to all qualifications except for coursework LLM qualifications). A research outline – this document describes your intended research and comprises a two to five page expression of interest essay describing the following:
    • Topic
    • Short literature review
    • Potential contribution of the study
    • Potential unit of analysis
    • Access to the research context t (include the method you plan on using)
    • Personal motivation to pursue studies on this topic
    • List of references (using the Harvard referencing method OR in the case of the Department of Psychology “APA”)
    • CV and any additional documents as indicated in the admission requirements for the specific qualification under the departmental focus area requirements.
  • I meet the statutory and college admission requirements for my qualification.
  • I have a valid e-mail address and I accept that Unisa will communicate with me during the application process using this e-mail address.

  I have the following documents scanned

You must upload all the necessary supporting documents as part of the online application process. E-mailed documents will not be accepted. You will have 10 working days from when you apply to upload your supporting documents. The 10 days do not apply after the closing date for applications:

  • Copies of all official academic records stating all papers passed and percentages obtained, including the ledger.
  • A copy of your ID or Passport.
  • A research outline, CV and any additional documents as indicated in the admission requirements for the specific qualification under the departmental focus area requirements.

  I am sure that my documents are scanned according to the rules

  • Each document must be uploaded as a separate file.
  • Maximum number of files allowed: 5.
  • Files are not larger than 2MB (2048KB) each.
  • Only black and white documents may be submitted.
  • Only the following file types are allowed: PDF (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format file), DOC (Word document file) or TIF (image file)

How to apply for admission (closed with some exceptions listed above)

  • Complete and submit your application online (closed with some exceptions listed above).
  • You must upload all the necessary supporting documents as as indicated above.
  • Please note that academic departments have different dates on which selection for master’s and doctoral qualifications will take place.
  • No late or incomplete applications will be considered.