Unisa student repeating one subject for almost 10 years not willing to reregister

A student at the University of South Africa (Unisa) who has been engaged in a battle with the institution regarding his Honours Degree in Statistics, remains defiant as he refuses to reregister a subject which he failed and wants his paper to be reviewed externally.

Setumo Motsei said he’s been doing one subject, Research Project in Statistics, for almost 10 years and he believes there’s been deliberate efforts to block him from graduating.

He registered his postgraduate qualification with the institution in 2012 and has been doing one subject since 2014.

Early November, IOL wrote a story about Motsei's situation where he expressed his frustration and claimed he was deliberately failed by the university.

Following the article, Motsei said the university hasn't reached out to him.

Speaking to IOL at the time, the university said it was aware of Motsei's case, and it was suggested that he reregister's the module and will be allocated a new supervisor.

IOL understands that the module, Research Project in Statistics, was phased out just after Motsei had registered but he was allowed to continue with it.

In such cases, the university explained that when students are studying a phased-out module, they are given a grace period to complete it and if they fail, they have to reregister for a new module.

Motsei, 36, said reregistering was not an option for him because he has lost faith in the institution.

"For me, the way forward is to seek help from other independent bodies such as the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHE). As it, I have escalated the matter to the DHE's Deputy Director General as I feel that my issue was partially attended by the university," he said.

Motsei said because his paper was marked by an external professor who was not appointed by the university and scored him 72%, he's confident that his work was competent.

"I registered multiple times and was failed on all occasions even after implementing changes suggested by a supervisor. My trust has been broken, I don't think working with a new supervisor will help."

"I have worked with two supervisors from the university, and it didn't help. My work is deemed competent elsewhere, but they refuse to believe it, instead they take my work to be evaluated by a former colleague of theirs. Can you trust people who behave in this manner, why not take it to someone neutral?" he asked.

"I think what should happen is exactly what I did, take the work externally to someone who upholds integrity, they don't have to take it to the person who gave me 72%, they can take it to someone who is neutral and upholds integrity.

"I don't think there will be a neutral person coming from Unisa who can solve this issue hence I want the DHE to get involved," he said.

Meanwhile, the university did explain to IOL that Motsei was allocated another supervisor after he expressed his grievances, however, supervision never started because Motsei never reregistered for the module as advised.

Regarding Motsei’s work being marked externally by a professor who was not assigned by the university and who subsequently gave him 72%, the university said the process of external moderators is governed by university guidelines, therefore a student cannot come with his or her own examiners.

To ensure fair evaluation when marking student’s work, the university said it uses internal and external examiners.

“Moreover, the marking is done using a very clear rubric, with comments also made on the project itself on where the work falls below expectations, and the assessed work is kept at the department and is made available for students to query the results,” the university said in response.

Furthermore, the university said the ombudsman did assist Motsei by recommending that he registers for the new module.

“The ombudsman is independent of the university and will investigate whether the person submitting the complaint has indeed been treated unfairly by the university. There have been cases where the recommendation from the ombudsman has gone against the university and in favour of the student.”

The institution further added that students who have issues can escalate complaints to higher levels, such as to Chair of Department, Director of School, Dean of College, or the university management.

sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za

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