South Africa · Gauteng
University of South Africa
Pretoria, Gauteng · Comprehensive university · teaches by distance
unisa.ac.za →Students, 2024
371,757
33.3% of all public university students
First-time undergraduates
79,564
entering in 2024
Graduates, 2024
64,333
State funding, 2024/25
R5.38 billion
total amount allocated
UNISA teaches by distance and enrols a third of all public university students — its figures aren't comparable with a contact university's.
Who studies what
Students by field
- Science, engineering & technology43,860 · 11.8%
- Business & management104,376 · 28.1%
- Education89,710 · 24.1%
- Other humanities & social sciences133,812 · 36.0%
Students by qualification
- Occasional students2,228 · 0.6%
- Undergraduate certificates & diplomas115,204 · 31.0%
- Undergraduate degrees203,417 · 54.7%
- Advanced diploma & PGCE13,111 · 3.5%
- Postgraduate, below master's27,569 · 7.4%
- Master's degrees6,418 · 1.7%
- Doctoral degrees3,810 · 1.0%
First-time undergraduates, 2009–2024
Graduates, 2024
By field
- Science, engineering & technology7,338 · 11.4%
- Business & management16,667 · 25.9%
- Education18,848 · 29.3%
- Other humanities & social sciences21,482 · 33.4%
Graduation rate by level
- Undergraduate certificates & diplomas20.2%
- Undergraduate degrees13.8%
- Postgraduate, below master's30.6%
- Master's degrees13.4%
- Doctoral degrees11.5%
A graduation rate here is the year's graduates as a percentage of everyone enrolled at that level — the Department's proxy for throughput, not the share of an intake that finishes. For a three-year degree in which every student graduates on time it would be about 33%, so 15–20% is typical, not a failure rate.
State funding
| 2019/20 | R4.36 billion |
| 2020/21 | R4.63 billion |
| 2021/22 | R4.71 billion |
| 2022/23 | R5.28 billion |
| 2023/24 | R5.25 billion |
| 2024/25 | R5.38 billion |
Total amount the Department allocated to the university each financial year. It is not what students pay.
Fees and entry requirements
South Africa has no national register of fees or admission point scores (APS): each university sets and publishes its own. International-student numbers per university are not in the Department's report either. For both, go to UNISA's own site.
Also in Gauteng: University of Johannesburg, University of Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, Tshwane University of Technology, Vaal University of Technology, University of the Witwatersrand
University type (traditional, comprehensive, university of technology) follows the Council on Higher Education's VitalStats 2022, Appendix 1. The Department counts the same 26 universities as 11 / 9 / 6; the Council lists them 13 / 7 / 6.
Source: Department of Higher Education and Training, Statistics on Post-School Education and Training in South Africa: 2024 (released May 2026). University type from the Council on Higher Education, VitalStats Public Higher Education 2022. City and province added by CollegeMatcher.