We’ve reported in the past how University of South Africa (Unisa) has extended registrations and other important dates three and even four times in the past, and now the school has done it again.

Registrations for the first semester at Unisa will now close on 14th February. The previous date was 4th February, and before that it was 24th January.

“The closing date of registration for the 2022 first semester modules has been extended to 14 February 2022. The final payment date for the minimum fee is 17 February 2022. Students are kindly reminded to make payment into the university account using the correct details as provided by the university.  This will result in the payment being allocated timeously on the side of the university and the timely finalisation of registration. The payment details can be found on the Unisa website: www.unisa.ac.za/paymentinfo,” the announcement reads.

As you may have expected that 17th February date for payments is also an extension.

Unfortunately, as we’ve seen happen in the past, all of these delays and extensions cut into time that is supposed to be used for education which can have a knock-on effect for other dates such as those for assignments.

“Students must realize that the academic year has already started, however, late registering students will be given individual extension of first assignments if necessary by their lecturer,” the announcement continues.

Last year we saw assignment due dates pushed back four times to accommodate for late registrations. These date problems are usually compounded by other issues such as lack of access to study materials and tuition problems through programmes like NSFAS, so it’s not always Unisa’s sole fault when the student calendar is so wonky.