• University of the Witwatersrand has relaunched its Wits Plus platform and is now offering online short courses for the first time.
• Vice Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi says Wits Plus is meant to capitalise on the further digitalisation of the education industry.
• Courses are being offered in business management, languages, health sciences and more, both online and in person.

The University of the Witwatersrand has relaunched its Wits Plus platform, a refurbished platform where all of the university’s short courses can be found all in one place.

Wits offers short courses in engineering, business management, architecture, construction, health sciences, law, languages, real estate and property, and more, and through Wits Plus the courses can be applied to, and gained access to through digital platforms and in-person classes.

For Wits, the relaunching of the platform this year is another step towards what Vice-Chancellor Zeblon Vilakazi calls the “digital earthquake.”

“The picture of education is changing. Getting a degree and just moving on to work and closing the books is no longer an option,” he said in an announcement. According to Wits, the project to remake Wits Plus was started over a year ago.

“The future of professions is lifelong learning, obtaining micro-credentialing, learning online and in many other ways. Building these skills will prepare us for the future that we are trying to build.”

The short courses available on Wits Plus are flexible and they are geared towards people who are already out of academics and in the work place. They offer professional upskilling and beyond.

“We recognise that in society, people need access to education and that these opportunities have to come in different formats,” said Professor Ruksana Osman, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Academic.

“At Wits, we now offer full- and part-time studies, contact teaching, online programmes, and short courses – all of which form part of the overall teaching and learning suite.”

The university has offered short courses for 50 years mostly through in-person classes, and now in recent years in a hybrid format and now fully online short courses on Wits Plus.

Wits Plus also offers courses in person and through a blended approach, so all bases are covered in whatever learning scenario is best. Courses differ depending on the subject, as well as the application period.

For example, the courses on Corporate Governance and Administration, which are available online, from 10th February and 30th June are already closed for applications, while Beginner courses in English go from February to March and cost R19 200 once off.

Prices vary depending on the subject, as well as the time frame of the short courses. Some are for seven weeks while some are longer.

Find out more here.

[Image – Photo by Nick Morrison on Unsplash]