University of South Africa Phd

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 certified copies of ID/Passport document.

* Some exceptions may apply.

Pay application fee

Pay the online application fee of R100,00 (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 2015 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 certified 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:

Certified copies of all official academic records stating all papers passed and percentages obtained, including the ledger.
Certified 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 certified 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

Complete and submit your application online.
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.

What will Unisa do upon receiving your application?

Unisa will assess your application to ensure that you meet the necessary admission requirements and that all required supporting documents have been uploaded online and received.
Your application will then be referred to the relevant academic department, where a selection process will take place. Please note that this selection process will only take place after the closing date for applications, during December 2015 and January 2024. The master’s and doctoral administrative section will inform applicants during February 2024 of the outcome of their application.

What happens next?

Successful application – Unisa will confirm this via e-mail and will also provide you with the contact details of a specific member of staff, normally your supervisor, within the relevant academic department – please ensure that you make contact with this person after registration.
Unsuccessful application – Unisa will inform you of this via e-mail.

You must register online for your approved qualification during the prescribed registration period. If you want to change the qualification for which you have applied and received confirmation, you will need to re-apply for admission during the next academic year.
University of South Africa Phd

Doctor of Philosophy (90030)
Doctor of Philosophy Astronomy Education (90030 – AST)
Doctor of Philosophy Chemistry Education (90030 – CHE)
Doctor of Philosophy Computing Education (90030 – COM)
Doctor of Philosophy Life Sciences Education (90030 – LIF)
Doctor of Philosophy Mathematics Education (90030 – MAT)
Doctor of Philosophy Physics Education (90030 – PHY)
Doctor of Philosophy Science Education (90030 – SCE)
Doctor of Philosophy Statistics Education (90030 – STA)
Doctor of Philosophy Technology Education (90030 – TEC)
Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Mathematics (98972)
Doctor of Philosophy in Astronomy (98974)
Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry (98976)
Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science (98803)
Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems (98804)
Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (98979)
Doctor of Philosophy in Physics (98981)
Doctor of Philosophy in Statistics (98984)