About the School of Governance

The School was established in 2014 as a strategic structure within Unisa to harness and coral high caliber teaching and research capabilities whilst concomitantly establishing partnerships with Government, Public and Private Sectors, Local, Regional and International Organizations and registered institutions. 

Mission

The School will realise its vision through the following mission: 

• Develop a center of scholarship, teaching and learning, research and community engagement on the field of governance within both the public and private sectors.
• Developing formal and short learning programmes central to the values of governance, policy development and implementation, and foundations of administrative laws.
• Promoting and supporting discourse, public lectures, seminars, and workshops on the theme of good governance.
• Promote public and private sector sustainability ad accountability drawing on the knowledge and experiences of African and international scholars in the field of governance.
• Building and maintaining a corpus of research material relevant to sound governance and allied fields.

Objectives

• To harness and corral high caliber teaching and research capabilities on the subject of Governance whilst concomitantly establishing partnerships with Government, Public and Private Sectors, Local, Regional and International Organizations and registered institutions.
• To shift paradigm regarding the understanding and application of corporate governance in both public and private sectors.
• To develop high level quality scholarships on governance and sustainability issues.
• To advance relevant and critical knowledge and application of governance on the continent.
• To increase quality research output.
• To contribute to the growing knowledge base and the practical implementation of good governance activities at national level.
• To increase the number of strategic partnerships, and an African and Global footprint in the field of Governance.
• To consolidate a body of knowledge and skills and best practices to share with public and private stakeholders.

The role and status of the School of Governance

The School of Governance offers an extensive bouquet of short learning programmes, courses, workshops and seminars, public lectures, research activities etc.  The School is an independent but integral component of Unisa and as such, it is governed by rules and regulations, norms, ethics etc. that govern Unisa.  The learning programmes, courses, seminars, workshops, research and public lectures offered by the school provide a critical role in the provisioning of academic and educational knowledge, skills upscaling etc. This is essential not only for personal development of individual students, participants etc. but also in alleviating national skills deficiencies in the areas of governance for both public and private sectors. 

The school offers these short learning programmes and courses at various NQF levels with various credits.  However,   these programmes and courses do not qualify for full qualifications.  There are certain selected programmes whose modules can be presented for exemption purposes in case students wish to register or enroll for technical qualifications such higher certificates, diplomas and degrees.  The school a provides an opportunity for custom tailored training at the request of an organization, employer both private and public sectors.  The school will design modules that meet the specific needs of such an organization.  The school has the capacity to conduct consultancies to organizations in both public and private sectors.