Dear students,

As you have already been informed, the University of Pretoria resumed its academic programme on Wednesday, 12 October 2016. Given that the situation at universities across the country remains volatile, it has been decided to move most of our teaching online – and specifically to clickUP. This decision to move to predominantly online teaching at this point is largely based on our commitment to ensure that students can prepare adequately for the end-of-year examinations, so as to conclude the current academic year successfully. It is important to note that moving much of our teaching online at this stage does not represent a significant departure from the teaching approach that the University had undertaken to adopt in 2015. The University had decided to adopt a hybrid approach to teaching, which entails a balanced mix of traditional and online teaching methods. A hybrid teaching approach has been found to lead to much better learning outcomes for students than exclusively online, distance education or traditional teaching methods.

For those students concerned about access to online material, the University has just concluded an agreement with (at this stage) two service providers with national coverage to provide WiFi facilities to students who do not have access to these facilities when they are not on one of the UP campuses. Furthermore, at least two computer labs with WiFi access are currently being prepared for use by students who do not have their own computers.

Details about accessing both the WiFi and computer lab facilities will be posted under UP Updates on the University's website by Monday at the latest.

I herewith wish to encourage you to work diligently in preparing for the examinations, which will commence on 14 November 2016.

Please do not hesitate to contact your faculties at the telephone numbers or email addresses provided in the table below should you require assistance in preparing for the examinations.

I wish you well with your preparations.