As a comprehensive university, Unisa offers both vocational and academic programmes, many of which have received international accreditation, as well as an extensive geographical footprint, giving their students recognition and employability in many countries the world over.

[6] In 1946, UNISA was given a new role as a distance education university, and today it offers certificate, diploma and degree courses[7] up to doctoral level.

The complex of buildings was designed by Bryan Sandrock Architects in the 1960s and expresses an international style characterised by monumental proportions and engineering feats like the cantilevered structures.

The most striking feature is the long projection from the brow of the hill, supported by a giant steel girder resting on a massive column.

In addition to the eight colleges and SBL, UNISA has numerous bureaus, centres, institutes, museums and units[10] supporting academic development and research.

[40][41] UNISA has seized the opportunities of digital transformation, facilitated high scientific research output, and ensured more efficient course implementation through multiple and strategic partnerships of the years to enhance and innovate open and distance learning experience across the world.

[48][49] In recent times there has been an outcry on cheating cases with students blaming glitches on the online invigilator application of the institution.

The University’s Vice Principal for Institutional Development, Ramagoai Magano, says most of cases of academic dishonesty are by postgraduate students.

The Unisa Foundation was established in 1966 and now has approximately 280 active donors, many of them individual alumni with the desire to give back to the communities, South African and international, with a sense of social responsibility.

Equally vital is the role played by the Board of Trustees, whose members not only oversee the affairs of the Unisa Foundation but who also lend the weight of their professional and personal reputations in a drive to reach potential donors, without financial reward to themselves.

Based at Unisa's main campus in Muckleneuck, Pretoria, the foundation has Fundraising and Development Divisions in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

[58][59] Notable among the list of publications include; Sisters in the Struggle by Kalpana Hiralal (Women of Indian Origin in South Africa's Liberation Struggle 1900–1994 Volume 1: 1900–1940s),[60] Essays in Online Education; A Global Perspective by Professor Mandla S. Makhanya and Dr Divya Singh,[61] Names Fashioned by Gender by Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa and Prof Madodo Cekiso (a collection of essays on onomastics – a linguistics field of study focusing on the origin, form, history, and use of proper names),[62] Dark Matters: A Conversation with History, Saluting the Extraordinary Humanitarian Endeavours of South African Black Scientists by Colin T. Johnson[63] and Violence in Schools: South Africa in an International Context by Clive Harber and Vusi Mncube.

[64] On 17 October 2021, a leaked ministerial report claimed that rampant corruption at Unisa undermines the quality of education, and highlighted the risk that the institution is becoming a "qualifications factory".

[65][66] The claim that Unisa was becoming a diploma mill due to mismanagement were being reviewed by Blade Nzimande, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

[67][68][69] The University boasts of being an institution that has given access to tertiary education to all people, irrespective of race or colour, particularly given South Africa’s history of apartheid.

[70][73] According to the report, UNISA’s problems came to the fore around 2015, with reports of challenges in governance, management and the quality of higher education provision such as allegations of deterioration of governance, instability of the executive management; continued complaints regarding student administration issues; the under-spending of earmarked grants; poor throughput and success rates, and very high dropout numbers; specific concerns regarding the quality of teacher education provision; levels of support provided to students at the institution within the context of distance learning; and concerns around the enrollment planning processes.

[77][78] Minister Blade Nzimande's appointment of Prof Ihron Rensburg as administrator in October 2023 puts control of UNISA under the government for the next 24 months and he will be reporting to the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation or any delegated official in the Department of Higher Education and Training in writing on a biannual basis.

[79] A notable critic of the Minister's placement of UNISA under administration, Dr Seán Muller, a senior research fellow at the Johannesburg Institute of Advanced Study based at the University of Johannesburg has indicated that, placing UNISA under an Administrator will not solve the problems and challenges outlined by the Independent Assessor in his report.

However, he reiterates that, “What has been clear is that there are many vested interests and agendas at play, including some of those who support the institution being placed under administration for reasons that have nothing to do with setting it on a better path.

However, the Department of Higher Education, Science and Innovation has assured University of South Africa (UNISA) students they will not be affected when the institution is placed under administration.