Are UNISA (University of South Africa) honours degrees recognised in Australia?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by jcastelyn, Sep 11, 2011.

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  1. jcastelyn

    jcastelyn New Member

    Hi all,

    I'm about to enroll for an honours degree in psychology through UNISA (South Africa) not to be confused with uniSA (University of South Australia). I would like to enroll for a masters degree program at an Australian university after that.

    Does anyone know whether Australian universities or psychology boards accept/recognise post-grad psych degrees from UNISA?

    I've been finding it hard to get a clear answer online.

    Any information or experience would be greatly appreciated! :scratchchin:
     
  2. Garp

    Garp Well-Known Member

    I am a little confused since you said you would enroll in the Masters at an Aussie school. In any case, UNISA is a well recognized university that was granted a Royal Charter in the 1800's IIRC. The thing to do is to check what the policy is on foreign credentials and that would be a question for the school if you were entering the Masters or the Psych board in the case of credentialing. We had someone post here that a US state would accept and MSW from India for licensure. You will not be the first one to ask that question by a long shot.
     
  3. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

    My impression is that the majority of schools do not want to get locked into hypothetical scenarios where they are committing themselves to a course of action. Many schools will simply say something like, "When you submit your application and transcripts they will be assessed just as all other applications are assessed.
     
  4. ebbwvale

    ebbwvale Member

    I would contact this body:
    APAC - Australian Psychology Accreditation Council : APAC Standards & Guidelines

    They assess the qualifications for the Psych.Board of Australia. The way you are going is "left field" to Australian bureaucracies. They generally are highly structured and not change orientated. I would also bear in mind that they are "protectionist" and how you approach them may be important.

    A university is more likely to accept you for a research degree in psychology than a coursework degree leading to registration without some form of recognition from APAC. I may well be wrong (frequently am), but, in this country, I have found that people who you would think are flexible in their thinking are anything but. Mind you the costs of the UNISA degree make the information well worthwhile checking.

    I would also examine Social work as it appears to have mlore flexibility.
     
  5. iamthere

    iamthere New Member

    I find that other countries tend to be more accepting of foreign credit/foreign diplomas. It is the US that is saying only US schools.
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Except that U.S. schools and other institutions don't actually say that.
     
  7. psych grad

    psych grad New Member

    any result??

    Hi jcastelyn,

    Did you ever get a definite answer to this?

    I also did the UNISA honours in psych and am now in aus and want to do my masters. I do want to have some idea if the degree is recognized before I pay $800!!!
     
  8. Lukeness

    Lukeness Member

    The number of qualified South African immigrants working in Australia and the rest of the world with visas or permanent residence attained with those qualifications suggests that there won't be any problem with having the degree accepted or evaluated.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 2, 2013

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