As a student at the University of Johannesburg, you get access to a host of world-class support services. Additionally, as a UJ Online student, you will also receive additional support from our dedicated online team for the full duration of your studies.
In this article, we will look at the tremendous support that you will be provided should you choose to enrol in one of UJ's online undergraduate or postgraduate programmes.
Covered in this article
Academic advising and tutoring
Career services and professional development
Mental health and well-being support
Online library and research resources
Academic advising and tutoring
Online students at UJ will be provided with all their necessary material through the learning management system. While the learning material offers all the knowledge you need, you are also able to engage with tutors and course facilitators. This can be done in group discussion boards, where questions that other students have asked may already answer your queries before you ask them. Alternatively, tutors are also available for one-on-one discussion and will provide feedback on your assignments and tests.
Going beyond the learning management system, each University of Johannesburg campus offers a centre to provide additional academic advising and tutoring for a range of subjects and fields. As an online student, you are also welcome to make use of these services.
For those who are far from a campus, some of these services are offered online and you can contact any of the campus branches to set up an online or telephonic session. It is, however, recommended that you call a centre directly for a quicker response time than through the shared email address.
Career services and professional development
As a future-oriented university, UJ takes career services and professional development very seriously. In fact, the university has an entire centre dedicated to career development and psychological support.
The Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PsyCaD) has branches on each of the campuses, but it also offers many services online.
PsyCaD runs various programmes for career development and recruitment and has a dedicated Career Services Unit. The Career Services Unit offers services for both first-time graduates entering the workplace for the first time, as well as services for older students and those in career transition.
Mental health and well-being support
As part of its extensive support services for students, PsyCaD offers several professional services related to mental health and well-being.
Counselling and therapy: You can book an appointment for a therapy or counselling session. As an online student, PsyCaD recommends that you contact one of the campus branches directly for a faster response.
Crisis line: PsyCaD runs a 24-hour crisis line for all who require immediate support and guidance in a crisis. You can contact a counsellor for assistance at 082 054 1137. Please note that this line is handled by a single individual at any one time rather than a full call centre, so it is not always answered right away. If this happens, do not panic. Someone will likely call you back quite soon and if not, then just try the number again.
Walk-in consultations: Students can go to a PsyCad office for a walk-in meeting and receive a 30-minute screening and consultation with a professional without making an appointment. For those not in proximity to any of the campuses, appointments can be scheduled with a phone call and carried out over a video chat.
You can see the full range of support services along with all the relevant contact details on the PsyCaD webpage.
A vital aspect of maintaining your mental health is to ensure that you get enough exercise. This is of course something you can do yourself, but if you are near one of the UJ campuses then you can also take advantage of UJ’s fantastic facilities. To see more about UJ’s gym and its many sporting clubs, please look here.
Online library and research resources
As an online student at UJ, you will receive all your required learning materials in a digital format through the online learning platform. While this means you do not need additional textbooks or other resources, some programmes and modules do require some independent research.
UJ boasts an impressive collection of books and research material, along with collections of dissertations and past exam papers across the many campus libraries. Even if you never set foot on a campus, as a UJ student you will still get access to a large number of online resources to assist in any research.
You can see a comprehensive list of all the services offered by the UJ Library, but we have highlighted some of the ones you can access easily online.
The UJ Library offers many guides and tutorials online, to help students better find the information they are looking for and to navigate the many services and databases.
Training: For training sessions and videos on how to access and use the library resources, please go here.
E-books: For help on how to find and download e-books, please visit the online books LibGuide.
