UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA (UNISA)
College of Human Sciences – Department of Psychology
⋄
Community Empowerment:
The Community of Psychology
Students at Unisa
Assessment 1 – 2026
⋄
Module Code: PYC2614
Module Name: Community Psychology
Assignment No.: Assignment 1
Due Date: 19 August 2026
Semester: 2 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Community Psychology (PYC2614)
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | PYC2614 Community Empowerment: Psychology Students at Unisa
Section A: Summary of the Community
The community under discussion is the community of psychology students registered at the
University of South Africa (Unisa), an open distance e-learning (ODeL) institution. Unlike a
residential university, this community is not bound to a single campus or town. Its members
are distributed across South Africa and, in smaller numbers, across the rest of the continent
and the world, and they share a common student status rather than a common geographic
location. What holds the community together is a shared academic identity: registration for
psychology modules, a shared curriculum, common assessment deadlines, and a common
institutional relationship with Unisa. Because ODeL students are, in Unisa’s own description,
primarily responsible for planning and managing their own studies with little face-to-face
contact with lecturers or peers, the psychology student community is best understood as
a community of interest and circumstance rather than a community of place (University of
South Africa, n.d.-a).
Membership in this community is diverse in almost every respect except the shared pur-
suit of a psychology qualification. Students range from recent school leavers to working
adults studying part time, and many combine study with full-time employment, childcare, or
other family responsibilities. Access to resources is uneven: some students study from well-
resourced urban homes with reliable internet, while others depend on cell phones and shared
data to reach the myUnisa learning platform, or travel to one of Unisa’s regional study centres
to use a library or computer laboratory (Nsamba, Bopape, Lebeloane and Lekay, 2021). This
unevenness in resources is a defining feature of the community, because it shapes how easily
different members can participate in academic and social life.
The community also carries structural features that influence empowerment. Formal chan-
nels exist for student voice, most notably the Student Representative Council (SRC), which is
a legally mandated governance structure that represents student interests to university man-
agement, council, and senate (University of South Africa, n.d.-b). Informal structures also ex-
ist, including WhatsApp and Facebook study groups formed by students themselves, tutorial
classes, and e-tutor sites that connect students who might otherwise never meet. Isolation,
however, remains a persistent risk in this community: because there are no daily lectures or
shared physical spaces, many students describe distance learning as a solitary undertaking,
and a sense of community has to be actively built rather than assumed (Ngubane-Mokiwa,
2017). Understanding this community of psychology students therefore requires holding two
realities together at once: a formally organised body of students with representative struc-
Page 1 of 6
College of Human Sciences – Department of Psychology
⋄
Community Empowerment:
The Community of Psychology
Students at Unisa
Assessment 1 – 2026
⋄
Module Code: PYC2614
Module Name: Community Psychology
Assignment No.: Assignment 1
Due Date: 19 August 2026
Semester: 2 2026
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for Community Psychology (PYC2614)
at the University of South Africa.
, UNISA | PYC2614 Community Empowerment: Psychology Students at Unisa
Section A: Summary of the Community
The community under discussion is the community of psychology students registered at the
University of South Africa (Unisa), an open distance e-learning (ODeL) institution. Unlike a
residential university, this community is not bound to a single campus or town. Its members
are distributed across South Africa and, in smaller numbers, across the rest of the continent
and the world, and they share a common student status rather than a common geographic
location. What holds the community together is a shared academic identity: registration for
psychology modules, a shared curriculum, common assessment deadlines, and a common
institutional relationship with Unisa. Because ODeL students are, in Unisa’s own description,
primarily responsible for planning and managing their own studies with little face-to-face
contact with lecturers or peers, the psychology student community is best understood as
a community of interest and circumstance rather than a community of place (University of
South Africa, n.d.-a).
Membership in this community is diverse in almost every respect except the shared pur-
suit of a psychology qualification. Students range from recent school leavers to working
adults studying part time, and many combine study with full-time employment, childcare, or
other family responsibilities. Access to resources is uneven: some students study from well-
resourced urban homes with reliable internet, while others depend on cell phones and shared
data to reach the myUnisa learning platform, or travel to one of Unisa’s regional study centres
to use a library or computer laboratory (Nsamba, Bopape, Lebeloane and Lekay, 2021). This
unevenness in resources is a defining feature of the community, because it shapes how easily
different members can participate in academic and social life.
The community also carries structural features that influence empowerment. Formal chan-
nels exist for student voice, most notably the Student Representative Council (SRC), which is
a legally mandated governance structure that represents student interests to university man-
agement, council, and senate (University of South Africa, n.d.-b). Informal structures also ex-
ist, including WhatsApp and Facebook study groups formed by students themselves, tutorial
classes, and e-tutor sites that connect students who might otherwise never meet. Isolation,
however, remains a persistent risk in this community: because there are no daily lectures or
shared physical spaces, many students describe distance learning as a solitary undertaking,
and a sense of community has to be actively built rather than assumed (Ngubane-Mokiwa,
2017). Understanding this community of psychology students therefore requires holding two
realities together at once: a formally organised body of students with representative struc-
Page 1 of 6
