Despite Covid-19: Student Intake Keeps Growing

Johannesburg Campus students

The total number of students at Mukhanyo for the start of the new academic year in February showed a 13% growth compared to the start of 2020 – from 1,009 to 1,143.

According to Dr Brian DeVries, Principal, this once again shows that our God in heaven is sovereign and does things differently from what people may expect: “The Covid-19 pandemic and its many effects in society, not least of which is the concern for the future economically, have created a sense of uncertainty and cautiousness. Then the second wave at the start of the new academic year added to this uncertainty and sense of unsettledness. So we are very thankful for the number of students in each area who applied and have been enrolled for contact study. These students show a desire to study God’s Word and grow spiritually, despite the ongoing pandemic and the increased challenges”.

At some of Mukhanyo’s five study centres, the growth was only moderate and limited. But overall the increase was very satisfactory as can be seen in the following numbers:

• The KwaMhlanga campus now has 48 theological students as against 45 a year ago, largely due to the growth of its BTh Honours programme. Strong growth came from the number of teacher students – from 129 to 152. The North-West University offers their teacher education programmes at Mukhanyo’s campus in KwaMhlanga.
• The Johannesburg campus has always been seen as a centre with high potential, but with slower growth. This year the increase is 32% to 41 students, still far from its capacity, but moving in the right direction.
• The slow start at the new Durban Advanced learning centre was expected and its number of students grew from 11 to 14.
• The new and unaccredited Focus programme has started to take off – from 6 to 28 students.
• The number of distance learning support centres increased to 83 and the number of students from 717 to 809, an increase of 12%. Glyn Williams, Distance Manager, expects further growth. “There are several initiatives and applications to get new groups started; our rather unique distance model with regular contact sessions has now proved to be effective and ideal, also in the present circumstances”.

In the next few months a project to widely market Mukhanyo’s programmes, including the utilisation of social media, will be launched. On this Dr Brian says: “We are convinced that there are many Christians who would want to learn more about God’s Word, but who do not know where to look for reliable and trustworthy institutions that teach God’s Word the way He wants it to be taught. We must reach out to them in South Africa and beyond”.

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