Students attending higher educational institutions this year face some significant hurdles. Over and above the fact that most campuses remain closed for in-person learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic, uncertainties around student funding have again brought the problems in South African higher education to the fore. There has never been a greater need for innovative solutions which ensure that all South African students are able to access affordable and reliable educational resources, whether they are learning at home, online or on campus.

Juta & Co has risen to meet this challenge head-on, with a range of innovative South African “firsts”.

For more than 167 years, Juta & Co has been delivering quality and respected academic and educational resources to students, businesses and legal practitioners across the country.  This year, Juta & Co is proud to build on this heritage by providing advanced, tech-based solutions to the significant challenges facing higher education in South Africa.

Socially-distanced learning and working is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future. Last year, many students and institutions were unable to effectively bridge the digital divide, seriously impeding many students’ access to higher education and learning. A variety of factors played a role, including internet and computer access constraints, the unavailability of accessible and intuitive South African digital resources, the high cost of accessing the international resources that do exist, and a lack of privacy and quiet space for students to focus and learn at home.

While many of these problems are structural and require broadscale public solutions, Juta & Co believes it can help play a part. As such, Juta & Co has developed a series of highly accessible multimedia online textbooks — a first in the South African market. In the first phase of release, emphasis has been placed on topics essential to the country’s economic future, such as basic education (teaching Grade R, for example), basic business management, and human resources management.

In order to maximise their learning benefits to students, these interactive electronic publications are enhanced with a variety of media including visual aids, audio glossaries, integrated video lectures and interactive quizzes that allow students to track their progress. Students are empowered to learn from fresh and interactive content at their own pace, and select the tools that they find are most useful in aiding their individual understanding — elevating the content from a dry read to an interactive learning experience.  Further higher educational offerings, designed to enhance the accessibility, affordability, and quality of South African educational content are in development.

These higher educational offerings are yet another example of how Juta & Co has begun leading South Africa’s essential digital evolution by harnessing the power of digital technology. Juta & Co is also proud to have begun this process in the business and legal space through products that use machine learning and data visualisation to enhance students’ and legal practitioners’ access to, and understanding of, the law, through its digital Jutastat Evolve and Practical Insights platforms. 

At this crucial time for the future of South African higher education, our collective ability to innovate will determine whether our country is able to transform the challenges we face into opportunities to grow. Juta & Co is committed to growing the futures of all South African students and universities towards the inspired possibility of an empowered South Africa. 

Written by Kamal Patel Chief Executive Officer At Juta & Company