INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
CAPE PENINSULA
UNIVERSITY OF
TCHNOLOGY
(CPUT)
CPUT offers only one significant bachelor programme
for which 2010 matriculants could apply, namely the
Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) degree. As with the
other qualifications it offers, CPUT is not able to
accommodate all the applicants who seek entry to the
B.Ed.
Overall 10,881 applications were received from November 2010 and A total
of 3,159 (29%) have registered for various programmes. 784 matriculants
who obtained a matric pass permitting entry to a bachelor degree and who
indicated the B.Ed as their first choice of study. A total of 322 from this
cohort of matriculants (41%) have registered.
CAPE TOWN
UNIVERSITY
(CPUT has introduced a new bachelor programme in
2011, the Bachelor of Health Science in Medical
Laboratory Science; but the number of enrolments is
small.)
CPUT received a total of 4,468 applications from 2010 matriculants with a
pass permitting entry to a bachelor degree, for various undergraduate
qualifications (including the B.Ed). A total of 1,904 (42.6%) have registered
for the first year of study in 2011. Most of the programmes offered by
CPUT are over-subscribed.
Applications for 2011 admission closed on 30
September 2010. The university was prepared to
accommodate 3900 first year students who never
enrolled at a HEI before in terms of the agreed
enrolment plan with the DHET.
2 (a) (i) 22 109 students applied to the University, and 8062 were offered
places, with each applicant permitted to apply for up to three different
programmes. Of these approximately 14 000 met the University’s
admission requirements. It is important to note that most students apply to
more than one institution.
(ii) 6062 were offered their first choice and 2002 their second choice.
(b) Students may not have been able to enter the degree of their choice at
our university due to not meeting the admission requirements for the
degree. Limited capacity/space constraints for programmes such as MB
CHB are some of the reasons.
CENTRAL
UNIVERSITY
TECHNOLOGY
CUT admits applicants who qualify for both bachelor
OF and diploma programmes depending on the availability
of spaces. CUT had however been ready since the last
day for application on 31 October 2010 to admit
(i) A total of 2 761 applications were turned into enrolments/
registrations
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
students in line with its approved enrolment plan
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
(ii) The University currently does not keep records of first, second
or third choices, but a programme is being developed to ensure that
there are records effective from January 2012
a) Applicants who meet University admission requirements but not
additional programme requirements are advised to consider alternative
programmes mainly due to subject choices at Grade 12 level. For
example, an applicant for Mechanical Engineering who qualifies for a
bachelor degree but does not have Mathematics would be advised to
consider alternative programmes as Mathematics is an additional
requirement for Mechanical Engineering.
DURBAN
UNIVERSITY
TECHNOLOGY
(DUT)
DUT offers the following bachelor programmes to first
OF time entering students :
1. Bachelor of Education (B Ed.)
2. Bachelor of Technology : Nursing Science
3. As at January 2011, Bachelor of Health
Sciences : Emergency Medical Care
DUT received 7 637 applications via the Central Applications Office
(CAO) for the B Ed programme. 1 855 of those applicants wrote the 2010
matriculation examinations. 759 met the DUT specific entrance
requirements; however the enrolment target for that programme is 282.
2 833 applications were received for the Bachelor of Technology: Nursing
Science programme via the CAO. 1 011 were Grade 12 learners from 2010.
139 of the applicants met the DUT specific entrance requirements but the
(Most programmes offered by the DUT are at the enrolment target is 100.
Diploma level)
Bachelor of Health Sciences: Emergency Medical Care received 6 241
applications via the CAO and 2 669 were grade 12 learners from 2010.
495 of the applicants met the DUT specific entrance requirements, however
the enrolment target is small (30).
Of those who did not meet the entrance requirements as indicated above,
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
there would be included those who met requirements for entry to other
programmes.
FORT HARE
UNIVERSITY
In our case we were able to accommodate the number
according to our agreement with the Department of
Higher Education and Training. However Universities
remain seriously undercapitalised, although the DHET
is addressing this issue to a certain extent. In our
particular case (University of Fort Hare), the
recapitalisation funding is mostly being spent on
refurbishment rather than expansion; this remains a
legacy of the pre-1994 system.
UNIVERSITY
OF
1. In terms of the agreed number of funded students at the
2.
FREE STATE (UFS)
UFS we had places for some 4500 first-time, first-year
students. However the University also assists students
who do not qualify for automatic admission to upgrade
their competencies by admission into bridging
programmes. This year we have given a total of 2775
students access to the university without enjoying this
University’s entry requirements, of whom 1397 have
been admitted into pre-university foundation
programmes. From last year’s cohort of schoolleaving learners the UFS admitted 7275 to our
programmes. This figure represents a significant
proportion of the sum of 12000 applicants who
qualified for consideration. We have no idea how
2. (a) (i) 1946 succeeded with their applications to enrol.
(ii) 441 were diverted to New Foundation Program.
(b) Major reason for this is that the majority did not meet basic
admission requirements for qualification applied for.
2. Many of the programmes of studies at a university have capacity
limitations. For example: this University had some 1500 applicants for
admission into CHhMB, but we are only able to admit 140 first-year
students each year. Repeating students take up some of those places. Many
aspirant students for this programme inevitably register for other
qualifications, as a nation, these programmes are grossly over-subscribed.
The University does not keep data about students who register for an
alternative choice of qualification rather than their first choice.
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
many of the balance gained access to other higher
education institutions. Of course the University was
also ready to register all the returning students.
JOHANNESBURG
UNIVERSITY (UJ)
A total of 63400 undergraduate applications were
processed in 2010 of which 17500 were
admitted/conditionally admitted (subject to final results
and space availability). Therefore a total of 43000
(66%) were not conditionally admitted based on their
Grade 11 results.
A total of 65.7% of applicants were admitted to their first choice
qualification, 16.1% were admitted to their second choice qualification and
10.8% were admitted to their third choice. Admission to a second or third
choice qualification was due to non-compliance with the first choice
admission requirements or space limitations regarding the qualification and
or campus.
The UJ Enrolment Plan provides for the enrolment of 3.
15000 first time entering students. Eventually a total
17400 first time entering students were enrolled.
Of the approximate 12000 late applications/walk-ins in
January 2011 2700 were admitted for enrollment.
UNIVERSITY
OF
KWAZULU-NATAL
(UKZN)
UKZN has been using the Central Applications Information on 1st and 2nd choice acceptance is not available.
Office (CAO) to process its applications. Early
4.
offers were made to applicants based on Grade 11
and midyear Grade 12/trial results and learners
could choose up to 6 different qualifications via
the CAO. Those who were not successful were
given a chance to apply for other qualifications
where spaces were still available.
In collaboration with CAO a new system that
facilitates "walk-ins" was developed. “Walk-ins”
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
were considered after on-time applications were
processed.
Dedicated venues (Clearing Houses) on Howard
College, Westville and Pietermaritzburg campuses
were set up to provide a one-stop service to:


‘walk-in’
applicants
submitting
late
applications;
 ‘on-time’ applicants who wanted to apply for
another qualification for which they qualified
and where places were still available;
 applicants already on the system checking
statuses of applications;
Applicants from disadvantaged educational
backgrounds not qualifying for main stream
programmes seeking entrance via access
programmes.
For 2011 enrolments, an SMS system was used to
notify learners of the status of their applications as
soon as the matriculation results were officially
released. A ‘self-help’ registration system was in
place that allowed learners to register on or off
campus.
UNIVERSITY
LIMPOPO (UL)
OF Application forms for all prospective applicants at the 2. 1400 applications for MB. ChB were received and only 200 were
University of Limpopo were sent out in 2010. Upon accepted. A sizable percentage did not get their first choice, especially in
receipt they were assessed by the various faculties Medicine and they were offered the B.Sc (Medical Science or plain B.Sc
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
using Council approved minimum admission options).
requirements, together with specific additional
Space constrains as well as not meeting the admission requirements for
requirements in certain degree programmes.
specific programmes are some of the reasons for not admitting all
Selected students were given provisional acceptance applicants.
letters in 2010, provided they equalled or improved
their performance in the grade 11 examinations.
Academic offers to first entering students were based
on the quotas given by the DHET so that programmes
are not over-subscribed.
MANGOSUTHU
UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY
1. Only Diploma and Bridging programmes are offered
to first time entering students.
2 (a) (i) Of the over 25 000 applications received via the Central
Applications Office, 2325 were accepted for enrolment.
(ii) No students were diverted from programmes of their choice.
b) Not applicable
NELSON
MANDELA METRO
UNIVERSITY
(NMMU)
The state of readiness at the Nelson Mandela
Metropolitan University for the 2011 intake,
accommodating grade 12 learners from 2010 (60-70%
of the intake) as well as those who had matriculated in
previous years, was good. This is a result of sound
enrolment planning as well as capping the numbers in
certain programmes in line with the human resources
and physical infrastructure capability of the university.
NMMU received 29 143 applications for first time entering students of
which 7 519 (26%) were admitted. On average 76% of these admitted
students can be expected to register during the course of the first two
months of the academic year. The NMMU makes provision for late
registrations to allow students the opportunity to obtain financial support on
condition that they attend classes from the start. Currently the NMMU has
5118 first-time entering undergraduate registrations compared to 4 770 at
the same time last year. This represents a 7.3% growth which is higher than
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
expected.
To further enhance readiness, NMMU has given
attention to encouraging school learners in particular to
apply earlier in the preceding year. In NMMU’s
experience, the prevailing culture among many school
learners has been to apply to NMMU only when their
matric results are released. This resulted in the
Admissions Office being swamped with a large
number of new applications in January which were
difficult to process sufficiently quickly to allow
successful learners to register and start classes on the
first day of term. Furthermore, as many programmes
were full at that stage, applicants would apply for any
programme that they qualified for and that was not full
to ensure that they got admitted to university studies.
This is problematic as the wrong programme choice
has proved to be a significant factor in student dropout.
Consequently, NMMU has brought its closing dates
for applications forward with the first closing date at
the beginning of August and the final one at the
beginning of December, with a last final date early in
January only for those applicants who meet the direct
entry requirements. To cater for applicants who might
have missed the application deadlines, application
forms are still accepted in January but applicants are
There are various reasons for applications being unsuccessful, primarily
because school marks are not high enough or because applicants do not
have the prerequisite school subjects to be admitted to a programme. A
reasonable percentage of applicants who are unsuccessful for university
studies should be accommodated elsewhere in a post-secondary school
system. However, there are limited post-school study options available.
Applicants to NMMU are asked to indicate a second choice programme and
are considered for this if they are unsuccessful in being admitted to their
first choice programme. About 10% of NMMU’s new student intake is
admitted to their second choice programme. Furthermore, being a
comprehensive university, NMMU is able to stream applicants who are not
yet ready to undertake degree studies into a cognate diploma programme
(e.g., if an applicant is unsuccessful for BCom they can be considered for a
diploma in cost accounting). Where an applicant is offered admission to a
cognate programme of a different type (e.g., diploma instead of a degree), it
is the applicant’s decision if they wish to take up the alternative offered or
not.
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
told that their applications will only be processed if
there is still place on the programme that they have
applied for by a certain date. There is a pro-active and
strong marketing and communications drive around the
closing dates for applications in schools, at Open Days
and exhibitions, etc. This resulted in a significant
increase in the number of applications received in the
August to December period in 2010 and a concomitant
increase in the number of applications processed at a
similar stage in 2009 (e.g., a 1000 more applicants had
been admitted to study at NMMU by October 2010
when compared to October 2009).
UNIVERITY
NORTH-WEST
(NWU)
OF
(1)
Targets for admission are agreed with the
DHET in terms of the enrolment plan that is guided by
national priorities and institutional capacity in terms of
infrastructure and resources. In addition, applicants
have to meet faculty-specific requirements, e.g. a
minimum % in Mathematics as a prerequisite for
certain programmes.
(2)(a)(i) Experience has taught that a number of first-time students who
have been admitted to the NWU, ultimately do not turn up to register.
(2)(b) The NWU does not record the reasons why students do not turn up,
but has learnt from experience over the years that some students did not
ultimately make the grade for the preferred programme and had to change
their course; some applied at more than one university and then opted for
The University also follows a carefully managed the other university where they had been accepted; some did not qualify for
marketing and enrolment planning process linked to placement in a residence and then did not turn up, and others fail to turn up
closing dates for application at all its campuses.
because of financial constraints.
Written feedback was provided to the A/DDG of
Higher Education and Training in the middle of
January 2011 on the state of readiness of the NWU to
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
accept more first-year students than have been agreed
upon with the Department.
UNIVERSITY
PRETORIA
RHODES
UNIVERSITY
OF 1. The University of Pretoria was well prepared to
accommodate new and returning students. The
application/admission and registration process is
annually refined and carefully managed to eliminate
potential problems. This year a special new
compulsory academic preparation and registration
programme for new first-year students was presented
with great success.
Rhodes University was ready to admit some 1400 first
time entering undergraduates into degree programmes,
the number required for us to reach the enrolment
target agreed with the Department of Higher Education
and Training. This target was achieved.
2. (a) In total 12 726 undergraduate students succeeded with their
applications to enrol. Of this number 4 076 students could not register for
their first choice of study. Please note that students can apply for more than
one course.
(b) A number of reasons may be mentioned, inter alia:
• Certain undergraduate courses have limited capacity, e. g. MBChB
(Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery); In this instance there were
1 915 applications for the 240 available places.
• Students who did not meet the minimum requirements for enrolling for
their preferred course.
• In many instances students, upon registration, exercised the choice to
change to a different course.
• The University receives a great number of late applications for
programmes in which the available places have already been taken
up by other students.
Of 6193 applications received, 1462 were successful. Unsuccessful
applications were due to either the applicants failing to meet our required
admissions points score or not meeting other admission requirements (such
as requiring Mathematics for a degree in the Sciences).
Approximately 80 applications were unsuccessful because all the available
places in our undergraduate degree programmes were full.
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
UNIVERSITY OF
SOUTH AFRICA
Unisa requires prospective students to apply before
they can register. In 2010, Unisa received a total of 92
023 applications (unaudited data) from prospective
undergraduate students. This is a combination of
applications for degree, diploma and Higher Certificate
study. Given the comprehensive nature of the
institution, the applications data is not segregated by
qualification.
2. (a) (i) Of the total number of Grade 12 learners who applied to Unisa,
only 705 actually registered for semester 1/2011.
Only 4914 of these applications (unaudited data) were
from students who were completing Grade 12 in 2010.
(Again, the figure is not limited to applications for
degree study.)
(a)(ii) Unisa will not force any student to change from their chosen option,
which would have been indicated in the application phase.
(b)
When a change does take place, it is because the student has not
met the minimum admission requirements set for the chosen
qualification. As noted above, Unisa does not limit the number of
places allocated to its various degree offerings.
However, in response to the question raised, Unisa was
ready and would have been prepared to register all
students who had successfully applied to the
University for degree studies. Unisa does not have a
quota system in terms of which students are selected
and/or rejected for registration at the University. All
students who apply in advance and then meet the
admission criteria are accepted for registration.
UNIVERSITY
OF 1 (a) (i) 4575 new first year students enrolled in 2011
STELLENBOSCH
16816 undergraduate students enrolled in 2011
(ii) Of the 4575 a total of 3464 enrolled in their programme of first choice,
608 in their second choice, 273 in their third choice, 210 in their fourth
choice and 20 i their programme of fifth choice
(b) Reasons include the applicants for professional programmes (e.g.
medicine, allied health sciences, engineering, sport science, etc) who were
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
not selected and then usually transfer to studies in other fields. The figures
presented here also include students who voluntarily decided (for various
reasons) to change course after they have arrived on campus
TSHWANE
UNIVERSITY
TECHNOLOGY
1. TUT normally accepts just over 12 500 first year
rd
OF students. At the beginning of this year (from 3
January), the University started receiving prospective
students who have not applied before. The University
had established facilities to receive these applicants at
dedicated areas closer to the main entrances of our
campuses from Friday, 7th January. These reception
centres operated until Wednesday 12 January.
After the 18th January 2011 where spaces were
available due to the one of the following reasons late
applicants where still accommodated.
Some students who have been accepted in the previous
year (for this year) now having decided that they are
going to other institutions and not TUT anymore (they
might have been accepted by more than one
institution).
Some students who have been accepted in the previous
year (for this year) based on their Grade 11 results or
Grade 12 mid-year results, now having failed their
NSC exams.
Some students who have been provisionally accepted
2.(i) 10 117, (ii) 3 607 of the 10 117 were forced to opt for other courses
than their preferred choices
b) The following are the main reasons why some applicants were forced to
opt for other courses than their preferred choices:
That the course of choice was already full when the University received the
application. Applicant did not meet the minimum qualification requirements
for the first choice course. Applicant did not meet the requirements with
regard to the Admission Point Score.
That the applicant did not pass the evaluation test or audition or/and
interview.
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
in the previous year (for this year) based on their
Grade 11 results or Grade 12 mid-year results now
having performed below required average in the NSC
exams.
Some students how have been accepted and requested
(last year) to respond to the University’s offer within
14 days of receipt of the University’s letter not having
responded at all.
Between the 3rd and 18th February 2011, the number of
walk-in applications captured is 6390. This is not the
number of forms that we issued out. It is only from
those who returned their application forms and they
were captured in the system. From this number, the
University managed to fill in remaining spaces.
VAAL UNIVERSITY
OF TECHNOLOGY
CUT admits applicants who qualify for both
bachelor and diploma programmes depending
on the availability of spaces. The attached
table indicates applicants by month for the
2011 academic years (first choice only). CUT
had however been ready since the last day for
application on 31 October 2010 to admit
students in line with its approved enrolment
plan.
2.a)(i) A total of 2 761 applications were turned into enrolments/
registrations, (ii) The University currently does not keep records of
first, second or third choices, but a programme is being developed
to ensure that there are records effective from January 2012
b) Applicants who meet University admission requirements but not
additional programme requirements are advised to consider
alternative programmes mainly due to subject choices at Grade 12
level. For example, an applicant for Mechanical Engineering who
qualifies for a bachelor degree but does not have Mathematics
would be advised to consider alternative programmes as
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
Mathematics is an additional requirement for Mechanical
Engineering.
UNIVERSITY
VENDA
OF 1.6238 applications were received and these
application forms were processed according to
candidates’ choices of programs per school. Making
use of the student IT system applicants’ details and
biographical information were captured pending
release of final results.
The reason for the applicants being moved to their second and/or third
choices is based on admission requirements in particular programs. Should
an applicant not meet program specific requirements he/she is advised to
consider alternative choices. In some cases, limited though, moving from
program of first choice was influenced by high numbers of applicants in
relation to quotas set for those programs. Programs like Education, Social
Work and Law attract more applications than available spaces.
Upon receipt of results that come by post and or in
person, applicants were selected based on a scoring
system, admitted into programs or referred to their
second choice if they did not succeed in their first
choices. Of the 6238 applicants, 2738 were admitted.
These included 1576 students who were admitted for
their first choice.
WALTER SISULU
UNIVERSITY
WESTERN
CAPE 1). At the beginning of the 2011 academic year all
UWC programmes had already reached its target
UNIVERSITY
numbers. Target programme numbers are annually
determined by careful consideration of a number of
factors that include, amongst others, the agreed
enrolment mandate from the DoHET, the capacity of
the teaching facilities, the time-tabling of classes, the
2.) During the 2010 application cycle for admission in 2011 a total of 5600
new students were accepted. Of this number, 781 applicants for general
formative Bachelor degrees, were selected for their second choice of study
since they did not meet the programme requirements for their first choice of
study.
A further 292 students were selected for their second choice since the initial
programme had met its selection targets and they couldn’t be
INSTITUTION
WITWATERSRAND
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
different class sizes and staff capacity.
accommodated in their first choice programmes. These students applied for
professional programmes such as Dentistry.
The University of the Western Cape annually receives
students at the beginning of an academic year who
have not applied for university studies according to the
normal application procedures and deadlines and has
over the years refined the ways in which to deal with
such students in a manner that aims to be fair to
students who applied on time, whilst accommodating
such late applications where and if possible. UWC did
not receive a much higher than normal number of
“walk-ins” at the beginning of the year as a result of
the higher 2010 exemption rate.
In a third category, 88 students did not meet programme requirements for
both their first and second choice, but were selected for a third choice.
All "walk-ins" who qualified (with good results) were
placed on a waiting list and ranked in terms of their
academic results. At the end of 2010 the university
had already declined students who qualified for
admission but could not be accommodated due to
targets for their programme of choice being exceeded.
Such students become part of a first waiting list
process and the university’s standard procedure when
space in a programme becomes available is to first
accommodate students from this original applicant
pool and then those on the additional waiting list
(walk-ins).
1. The University of the Witwatersrand‘s enrolment
targets for 2011 allowed for 7288 places for first year
2 (a) (i) Over 25 798 students had applied to the University, with each
applicant permitted to apply for up to three different programmes. Of these
INSTITUTION
1) What was the state of readiness in January 2011
at the 23 universities to accommodate the 126,371
grade 12 learners from 2010 who qualified to enroll
for bachelor programmes at these institutions?
2. (a) How many (i) succeeded with their applications to enroll and (ii)
were forced to opt for courses other than their preferred choices and
(b) what were the reasons for this?
UNIVERSITY
students. This is made up of 5600 new, first year
students and 1688 students who may have taken a gap
year, are past matriculants or repeating their first year
of study.
approximately 14 000 met the University’s admission requirements. It is
important to note that most students apply to more than one institution.
(ii) It is difficult to estimate how many were forced to opt for courses other
than their first choice as the University does not operate on a system of first/
second/third choice. Students are allowed to apply for 3
degrees/programmes and the decision for each application is considered
individually.
(b) Students may not have been able to enter the degree of their choice at
our university due to:
Not meeting the admission requirements for the degree, or limited
capacity/space constraints.
ZULULAND
UNIVERSITY
1. The University of Zululand had planned to register
5073 new entrants. Applications received for 2011
exceeded 46000. The University anticipated an
additional 2000 who had applied through the Central
Applications Office.
2. (a) (i) 3420 applicants met the criteria for admissions to the respective
programmes they applied for.
(ii) 828 students either chose alternative programmes on their own volition
or were directed to do so by their respective Faculties.
(b) The reasons for the changes in choices were primarily because of:
The University anticipated this influx and made
contingency arrangements to deal with this matter
(i) they did not meet the criteria for the programmes applied for and
(ii) space constraints in the programmes they had originally applied for.
The University has also registered about 400 students who met or exceeded
the criteria for certain programmes and who had not applied previously to
the University.