FACULTY OF ECONOMIC AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES (EMS)
Selection guidelines
1. TERMINOLOGY

Provisional admission - Students will receive provisional admission based on their
Grade 11 results. This means that students have conditional admission to the Faculty.
Final admission will depend on their Grade 12 final exam results.

New student intake - Students who register at Stellenbosch University for the first time.

Enrolment – Number of students who register in a given time period.

Enrolment targets - The Faculty has limited capacity and resources. It is for this reason
that we set enrolment targets to ensure that all resources are used effectively.

Selection programmes - Students are selected for a specific programme by the Faculty
Selection Committee. Not all students who meet the minimum requirements will
necessarily be selected.

Mainstream - The Faculty’s normal three-year degrees.

Extended degree programme (EDP) - The subject matter of the three-year Management
Sciences programme is spread out over four years. Additional supporting modules are
also included in the EDP.
2. SELECTION AND ADMISSION PRINCIPLES

Students can apply electronically at www.maties.com.

All applications close on 30 June. This means that your application has to be finalised
and all documentation handed in by that date.

2.1
No applications will be accepted after the closing date.
The number of admissions is being limited in accordance with enrolment targets
To manage the new student intake at faculty level, students are selected.
During the selection process of new students, the total intake of the Faculty is taken into account
except for the following programmes: BAccLLB, BAcc, BCom (Financial Accounting), BCom
(Management Accounting), BCom (Law) and BCom (Management Sciences) (EDP).
The Faculty will consider students’ first, second or third programme choices. If you have more
than one EMS programme on your list, the Faculty will consider your choices in order of
preference. Selection will be based on you selection mark, Grade 11 marks (or those of Grade 12
if you have already matriculated), and availability in the programme. These arrangements
exclude BAccLLB and BCom (Law). To meet the target for new student intake, the number of
students who are admitted will exceed our capacity. This is to compensate for the fact that not all
students who apply and are provisionally accepted, will eventually enrol at the Faculty.
Please note:

The Faculty of Law is responsible for the selection of students for the BAccLLB and BCom
(Law) programmes.

Students who do not meet the minimum requirements for the mainstream programmes (as a
result of their Grade 11 average and mathematics marks) will be considered for the BCom
Management Science (EDP) programme. These candidates will only be informed after 30
June (but before 30 September) whether they have been admitted provisionally.

In addition to academic merit, preference will be given to candidates from disadvantaged
school communities when students are selected for the BCom Management Sciences (EDP)
programme.
2.2
Selection is based on academic merit
Student selection is based on prospective students’ final Grade 11 or NSC results. National
Benchmark Test (NBT) results are not taken into account when calculations are made to
determine selection marks, or for admission criteria purposes. However, NBT results may be
taken into account when making decisions regarding placement in specific programmes (e.g. the
extended degree programme). NBT tests are therefore compulsory for all EMS applicants.
Prospective students first have to meet the minimum requirements of the programme in which
they wish to enrol. (The admission requirements of all programmes are available in Part 10 of the
University’s Calendar.) Having met die minimum programme requirements, students will then
be selected on academic merit and in accordance with a selection mark.
The selection mark (SM) is calculated as follows:
2 X Math Agg + aggregates of 5 other subjects (excluding Life Orientation)
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Please note: The exact marks are used. In instances where students present more than 6 school
subjects, the 5 highest marks are used for the aggregate of the “other” subjects.
In the case of students who present fewer than 6 university admission subjects at school, the
following calculation will be used: (2 x Maths aggregate + aggregates of 3 other subjects)/5.
The SM is used to limit the number of students who are admitted. This implies that students may
be refused entry because their SM is too low in relation to those of other students, even though
they meet the admission requirements of a programme.
3.
SELECTION PROCESS
To qualify for immediate provisional admission, prospective students have to meet all of the
following requirements:

Submit a completed application by 30 June. (There must be no outstanding documents.)

Achieve a selection mark (SM) of 70 or more

Meet the minimum requirements for the programme that they have applied for.
These applicants are seen as top merit students and will not be subjected to further selection. The
University immediately informs such students that their provisional admission has been
confirmed.
Please note that the following groups of applicants will NOT be granted immediate admission.
Their applications will be waitlisted until the end of June, when the first phase of the selection
process is due to commence:

Prospective students with an SM of under 70;

Prospective students who apply for the following selection programmes: BAccLLB,
BCom (Law) and BCom (Management Sciences) EDP;

International students (students from non-South African schools).
All students on the waiting list will be notified of the outcome of the selection process by 30
September.
4. REGISTRATION PROCESS
During the registration period students who have been provisionally admitted to the Faculty,
may enrol for any programme in the Faculty, provided:

they meet the minimum requirements of the programme (based on their final matric
marks), and

there is place for them in those programmes that admit only a limited number of students,
viz. BAcc, BCom (Financial Accounting), BCom (Management Accounting) BAccLLB
and BCom (Law).

In addition to the above, students who wish to apply for the BAccLLB and BComm (Law)
programmes, will require special permission from the Faculty of Law.