Revised version, tabled Senate, 30 May 2014
UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
A proposed hybrid model for ensuring redress and diversity in undergraduate admissions
A. In order to constitute the class for a particular qualification an applicant will be made an offer
based on one of three different sets of criteria.

Some offers will be based on the weighted Faculty Points score (FPS), measuring
academic merit by weighting the FPS by a disadvantage factor because we believe that this is
a fair measure of academic merit and because this will provide redress for disadvantage;
(Band A)

Some offers will be based on the FPS (the NSC scores or equivalent for applicants
writing other school-leaving examinations, measuring academic achievement, and, in some
faculties a combination of NSC scores and NBT1 scores), because these will be the best
applicants as measured on this basis; (Band B)

Some offers will be based on the FPS within race-redress-defined2 applicant pools, to
ensure that we constitute the class to meet the diversity targets for the class set by the Faculty
Board, Senate and Council, because we believe that it is important to meet these diversity
targets. (For some qualifications no offers will be made in this group as race-redress targets
will be met by the applicants selected in Bands A and B).
For all offers, in any of the above types of offer (A – Merit as measured by weighted FPS; B –
Achievement per FPS; C – Race-Redress-defined by FPS ranking) the qualification-specific
minimum requirements as determined by the Faculty must have been met first. (Such minimum
requirement may include a minimum FPS and/or NBT score, minimum achievement in specific
subjects e.g. Maths, or in particular NBT tests – AL, QL or Maths, or in the case of the
performing and creative arts and architecture, a minimum performance in an audition or a
portfolio submission.)
The proportions of the class to be constituted through the different types of offers will vary
according to qualifications or stream (eg. different proportions for extended (ADP) and regular
streams), to be determined each year in advance by Senate and Council, and will generally be
influenced by the competitiveness of entry into the qualification, and by the distribution of marks
within and across race and socio economic groups.
B. A disadvantage score will be determined for each South African applicant. This will be a value
from 0 to 10 and will be the higher of
(a)
(b)
1
2
the home disadvantage score; or
the school disadvantage score.
These measure readiness for first degree study.
This will be defined by the answers South African applicants give to the question about race classification of their parents.
Revised version, tabled Senate, 30 May 2014
Home disadvantage score will be made up using the following table:
Criterion
Highest level of education of
(a) your mother / female guardian
(b) your father / male guardian
(c) either grandparent
Your mother’s home language
Does your family receive a child
support grant on your behalf
Does/did your family rely on a social
pension from the State
Score
University degree
0
0
0
English or Afrikaans
or not a SA language,
0
No = 0
No = 0
Score
No University degree
1
1
1 (no grandparent has a
university degree)
SA language other than
English or Afrikaans
6
Yes = 1
Yes = 1
}
only one of
these to
score
The school disadvantage score will be derived
 by identifying all schools in quintiles 1 to 4;
 by identifying all schools in quintile 5 that were formerly DET (Department of
Education & Training/ Bantu Education) or HOR (House of Representatives/ Coloured
Relations) schools;
 by identifying all independent schools outside of the top 10% in the NSC ranking who
in 2015 charged tuition fees of R30,000 or more;
 by ranking schools based on their average NSC score for all students writing the NSC
at that school over a five year period (or two, three or four years where five years data
are not available)
and giving a school a disadvantage score as follows:
Score
0
x
y
8
9
10
School
Top 10% NSC ranking or independent school where tuition exceeds
R30,000 p.a.
Percentiles 86 – 90 on NSC ranking
Percentiles 81 – 85 on NSC ranking
Percentiles 76 – 80 on NSC ranking
Percentiles 71 – 75 on NSC ranking
Bottom 70% of schools and, notwithstanding its percentile position,
any school in quintiles 1 to 4, and any former DET or HOR school in
quintile 5
where the values of x and y will be determined by Senate and Council after futher
work by the Institutional Planning Department. (Previous versions of this scoring table
gave values for x = 6 and y = 7 Schools in the range 86 -90 include schools such as
Bergvliet and Pinelands High, and it has become clear that a vaule of 6 for x would
diproportionatle advanatge schools in the 2nd decile. The value of x could be zero, or
could be a number uch smaller than 6. A proposal in this regard will be made at a later
date.)
C. For Band A – (Merit as measured by weighted FPS), the FPS will be weighted by using the
applicant’s disadvantage score.
Revised version, tabled Senate, 30 May 2014
It must be noted that in this band, all applicants are competing on weighted FPS and all will
have a disadvantage score calculated, though many will not be disadvantaged on the above
criteria, and will therefore have a score of 0. Their weighted FPS will thus equal the FPS.

In the case of the MBChB, where the gap between the top students (who typically score
over 520 out of 600 APS points) and good disadvantaged applicants is so great:
Weighted score = FPS x (1 + (2 x disadvantaged score) / 100)
(eg. An FPS of 700 made up of APS 480 out of 600 (80% average per NSC subject)
and NBTs of 220 (out of 300) and a disadvantage score of 7, yields
700 × (1 +
2 ×7
)
100
= 700 × (1.14) = 798
and would then be competitive against an applicant with an FPS score of 800 (89%
average per NSC subject and in NBTs) and a disadvantage score of zero.

In the case of all other qualifications
Weighted score = FPS × (1 +
disadvantaged score
)
100
So that the factor would range from 1.00 where there is no home or school disadvantage,
to 1.10 where maximum disadvantage applies.
D. For Band C – Race-based-redress category: offers will be made, according to (unweighted)
FPS, in race-redress category baskets, in order to ensure that the class is constituted to meet
the race-diversity targets for the class agreed by the faculty board, Senate and Council, where
the categories are
1: a parent was classified as Black
2: a parent was classified as Coloured
3: a parent was classified as Indian
4: a parent was classified as Chinese
under apartheid or:
Open: where the applicant chooses not to disclose this, or where both parents were white,
or where the applicant is not a South African.