The minister of Higher Education and Training, Naledi Pandor, has amended the minimum admission requirements for a Bachelor’s degree in South Africa.<\/p>\n
In a government gazette published on Friday (30 November), Pandor said that the changes were made after consulting the Council on Higher Education and will apply retroactively from 1 August 2018.<\/p>\n
The new minimum admission requirement is a National Senior Certificate (NSC) with:<\/p>\n
A 20-credit NSC subject is a subject recognised for the seven-subject NSC package, which is where the biggest change comes in.<\/p>\n
In March 2018, the Department of Higher Education revoked the country’s designated list of subjects, effectively making all 20 credit-bearing subjects offered as part of the NSC now have equal status<\/strong> (excluding Life Orientation).<\/p>\n Previously, for a Bachelor’s entry, matrics would have to have passed four subjects from a designated list of 18 – these were:<\/p>\n Accounting, Agricultural Sciences, Business Studies, Dramatic Arts, Economics, Engineering Graphics and Design, Geography, History, Consumer Studies, Information Technology, Languages, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Mathematical Literacy, Music, Physical Sciences, Religion Studies, Visual Arts.<\/p>\n Now, of a pupil’s seven subjects in matric, all they require for Bachelor entry is 30% in the respective language, and higher than 50% for any four other subjects, excluding Life Orientation.<\/p>\n These requirements work with the pass requirements to achieve the NSC, making the following the minimum requirements to gain entry to a Bachelor’s Degree programme:<\/p>\n “Adequate achievement in the NSC and in at least four 20-credit NSC subjects provides the primary basis for admission to a Bachelor’s Degree programme,” the gazette states.<\/p>\n However, the department noted that an institution is entitled to specify an appropriate level of subject achievement for a particular programme.<\/p>\n “For example, admission requirements for a Bachelor’s Degree programme in Fine Art or Music might include a specified level of achievement in the corresponding recognised NSC subject(s),” it said.<\/p>\n “Similarly, an institution will be entitled to specify subject requirements for a particular programme. For example, Mathematics and Physical Science might be considered as requirements for admission to a Bachelor of Science Degree.”<\/p>\n The change in policy has been criticised by some universities<\/a><\/strong>, saying that it would make it easier for matrics to now attain entry into a Bachelor’s programme, and subsequently lead to a flood of applications at institutions that already struggle to place matrics.<\/p>\n Education Gazette<\/a> by BusinessTech<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n\n