University of KwaZulu-Natal Welcome Letter

University of KwaZulu-Natal Welcome Letter

Applicants with outstanding Grade 11, Grade 12 June, trial or mock results may be selected on submission of certified copies of their results. Selections will be final provided selected applicants obtain a National Senior Certificate (with degree option) (NSC-Deg) and meet Faculty entrance requirements in their final examination.
Other applications will be considered after the release of the National Senior Certificate results. Applicants already in possession of a Senior Certificate may be offered early places on receipt of their applications and  certified copies of their documentation.

Selection commences when final results are released and continues until all available places are allocated. Students are admitted on the basis of academic merit, which is assessed by converting NSC or Senior Certificate symbols into a point score.  Scores of applicants are calculated and ranked in descending order for their choice of programme. Selection takes place from the top down, until the number of applicants who may be accepted for that programme is reached. The minimum point scores for applications to KZN qualifications  have been provided in the qualification entrance requirement tabulations.

Applicants below those point scores are normally not selected and should not make application to UKZN. Please calculate your point score, using Grade 11, mid-year Grade 12 or Trial results. Meeting the minimum score does, however, not guarantee a place as the University receives more applications than it can accommodate. The University will receive the NSC results from the Central Applications Office. In addition to SMS’s from the CAO, applicants who are offered places at UKZN will receive letters from the University advising them of their offers.  Applicants will be required to complete Acceptance of Offer forms and pay an Acceptance of Offer fee of R500  directly to UKZN to secure their places.

The following overarching selection criteria and processes apply to all new entrants who are embarking on study at a tertiary institution for the first time in 2017. Specific programmes may have additional criteria or different quotas and these will be clearly indicated on the relevant College website.

1. A minimum of 15% of new entrants to each programme will be selected from students who have completed their schooling at Quantile 1 or 2 schools and meet all the minimum entry requirements for the programme. Specific programmes may provide for increased quotas.

2. Within quotas, selection will be done on academic merit.  The academic ranking for programmes other than Medicine is based on the Academic Performance Score (APS) obtained in the South African National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations as described below. Applicants for MBChB will be ranked based on their average % score.

3. The APS is calculated by adding the performance levels (1-8) for the six subjects taken for the NSC excluding Life Orientation (LO). If more than seven subjects are taken the APS is calculated by adding the performance level for:
• English (HL or FAL), plus
• Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy, plus
• the best ratings of the other subjects (excluding Life Orientation and Maths paper 3) so that a total of six subjects are included.
Should any subject that is specifically required for entry into the programme not be included in the APS calculation the APS score may be adjusted accordingly.
Note that no bonus points are awarded for additional subjects.

4. Programmes that do not have a sufficient number of suitably qualified applicants from Quintiles 1 or 2 seven days prior to the commencement of on-campus registration for the programme may fill any remaining places with applicants from Quintile 3, then 4, then 5.

5. Certain programmes may impose additional criteria (for example, a portfolio of work, audition or interview) in order to determine eligibility for the programme.

6. For students who have obtained a school leaving certificate other than the NSC, HESA criteria and guidelines for equivalent performance levels will be used where available to estimate the academic rank.

7. There will be no ‘Dean’s Discretion’ for students entering directly from NSC and selection will be done according to the agreed criteria by the College Admissions processes. However some measure of discretion, to be exercised by the College Dean of Teaching & Learning, is required in the case of qualifying applicants from other countries or examination systems, immigrant applicants or applicants with disabilities.

It is important to note that it is the responsibility of registered students to submit copies of their NSC/Senior Certificate to their Faculty Offices as soon as the Certificates become available.