HOW TO APPLY

HOW TO APPLY?

1. If you have an e-mail address and use this regularly

Please apply online at https://my.wits.ac.za/

• If you are (or previously were) a student at Wits University, you will use your student number (this is also called ‘person number’) to create a login.
• If you have not previously studied at Wits University, click ‘create account’ on the horizontal blue bar and follow the instructions. You can then log in and complete the           application form.
• Soon after completing and submitting your application form electronically, you will receive an e-mail with a ‘person number’. Print this e-mail, and post it together with original copies of all your academic transcripts, and certified copies of your degree/diploma certificates 
• A CV if you have previously worked
• Typed assignment – see assignment briefing below
• Proof of payment of R200 application fee (see payment instructions below)
• Copy of ID document or passport
• Certified copy of SAQA certificate (international applicants)
• Proof of English proficiency (international applicants who have not previously studied at an English medium institution)

2. If you don’t have an e-mail address

 If you have access to the internet, please download the application form from Click here

Print the form and fill it in by hand. 

If you don’t have access to the internet, please request that a hardcopy of the application form be posted to you. To make this request, phone the Student Enrolment Centre on 011-7171030. Please call again if you have not received the application form after 10 days, as it might get lost in the post.

Whether obtained from the website or by post, please complete and sign the application form, and post it together with

• Original copies of all your academic transcripts, and certified copies of your degree/diploma certificates 
• A CV if you have previously worked
• Typed assignment – see assignment briefing below
• Copy of ID document or passport
• Proof of payment of application fee of R200 (see instructions below)
• Certified copy of SAQA certificate (international applicants)
• Proof of English proficiency (international applicants who have not previously studied at an English medium institution)

 Address for posting of documents for application:

    Student Enrolment Centre

    Postgraduate Unit

    University of the Witwatersrand

    Private Bag 4

    Wits 2050

    South Africa

Please forward your documents by registered mail  to ensure that they are not lost  in the post.

Application fee payable by all applicants

All applicants have to pay an application fee of R200. Payment must be made into the following account:

STANDARD BANK

BRAAMFONTEIN

BRANCHBRANCH CODE 004805

ACCOUNT NO. 200 346 385

Use full name as reference and send proof of payment along withyour application forms.


Closing dates for applications for MBE Housing

31 August (foreigners)

29 October (South Africans)

(should you only visit this site after the closing dates, please contact the degree convenor Assoc Prof Marie Huchzermeyer on 011-7177688 or marie.huchzermeyer@wits.ac.za to check whether late applications will be considered).

Notification of Admission into the MBE Housing degree

A letter will be posted to you stating whether you have been admitted. Successful international students, once having received a letter of admission, must then apply for a study visa from the South African consulate in their country. Processing of the visa may take up to eight weeks. If you haven’t received any response 6 weeks after sending through your application, please make a follow-up enquiry with the Enrolment Centre (Kim Randell 011-7171154 or kim.randell@wits.ac.za) – decisions relating to applications are communicated to the applicant by the Faculty Office – Faculty details should therefore rather appear here.

 
Registration for the MBE Housing degree

The registration date for successful applicants will be announced in the admission later. It is late January or early February.

Application for accommodation in the university residences:

Please visit:

http://web.wits.ac.za/Prospective/StudentServices/Accommodation/  or phone 011-7179170/2/3/4

Please note that 

 • Applicants who are already accommodated in Wits residences must apply through the Residence of Life Office. 

 • Applicants who are not currently accommodated in Wits residences apply for accommodation on the application form used for admission into the MBE Housing degree.

Application for financial aid, merit awards and scholarships

or phone 011-7171070

e-mail: Info.finaid@wits.ac.za

COMPULSORY ASSIGNMENT

To assist us in the selection of candidates for the MBE Housing, we require you to prepare an essay of 1700 to 2300 words (3-4 pages if typed in a 10 point font, single spaced) on the topic below. The essay must be clearly structured with sub-headings, an introduction and a conclusion. 

It is not our intention to test your competence in the area of housing. However, we do need to judge your ability to structure thoughts, develop an argument and to communicate this in writing. If you make use of books or articles, please reference these fully. If quoting directly from any source, please use inverted commas. You may not be assisted any by another person.

Please see this as a useful opportunity for you to reflect on your interest in housing, as well as your aims and objectives. It is an important preparation for your enrolment.

 
Reading:

"Up to half the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa lives in informal settlements with neither legal recognition nor basic infrastructure services. These settlements continue to grow as the urban population increases. The proliferation of informal settlements is the result of a combination of factors: poverty; deficient national policy frameworks; and weak local authorities. Informal settlements expand because of inadequate provision of affordable land, a tendency to over-regulate, as well as administrative and institutional frameworks that are insensitive to the needs of the poor.

“Residents of informal settlements are constantly under threat of eviction; hence they can invest neither their time nor their resources to the development of their dwellings and community. Lack of secure tenure [formal rights to the place of residence] is, therefore, an impediment to progressive integration of the urban poor into the city. Thus the guarantee of security of tenure is the most crucial requirement to bring about a gradual process of infrastructure improvement and the integrating of informal settlements into the formal city, thus creating cities without slums. …

“Many governments do not see informal settlers as city builders, but as a nuisance. They are tolerated as long as they do not take over prime sites; otherwise they are bulldozed with little or no compensation. Some countries have become more tolerant by enacting anti-eviction laws and providing basic infrastructure and services. However, few governments take measures to ensure that poorer households find legal alternatives through upgrading. In most cases, the upgrading process and the services provided have been too expensive for the targeted group to maintain”. 

Offei Akrofi, E., 2001. Upgrading tenure for the poor in Africa. Habitat Debate, 7(3), 22.

Essay question:

How does the above statement relate to the housing challenge in your city, how do you understand the causes of this situation, and in which way could this situation be addressed?

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This page was last updated 2 August 2011