Glossary

Full calendar year

A full /complete qualification

The calendar or teaching year at Wits runs from February to November

The National Qualifications Framework requires Universities to indicate the credit rating of each course and the number of study hours (a full time curriculum earns a student 120 credits or involves 1200 notional study hours)

The applicant is required to confirm acceptance of a firm offer

A compulsory course required to be completed concurrently in order to qualify for the proposed degree.

A set of courses or subjects (also known as units)

Head of faculty/division under which degree programmes are offered

A university qualification. Undergraduate degrees usually extend over three to four years of full-time study.

The process of enrolling as a university student, only once application for admission to study for a degree/diploma has been firmly accepted and the applicant has formally confirmed acceptance to the offer.

Examinations are formal assessment procedures with an internal and an external examiner and may be held in June and/or November depending on the structure of the course or the modular course.

An organisational and discipline-based administrative structure within a university. The part time studies programme links four faculties.

Your area of specialisation within an award, eg BSc Electrical Engineering

A definite offer of an academic place at a University, by letter, to an applicant

Designed for applicants who have not met all of the initial requirements and are accepted on the basis of writing the selection test and/or interviews. These students will be required to complete the degree programme on an extended curriculum

Course running for the whole academic year

Course running for half the academic year

Professional degree programmes that have been formally assessed by well known overseas institutional bodies as adhering to international standards

Degrees that are recognised and accepted overseas

A teaching session, conducted by a professional lecturer

A subject which a student chooses to specialise in and is taken from first year of study through to third year

An endorsement on a matric certificate that enables a student to apply to study at university

A course that runs for a term (one half of the academic year), either from February to June or July to November

In the modular system in the Faculty ofHumanities a student needs to collect a specified number of points on the 100, 200 and 300 levels in order to qualify for graduation. Each modular course is worth18 points and is devised as an independent unit, which will be examined at the end of the course, either in June or November.

A credit unit is worth ten notional study hours - the amount of time it takes the average learner to master a designated area of knowledge or task.

National Qualifications Framework administered by the South African Qualification Authority designed to match courses to a qualifications grid, assure qualifications and promote quality.

Your written acceptance/decline of our offer

Number allocated to the prospective student once they have completed and submitted an official application form for consideration to a degree programme. This number is used in all subsequent communication with the University.

Second and/or further degree/diploma programme e.g., honours/masters at university

A compulsory course that must be taken to complement another course

A degree leading to a profession (courses are designed for the profession)

The University qualification such as a degree that you enrol for eg BA or B.Com

Applicants who intend to study at a university

Temporary offer made on the basis of the submitted results

Courses with a limited intake of students based on academic merit.

Each Faculty specifies minimum requirements for the number of credit points that students have to obtain in each year of study and for the part-time student, these "rules of progress" are applied on a pro rata basis to that of full-time students.

Applicants who score points below the minimum on the rating system, but satisfy other admission requirements to their choice of degree/diploma are evaluated further in the form of tests as required by their faculty. The tests aim to evaluate potential to succeed at university.

Degrees in Dramatic Art, Fine Arts, Music, Speech and Hearing Therapy and Social Work for which applicants must, in addition to complying with the standard admission requirements, attend an interview or audition or submit a portfolio where applicable, to finalise consideration of their application.

A course taken only in the first and second year of study towards a degree/diploma.

Periods during which University teaching sessions are conducted throughout the academic year. The first term runs from February to June, the second term from July to November

A more interactive small group teaching session, which is aimed at clarifying the understanding of lectures.

First degree/diploma programme studied at university after successful completion of matriculation

Courses/subjects taken in your programme

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR FURTHER QUERIES:
Ms Ntokozo Mngadi 
Email: Ntokozo.Mngadi@wits.ac.za
Phone: 011 717 9506