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With a record number of bachelor passes recorded by the Class of 2018, the country’s universities are bursting at the seams.
However, some are yet to finalise their numbers and could have spaces for those on waiting lists.
• University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) spokesperson Normah Zondo said they had received about 100 000 undergraduate applications for 8 770 first-year places.
“Our enrolment forecast for 2019 is approximately 45 000 for first-year and returning students. Registration for undergraduate programmes close on March 2,” she said.
UKZN received 18 000 applications for 19 000 residence places.
The institution reopened on January 2 and its self-help registration system was online from Monday.
On-campus registration will take place from January 28 to February 2.
• University of Witwatersrand registrar Carol Crosley said the institution received 70 349 applications from aspiring first-year students for only 5 200 places.
“Almost 90% of these have been accepted by applicants,” she said.
Online registration began on Monday, and students needing help to register would be provided with assistance until Friday.
Crosley said registration would continue for most of January and the first week of February for returning and postgraduate students.
She said Wits could accommodate 6 300 students in residences. Of those 1 800 were for first-years.
• University of Pretoria (UP) spokesperson Rikus Delport said they were completely full.
UP had places for about 9 600 first-year students, but no walk-ins could be accommodated. The enrolment process began on Wednesday and would end in February.
He said UP residences could accommodate about 11 500 students and there were no spaces left.
Registration started on Wednesday and would end in February. About 14 000 students had already registered.
• Vaal University of Technology (VUT) spokesperson Mike Khuboni said the institution had about 6 000 spaces for first-year students.
He said VUT had limited residence space, but referred students to accredited and approved residences nearby.
Khuboni said VUT allowed walk-ins, but only if there was space available. Registration began on Tuesday and would end on January 30.
• University of Western Cape (UWC) spokesperson Gasant Abarder said they had 4 300 first-year places.
Registration would begin next Monday (January 21) and end on February 2. In the meantime, Abarder said, online registration was open.
“Thus far 6 000 offers have been made and the acceptances are being monitored. Offers take place in phases. Students are currently still making decisions, as many of them apply to multiple institutions. At this stage it’s not possible to speak of acceptances because it will create a skewed picture.”
Abarder said UWC had space for 3 302 students in residence and it was too early to provide placement figures. UWC placed walk-in applicants on a waiting list.
• Stellenbosch University (SU) spokesperson Martin Viljoen said they received nearly 34 000 applications from first-years, of which 17 700 could be considered.
“SU has 5 300 seats available for new first-year students, but has provisionally admitted about 11 200 first-years to allow for those matriculants who do not make admission after the matric results become available, or who choose to study at another institution and do not take up their places at SU. The final numbers will only be available some time after registration,” he said.
Viljoen said SU had about 8 000 beds in residences, 2 300 of which were for first–year students on the Stellenbosch and Tygerberg campuses.
These had already been allocated to qualifying students.
He said applications for 2019 closed at the end of June 2018 and successful applicants were informed about their status of application. SU did not consider walk-in applications, he said.
SU’s online registration opens tomorrow while returning students unable to register online would do so at the university at the end of the month.
• Walter Sisulu University (WSU) spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said they only had spaces left in Bachelor of Science degrees, because other programmes were full. WSU received over 40 000 applications for 7 400 first-year places.
However, places did become available when students accepted at more than one institution decide to go elsewhere.
But residence applications far exceeded the spaces available. Registration began on Monday for Health Sciences students only. For everyone else it would start on January 21.
• North-West University (NWU) spokesperson Louis Jacobs said they would no longer accept any new applications for 2019. “The university is currently evaluating applications received in 2018. Applicants who successfully applied have been informed.
“The university holds a duty towards these students who applied within the allocated time frame, and who satisfied the academic requirements of their chosen fields of study,” Jacobs said.
Late applications would be handled on a case-by-case basis, if there was space.
Jacobs said just more than 16 600 prospective students were accepted out of 52 000 applications. The university could only accommodate 9 391 first-years.
All residences had waiting lists, he said.
Jacobs said first-year students would only register towards the second half of this month, and the process would be finalised by month’s end.
