Mangosuthu University of Technology

Mangosuthu University of Technology APPLICATION, SELECTION, ADMISSION AND REGISTRATION PROCEDURES BPM/2012 Page 0

PROCEDURES FOR APPLICATION, SELECTION, ADMISSION AND REGISTRATION OF NEW AND RETURNING STUDENTS. The procedures apply to application, selection, admission and registration of Pre-Tech, Extended Curriculum Programmes, first year, returning, transfer, and international students in both the first and the second semester. 1. APPLICATION PROCEDURES Every prospective student shall apply for admission to a programme offered by the University on the prescribed Central Applications Office s (CAO) Application Form which is obtainable from the CAO and the University s Department of Academic Administration. Information on how to apply via the CAO is available on the CAO website (www.cao.ac.za), CAO handbook, MUT website (www.mut.ac.za) and MUT Student Guide. Application Forms must be completed in detail and signed by the applicant and his/her parent or guardian if s/he is a minor. The completed form may be sent to or emailed to the CAO by the date stipulated on the Application Form together with the prescribed application fee. The application fee currently is R175 and the late application fee is R300 for local students. The application fee for international students is R 250 and the late application fee is R500. Upon receipt of the Application Form, the CAO will capture the student s application details and thereafter acknowledge receipt of the applicant s Application Form and also inform the applicant of the status of his/her application after the institution has made a selection. 1.1 Legal requirements for admission to the University 1.1.1 Requirements for South African Grade 12 and transfer students - South African Identity Document and marriage certificate or decree of divorce for different surnames, - Statement of symbols of Senior Certificate, National Senior Certificate or equivalent, diploma etc and - Transcript of academic record, certificate of conduct and certified copy of certificates, diplomas or degrees previously obtained in respect of transfer students or students who have studied at other higher education institutions. 1.1.2 Requirements for international students - A valid study permit which is issued by the Department of Home Affairs or proof of application, thereof. N.B. A study permit is only valid for the programme, the institution the student has been admitted to and for the duration of that programme. Should the student change his/her programme or fail to complete the BPM/2012 Page 1

programme in record time, s/he or the Department of Academic Administration must notify the Department of Home Affairs immediately. - A valid passport; - Letter of (conditional) admission that is issued by the Deputy Registrar: Academic Administration; - Proof of membership of medical aid and Police Clearance Form; - Certified copies of qualifications and the relevant Certificate of Evaluation from SAQA and - A salary advice/bank statement of a person responsible for payment of fees. 1.1.3 Students with disabilities - In addition to the above documents they are required to: - Declare their disability status in the Application Form and - Submit a doctor s certificate that describes the nature of their disability. N.B. This information is needed in order to make necessary, affordable and suitable accommodations and not to prejudice them. 1.2 Academic programmes admission requirements In general, applicants must comply with the general admission requirements and any other specific requirements as prescribed by the department responsible for the programme they wish to study towards. For example, an applicant may be expected to attend an interview, undergo a selection test and/or make a written presentation to the relevant Head of Department (HoD). Applicants should note that admission to a programme is determined by availability of space. Information on the various academic programmes offered by MUT and their admission requirements is available on the CAO website, CAO handbook, MUT website and Student Guide. The following are the general admission requirements to the various academic programmes. 1.2.1 Applicants holding the Senior Certificate (those who passed matric before 2008) An applicant with a Senior Certificate must have passed at least five subjects including English and a minimum of one Higher Grade subject. At least three of the subjects must have been passed at the same examination sitting. 1.2.2 Applicants holding the National Senior Certificate An applicant with the National Senior Certificate must have obtained a rating of 3 (Moderate Achievement, 40-49%) or more in six recognised 20-credit subjects. N.B. Life Orientation is not included. BPM/2012 Page 2

1.2.3 Applicants with N qualifications Students with N qualifications must have obtained 50% in programme specific subjects. Students with N4 qualifications may be admitted to S1 while students with N5 and N6 qualifications may be credited with certain subjects. 1.2.4 Applicants with NCV qualifications These applicants must check with the Department of Academic Administration and or the department to which they are applying for admission if the subjects they have passed at the FET College correspond with the MUT entrance requirements. This information is also available in the CAO handbook and website as well as on the MUT website and Student Guide. (N.B. These admission requirements will be revised in order to include the new language requirement). 1.2.5 International Students Students holding a GCE, GCSE, IGCSE or the Cambridge School Certificate must have passed five approved Ordinary level subjects including English Language provided three subjects have been passed at the same sitting. Only symbols A,B, or C are accepted as passes. 1.3 Application Procedures for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) applicants 1.3.1 Procedures for Recognition of Prior Learning of candidates with formal qualifications On the Selection and Registration Week of new students, the applicant must complete the Credit Application Form, obtainable from the Faculty Officer, and attach original copies of the academic record and certificate of good conduct from the previous institution. A payment of R20 must also be made. The form with the attachments, are to be submitted to the Faculty Officer. The Faculty Officer should advise the applicant of the rules under which credits/exemptions are granted. S/he must verify the authenticity of the academic record and certificate of conduct. Applicants who have been expelled or suspended from other institutions must not be considered for admission. The Faculty Officer is to receive and record the Application Form together with original copies of the Academic Record and certificate of conduct. S/he must ensure that the relevant payment is made. The Faculty Officer then submits applications to the HoD for consideration. The Head of Department should review the rules before considering applications. Details of the applicant should be recorded on the Exemptions and Credits Form. Approved credits must be recorded on this form and recommendations are to be BPM/2012 Page 3

appended. The Summary Form with attachments and recommendations is then submitted to the Dean. The Registrar should finalise applications in terms of the existing rules. S/he is to issue the prospective student with a photocopy of the approval. S/he then submits approval and documentation to the Examinations Office. The Examinations Office should capture the credits on ITS and issue a letter to the prospective student informing him or her of his/her application status before the end of the registration period. The Examinations Office must submit the academic record and certificate of conduct to the Students Records Office. N.B. These applicants must also apply for admission via the CAO or as walk-in applicants. They must also pay the same application fee as other applicants. 1.3.2 Procedures for Recognition of Prior Learning for applicants with informal and non-formal learning The RPL candidate applies for admission on a prescribed form that is obtainable from the Department of Academic Administration, the MUT website and the Faculty Officer. After payment of the application fee, the application is forwarded to the HoD who assigns the applicant an advisor who prepares the RPL candidate for submission of the Portfolio of Evidence. Thereafter, the Portfolio is assessed and it goes through the internal approval processes. After it has been approved by the Senate, the applicant is informed about the number of credits, s/he has been credited with which should not exceed 50% of the total credits for the qualification. These credits should also not be final subjects of the qualification. 1.4 Procedures for B. Tech students Both the former MUT students and the new B. Tech applicants must apply on the MUT Application Form for admission to the University. 1.5 Closing dates Closing dates for applications with all the supporting documents and the application fee are as follows: The closing date for applications to all programmes is 31 October of each year for first semester admission. However, applications for admission to programmes of study offered by the Department of Environmental Health, Agriculture, Community Extension, Information and Communication Technology and Nature Conservation must reach the CAO before 30 September of each year. The closing date for second semester of the current year is 31 May. It is only the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Chemistry that admit students in the second semester. BPM/2012 Page 4

Closing dates for RPL applicants with informal and non-formal qualifications will be negotiated with the HoD. The closing date for applications from RPL applicants with formal qualifications, transfer students, MUT graduates and new MUT B. Tech applicants is the Selection and Registration Week of new students. 2. SELECTION PROCEDURES 2.1 Selection of applicants with Grade 12 qualifications The Department of Academic Administration and or the HoDs will download the CAO Application Form from the CAO website. Thereafter, they will make the following decisions on the CAO website: regret, conditional offer, shortlist or firm offer depending on the applicants Grade 12 final results if they have already passed Grade 12. Grade 12 June results are used for selection if the applicant is studying in the year/semester of application. Grade 12 applicants who have not yet received their final Grade 12 results and or who meet the entrance requirements but do not have good Grade 12 results are conditionally accepted. Those who already have their good final Grade 12 results are given firm offers or are put on the waiting list. The CAO informs the applicants about the status of their application in writing and by SMSes. MUT also sends applicants with firm offers, shortlisted and conditionally accepted applicants the outcome of their application, the important information they need to know before registration e.g. programmes selection and registration dates, fee payment, accommodation, financial aid application procedures as well as the reply slip in which they confirm acceptance of the programme s offer. This slip should be sent back to the Department of Academic Administration before a stipulated date. For January registration, conditionally accepted and shortlisted applicants Grade 12 results are downloaded on the CAO website as soon as the Grade 12 results are available. For both semesters admission, those applicants who accepted offers are ranked according to their final Grade12 results, per programme. A final decision on their applications is made before their departments selection dates. The biographical information of admitted applicants is downloaded from the CAO database onto ITS and they are issued student numbers. Prospective students use their student numbers for paying the tuition and accommodation deposits before their departments registration dates. The Department of Academic Administration is responsible for co-ordination of the selection, admission and registration of students. Academic departments selection admission and registration dates are published on the University website, calendar, in the media and are also sent to applicants. Brochures which detail the selection, admission, registration procedures, career counseling and other useful information are given to applicants at the main gate throughout the selection, admission and registration periods. The flowchart that shows the BPM/2012 Page 5

selection, admission and registration procedures is also displayed on various notice boards on campus by this department. 2.2 Acceptance of walk-in and B. Tech applicants If space is still available, applicants on the waiting list and walk-in applicants are admitted, starting with those with good symbols. Walk-in applicants may also be considered provided they pay the non-refundable, R300, late application fee at the Cashier s Office (Step 7). N.B. The MUT receipt cannot be used for admission in another University. B. Tech applicants whether they are former MUT students or not will be selected on the basis of their performance in the pre-requisite diploma. 3. ADMISSION PROCEDURES 3.1 Admission of CAO applicants Prospective students must report in the admission venue on their departments admission dates. Those who are absent on these dates forfeit their space unless they notified the departments in advance about the reasons for their absence. In addition to being notified about their admission to the University earlier, prospective students names are posted on the department s notice boards, at the main gate and at various notice boards on campus. They receive acceptance letters which are issued by the HoDs but submitted directly to the officer in charge of verification of results in the admissions venue. In this venue, applicants are required to submit original and certified copies of the documents they submitted to the CAO for application, for verification purposes. If the prospective student s results do not match his/her results on the CAO website or in the previous institution s records, the prospective student cannot be admitted unless s/he submits a written explanation of the discrepancy from the relevant education authority such as the Department of Basic Education, FET College and the previous institution of higher learning. After the student s results have been verified, the admitted student must proceed to the next stage where s/he will submit original and certified copies of other admission documents such as the study permit, passport and the identity document. If a prospective student does not have these documents, or the information on them is incorrect, s/he will not be admitted until s/he submits a letter of explanation or a letter of application for the replacement document from the Department of Home Affairs which must not be older than two months. If the information such as the names, numbers or spelling of names on the certificate and the Identity Document do not match, the student must submit proof of the correct information or proof application for the correct document from the relevant government department such as Departments of Basic Education or Home Affairs. International students may be conditionally admitted on the basis BPM/2012 Page 6

of proof of application for study permit. His/her admission will only be final when the (correct) documents have been submitted to the Department of Academic Administration. During admission, prospective students will also update their biographical data. At the end of the admission process, they get a form that they will submit to the first Registration Step or use for paying the registration fee at the bank, if they had not already done so. This form has the name of the student, the programme to which they have been admitted, student number and the minimum initial payment required. This form serves as proof that the student is admitted at MUT. 3.2 Admission of walk-in and transfer applicants A walk-in applicant who has been selected by the department will first complete an MUT Application Form, have their results verified and go through all the admission steps explained in the previous paragraph. B. Tech students should get acceptance letters from the relevant HoD before they can register for the degree. Returning students who wish to transfer to new academic programmes must also receive acceptance letters from the relevant HoDs. Both types of students must have their new programmes updated on ITS before they can register for the new programmes. Thereafter, they will receive proof of admission as stated in the previous paragraph. 4. REGISTRATION OF NEW AND RETURNING STUDENTS Registration of students takes place according to the registration schedule which is stated in the Calendar. The first step for returning students is receiving a Statement of Account and payment of outstanding fees according to Council Approved payment plan. This is followed by the payment of the minimum registration deposit at the designated bank. The first compulsory step towards registration of new and returning students is Financial Clearance and issuing of a Pink Form (proof of financial clearance) which must be stamped by all the departments which process the student s registration. The second step is issuing of a Registration Form which has the student s biographical data, academic record and the declaration which must be signed by a student. This form is taken to the third step, Curriculum Advice, where academic staff members assist the student in selecting his/her curriculum on a prescribed Curriculum Form. The completed Curriculum Form must be signed by both the student and the lecturer who authorised the student s curriculum for that semester/year. In addition, the lecturer must sign next to each subject that they have approved for the student and draw a line across unused lines or columns. BPM/2012 Page 7

This step is followed by capturing of the curriculum details that were approved by the HoD on ITS. Subjects must be entered correctly by subject code, and must be part of the programme in which the student is enrolled. After capturing of the subjects, the student must leave the Curriculum Form and the Registration Form with the data capturer. In return, they must receive the Confirmation of the Curriculum Slip which proves that they have registered. Students may not enroll for more than the normal subject load for each semester or year, except with the permission of the HoD, after taking into consideration the students academic performance in the previous semester/s or year/s. The normal subject load for each qualification is stipulated in the Calendar. Registration for subjects for which the pre-requisites have not been passed or for subjects that students have not been authorized to register for will automatically be blocked by ITS and doing so will be regarded as fraudulent registration. Students are responsible for ensuring that they are correctly registered for each semester/year before the last day for registration. They are also responsible for verifying that the information on the Registration and Curriculum Forms is complete and correct. The next step is optional housing allocation step which is followed by optional collection of NSFAS Loan Agreement Forms from the NSFAS desk. These forms must be returned to the same desk or office after the registration is completed. The last compulsory registration step is issuing of student an Identity Card. The Pink Form should be left in this step. 5. REGISTRATION OF WORK INTERGRATED LEARNING STUDENTS The student gets WIL Registration Form from the department in which the student is registered or may download the form from the University website. The completed form is taken to the department for capturing the address in which the in-service training will take place. The department takes the completed form to the Faculty Officer or gives it to the student to submit to the Faculty Officer. After registration, the registration status must be issued to the student for him/her to get the log book/wil Manual from the department. ITS automatically generates the WIL registration fee after WIL registration. 6. AFTER REGISTRATION 6.1 Addition and deletion of subjects After registration, students must obtain approval from the relevant HoD for addition and deletion of subjects previously registered for. The responsibility is upon the student to ensure that the information pertaining to added and deleted subjects is correctly captured before the stipulated date. The Add and Delete Form must be completed by the HOD in triplicate. Thereafter, the top copy is BPM/2012 Page 8

given to the Faculty Officer who captures the information and thereafter stamps the form captured. After capturing, the Add and Delete Form will be taken to the Department of Academic Administration for filing. The Filing Clerk will stamp the form received, Filing Clerk, Academic Administration and thereafter file it. The student will only receive the middle copy, for his/her records and the bottom copy is the academic department s master copy. The last day for addition and deletion of subjects is stipulated in the University Calendar. 6.2 Corrections to student registration Corrections to students curriculum must be lodged with the Faculty Officers on or before the published closing date for registration. The last date for registration is stated in the University Calendar. 6.3 Late registration Late registration dates are indicated on the official University Calendar. A late registration fee is levied on students who do not register on their specific registration dates. No student shall be considered for registration after the day of late registration. 6.4 Refunds for cancelled courses Students who withdraw from a subject on or before the published closing date will be refunded according to a formula that is calculated by ITS. Enquiries about refunds should be directed to the Finance Office (Step 7). 6.5 Changes to student s biographical/personal information Students must notify the Department of Academic Administration of any change of name, address, cell phone number or other information recorded on their registration form. Students will also be asked to verify and if applicable, update their data e.g. addresses contact numbers at each registration. However, they must advise the Department of Academic Administration about changes as they occur by completing a Change of Details Form. The Department of Academic Administration must demand submission of proof of the change applied for in addition to submission of the student s ID card each and every time students request change of their biographical data. Request for changes to the Grade 12 certificate will only be accepted if accompanied by a letter from the Department of Basic Education whereas changes of names, surnames and ID numbers must be accompanied by a letter from the Department of Home Affairs. Changes to addresses must be accompanied by proof of residence. This office also issues proof of registration to students and any third party, upon request by the student. 6.6 Withdrawal from the University BPM/2012 Page 9

The student is required to inform the University when s/he leaves the University for a semester or longer failing which s/he will be liable for the payment of full semester/year fees. He should obtain a Withdrawal Form from the Faculty Officer. The form should be signed by all the relevant lecturers, HoD, various departments such as the Library, Counselling Unit, Information Technology and Networks (ITN) and Housing Unit, where applicable. Thereafter, it should be brought back to the Faculty Officer who will submit it to the Finance Department. After processing, the Finance Department will send the form to the Department of Academic Administration for Filing. The Filing Clerk should stamp the form, as confirmation of receipt. N.B. This document must be read in conjunction with the MUT Calendar and Student Guide. BPM/2012 Page 10