University of Witwatersrand (WITs) is one of the leading universities around the globe located in Johannesburg, South Africa. It ranks in the top 1.4% globally. WITs University offers over 33 different programs grouped into 5 faculties at undergraduate and postgraduate levels with over 3000 courses.
It is spread out into two main campuses, one in Braamfontein and one in Parktown, which includes 11 libraries and 17 residences. WITs offer a thriving campus life and leading research facilities. The university has blended learning, including online resources and electronic media, but only faces to face teaching by lecturers. It is known for its research breakthroughs and has been known globally for its research in Covid Vaccine and HIV prevention research, amongst many others. WITs use modern-day simulation labs to educate their students amongst many other advanced facilities. With more than 85% of WITs’ research published in accredited international journals, the university encourages cross-disciplinary research and collaboration with the best researchers and institutions across the globe.
HOW TO APPLY
- WITs application can only be submitted online. The procedure can be enlisted in the following steps: Once you start the application procedure. Choosing your programme/s: Choose your 3 top choices of programmes of interest in no particular order. WITs consider admission for all three programmes individually and provide the decision based on the criteria. The recommendation is that if you’re applying to a competitive faculty, you should choose at least one less restrictive option.
- Supporting Documents: Submit all the supporting documents that are certified in the last three months:
- Your Matric Results. If you are upgrading your old Matric results or are in Grade 12, then you must upload your final Grade 12 results.
- Tertiary Experienced individuals will need to upload their official academic transcript of all tertiary studies, whether they’ve been completed or not.
- Some degrees have additional selection requirements such as portfolio and essay submissions, auditions or National Benchmark Tests.
- Application Fee: Pay your fee next. The non-refundable charges are as follows.
- South African Citizens: R100
- Non-Citizens: R700.
- Once you submit your application, you will receive a confirmation email to your email address. This email will include your personal number, which will act as a student number for the future. At this point, you are assigned with an Admissions consultant that you can contact for any assistance.
- You can then access the self-service portal to stay updated for any interview setups or additional supporting documents requirements.
- Offer Acceptance:
- You might receive a provisional offer if you are enrolled in the last year of your Matric System, depending on the conditional additional requirements of your programmes.
- Firm offers are only confirmed after the final matric results are published.
- All communications regarding placements, registrations and orientation programs are made via your service portal.
- You may only accept one programme offer due to limited spots and time constraints.
ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS
WITS Admission procedures are simple and streamlined. Each undergraduate and postgraduate program has its own unique entry requirement that includes compulsory subjects, APS (Admission Points Score) and other unique entry requirements and meeting the minimum program requirements is a required basic for an internationally leading university like WITS.
For undergrad programs, you need to submit your Grade 11 Matric results to be assessed for admission. Your final Matric results will be taken into account as well once released. Admission points score (APS) is based on seven best subjects, including Life Orientation. English is a standard required subject as a pre-requisite that must be taken as Home Language or 1st Additional Language. Other requirements are highlighted below, depending on the faculty.
Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management:
- The minimum APS requirement for faculty of Commerce, Law and Management 39 & 43
- Need a minimum of 60 – 70% in Mathematics
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment:
- For Engineering
- A minimum APS of 42 is required.
- A minimum of 60% in English, Mathematics and Physical Science
- For Built Environment
- Minimum APS of 34 & 36
- Minimum of 50-60% in English and Mathematics
- Architecture:
- Additional requirements include written/drawing exercise and interview.
Faculty of Health Sciences:
- No APS calculated.
- CI: Composite Index is calculated based on top 5 academic courses, which must include English, Mathematics, Physical Science AND/OR Life Sciences, and your next best subjects.)
- Dental science must include both Physical science and Life science marks.
- Oral health science and clinical medical practice will consider applicants with Maths literacy as well.
Faculty of Humanities:
- Degree APS requirements 34 – 43
- A minimum of 60% in English
- BEducation Foundation and Intermediate phases will consider either mathematics (50%) or Maths Literacy (60%)
- The speech-language pathology and the audiology programmes require mathematics (50%)
- The BA Law programme will consider either mathematics (40%) or Mathematics literacy (50%))
- The professional arts programme has additional selection criteria.
Faculty of Science:
- Degree APS range between 40 – 43
- minimum of 60 – 80% in English and Mathematics
- Some programs require physical science marks and high score in Mathematics and English, for example, Actuarial Science – 80% in Mathematics, English and Physical Science.
- New Science degrees include Geospatial Sciences & Material Science.
International Students:
Students with non-South African qualifications must have their school qualifications evaluated by the Matriculation Board that will then issue a certificate of exemption to those who qualify.
There is a certain criterion required for international students to comply with in addition to the academic markings. All international students are required to show proof of:
- A valid study visa
- South African medical aid cover
- English proficiency
Application Dates
All Undergraduates programme applications open on April 1, 2021, and the closing dates are as follows:
- June 30 2021 – Faculty of Health Sciences (all programmes), Bachelor of Architecture, Bachelor of Audiology, Bachelor of Speech-Language Pathology, Bachelor of Arts in Film and TV
- September 30 2021 – All other University programmes; Residence applications.
All Postgraduate programme applications also open on April 1, 2021, and the closing dates defer depending on each Master dissertation, Doctorate or other Postgraduate programme schools.
Registration
WITs has an orientation week before the term starts where all students are given a welcome and workshops to allow them to settle in. The self-service portal is where most of the registration procedures take place and where the students will be kept up to date and be informed on when to select their courses.
Faculties
Here is a list of all the Undergraduate programmes offered by the University of Witwatersrand grouped under their faculties:
Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management
- The qualifications are offered through various schools, which are:
- School of Accountancy
- School of Economics and Finance
- School of Business Sciences
- School of Law
- Wits Plus Centre for Part-Time Studies
The programmes offered through these schools include:
- Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) – with flexible major options.
- Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Information Systems)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Politics, Philosophy and Economics)
- Bachelor of Commerce with Law
- LLB
- Two-year stream
- Three-year stream
- Four-year stream
- Bachelor of Accounting Science
- Bachelor of Economic Science
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment
This faculty is made up of the following seven schools:
- Architecture and Planning
- Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering
- Construction Economics and Management
- Electrical and Information Engineering
- Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering
- Mining Engineering
Degrees are offered in:
- Engineering, in a range of fields
- Biomedical Engineering (within Electrical Engineering)
- Digital Engineering (within Electrical Engineering)
- Architecture
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Property Studies
- Construction Studies
Faculty of Health Sciences
The Bachelor of Health Sciences offers three fields of study:
- Biokinetics
- Biomedical Sciences
- Health Systems Sciences.
These schools offer the following undergraduate programmes:
- Clinical Medical Practice
- Dentistry
- Medicine
- Nursing
- Occupational Therapy
- Pharmacy
- Physiotherapy
The students received residential practical training in the top 5 hospitals in Johannesburg and Gauteng, as well as several major clinics and Donal Gordon Medical Centre for clinical researches.
Faculty of Humanities
- The Faculty of Humanities consist of the following three schools: Wits School of Arts (WSoA)
- Wits School of Education (WSoE)
- School of Human and Community Development (SHCD)
These offer vocational programmes that consist of:
- Digital Arts
- Theatre and Performance
- Film and Television
- Fine Arts and Music
- Foundation Phase Teaching
- Intermediate Phase Teaching
- Senior Phase and Further Education
- Training Teaching
- Speech-Language Pathology
- Audiology
- Social Work
WITs offers a diverse choice of postgraduate programmes. About one-third of WITs students comprise postgraduate students ranging from Honours, Masters and PhD in either full-time or part-time enrollment depending on their particular degree and coursework load as well as research-based programmes.
Each faculty has a vast array of programme options and specialization choices that the students can check from the faculty websites or contact the faculty in person to get more details regarding their interest. WITs is renowned as a university that withholds its high standards of researching facilities and advancements, creating new boundaries and intellectual growth.