Desperate applicants swamp universities
Wits University has received more than 145,000 applications from prospective first-year students but only has 6,355 spaces
Every day since her matric results came out on January 19, Mache du Toit uses her smartphone for one priority — checking if she has been accepted by any higher education institution to study further.
The 18-year-old from Manenberg in Cape Town, who defied gang wars and risked being hit by stray bullets in pursuit of her matric certificate, has applied to a number of universities to study for a degree.
Two weeks ago she had high hopes of starting her career to qualify as a teacher after meeting the minimum requirements. This week hopes of furthering her education were dwindling as universities scrambled to place first-year students after receiving huge numbers of applications.
Some universities said this week they had to turn away most applicants.
“By now I was expecting to have received an answer, but I haven’t received any notices,” said Du Toit. “Every time I go on the portal to check my status it shows that they don’t have a record of my application, but I still receive e-mails stating that my application is under consideration.
“This worries me as it brings a lot of confusion. The system says I do meet all minimum requirements, but nothing is forthcoming.”
The Cape Flats teenager is one of about 202,156 matriculants who achieved bachelor passes, potentially allowing them to study at a university. This was a 2.1% improvement from 2022.
Wits University received more than 145,000 applications from prospective firstyear students but only has 6,355 spaces. The University of Cape Town has capacity to enrol 4,500 first-year students but received almost 93,000 applications, while Stellenbosch University can take 5,600 of its 88,000 applicants.
Wits University’s registrar, Carol Crosley, said the most popular courses, bachelor of medicine and surgery, science studies, education and law studies, received more than 89,000 applications collectively.
A bachelor of science, which offers 15 different fields of study, received 29,257 applications, while medicine attracted about 22,288 applications.
Crosley said the university was in the final stages of completing its registration process for first-year students.
“Almost all our programmes are full now. Where we have spaces, these are being filled by applicants who are on a waiting list. This waiting list is for very few spaces in limited programmes and will continue for a limited period into next week.”
Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said it has welcomed more than 5,000 first-year students this year. Faculties with the most applications were medicine and health sciences, arts and social sciences, and economic management sciences.
“As with most universities, there are always challenges at the start of the academic year. Teams are putting in all efforts to deal with concerns and challenges that may arise during the next few weeks, especially as it relates to a new student administration system,” Viljoen said.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said although its faculty of health sciences offers just 500 places, it had received at least 19,000 applications. The faculty is well known for its world-class training, clinical achievements and cutting-edge research.
“The university has made firm offers to all eligible students, and these have been accepted by the prospective students by the stipulated date. UCT therefore does not have any space available for prospective first-year students who have not received firm offers,” he said.
But it’s not all bad news for students who have not received acceptance letters yet. The department of higher education & training said its central application clearing house service (Cach) has helped many find educational opportunities at universities that still have spaces.
Joe Ramatlhape, project manager for Cach, said the service mainly helped students who applied at universities and technical vocational education & training colleges but did not meet the admission requirements or were not offered a place.
“Registering on the Cach service does not equate to submitting a formal application, but it makes the applicant’s information available to institutions that still have available study spaces. Both private and public institutions with spaces are registered and accredited to use Cach annually.”
Once registered and accredited, institutions can access the system to search for candidates who meet their entry requirements and make offers through the system. Once signed up, students can indicate their preferred province rather than a specific institution.
“Institutions choose applicants based on their admission criteria and not the other way round,” Ramatlhape said.
“Applicants are allowed to reject or ignore offers up to five times before they are removed from the database. Institutions on the other hand are allowed to make up to 60 offers at a time.”
Last year, 5,367 offers were made to students who used the service. But the uptake was low, with only 564 university students accepting offers. A total of 322 declined and 4,481 offers expired. This year the service has seen a substantial increase in activity, with more than 105,417 sign-ups compared with 79,610 in the previous year.
“This illustrates the intensified demand and the sense of urgency among students seeking placements, emphasising the critical role of the Cach in facilitating access to higher education opportunities,” Ramatlhape said.