Admission Requirements and Selection Criteria for BEng

Programmes for 2024

1 DUE DATES AND THE USE OF GRADE 11 RESULTS

1.1 Conditional Offer

If applicants, at the time of their application, are in Grade 12, their final Grade 11 results are used to
decide whether they qualify for a conditional offer. The conditional offer must be accepted by the
applicant and will expire if it is not timeously accepted. Once the conditional offer is accepted, the
applicant status will change to “final offer pending”.
Final offers can only be issued after the final Grade 12 results of the applicant becomes available (in
January of the following year). Applicants will receive a final offer if the applicants’ final Grade 12
results meet the minimum admission requirements for the BEng programme. If a final offer is issued,
the applicant status will change from “final offer pending” to “final offer issued”. The applicant must
accept the final offer before it expires.

1.2 Final Offer

If prospective students, at the time of application, have already completed Grade 12, their final Grade
12 results are used to determine their admission and, if selected, they receive a final offer. The
applicant must accept the final offer before it expires.

1.3 Application Due Dates

Applications close 31 July of the year before the intended start of study. Late applications close 30
September and are only considered if there are still places available in the preferred programme.

2 MINIMUM ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Prospective students who meet the below-mentioned minimum admission requirements are
considered for selection, as per Section 3 and 4.

2.1 Language of Tuition

The admission requirements for language are given below, but applicants should note that the lectures
in all undergraduate modules are presented in English, and Afrikaans lectures are also offered (in
parallel sessions) in most of the modules of the first three semesters of the BEng programmes. In the
first year of study, simultaneous interpreting (where English lectures are interpreted into Afrikaans) is
offered when parallel sessions are not offered. All question papers of major assessments are available
in both English and Afrikaans up to the third year and thereafter in English. Students are free to write
any paper or assignment in either English or Afrikaans. Further details about the language of tuition in
BEng programmes are given at www.eng.sun.ac.za.
2.2 National Senior Certificate (NSC) or Independent Examination Board (IEB)
Only applicants who meet the following requirements will be considered for selection:
• Have a NSC or IEB pass with admission to bachelor’s studies, or an exemption certificate issued by
the Matriculation Board; and
• Have obtained an average of at least 70% in the relevant final school examination; and
• Have passed the National Senior Certificate or equivalent examination in Mathematics with at least
70% and Physical Sciences with at least 60%; and
• Have, in the National Senior Certificate examination, or equivalent, obtained the following
minimum achievements in language subjects:
- English Home Language: 50% (with no Afrikaans requirement) or
- English First Additional Language: 60% (with no Afrikaans requirement) or
- English First Additional Language: 50%, together with Afrikaans Home Language: 50% or
- English First Additional Language: 50%, together with Afrikaans Second Additional
Language: 60%.

2.3 Foreign Schools

Please note that you may apply for an exemption certificate within the first year of study at SU.

Applicants from foreign schools should refer to the international curricula information at
www.maties.com (go to Apply – International Curricula).

ACE SCHOOL OF TOMORROW: Applications from candidates who follow the ACE school system are
not accepted. However, in order to be considered for a final offer the following is required:
• A letter of support from ACE schools head office
• 55% for NBT Mathematics
• SAT score of 1600 with subminimum of 550 for Critical Reading; 500 for Maths and 500 for
Writing

3 SELECTION CRITERIA
Only students that meet the minimum admission requirements given above are considered for
selection.
The school results and other relevant information are considered for students near the admission
and selection thresholds.
The main selection mechanism is the selection score. To calculate the selection score, the percentages
achieved in the respective subjects are used, as follows:
Selection score = Mathematics + Physical Science + 6 x Average
The maximum score is therefore 800. The average percentage is normally calculated using the
applicant's six best matric subjects (excluding Life Orientation, and normally including Mathematics
and Physical Science). For foreign schools with only 5 subjects (e.g. Cambridge), the percentage of the
5 school subjects are used to calculate the average percentage. For foreign schools where Chemistry
and Physics are taken as separate subjects, the average of these two is used in the selection score
instead of Physical Science. For the Cambridge system, Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics must be
on A or AS levels.
4 SELECTION PROCESS FOR FOUR-YEAR BEng PROGRAMMES
The admission thresholds for each programme are influenced by the number of applicants and the
number of student places available in the programme. The final selection thresholds for the respective
BEng programmes are therefore only determined after the closing date for applications and can vary
from programme to programme. The admission thresholds given below are revised annually.

4.1 Before 31 July (before the closing date of applications)

Applicants that meet the following provisional selection thresholds are selected upon receipt of a
complete application (conditional, if based on Grade 11 results):

Electrical Electrical
4-Year BEng Mecha Mechatro
&Electronic &Electronic
Programme Chemical Civil Industrial nical nic
(Data Eng) (General)
Minimum
Selection Score 620 600 620 600 600 630 630
Minimum
70%
Average
Minimum
75%
Mathematics
Minimum
65%
Physical Science

The selection of the following applications are not finalised and are considered further after 31 July:
• Applicants with selection scores above 560, and
• Applicants that have selection scores above 520 and that meet the requirements for admission
to the extended degree programmes.
Applicants that do not meet the above requirements are informed that their applications were
unsuccessful.
Please also refer to Section 4.4 regarding being considered for BEng programmes other than that given in
the three preferences in the application.

4.2 After 31 July (after the closing date of applications)

Finalising applications and selection processes after the closing date of applications normally takes 6
to 8 weeks.
After the final selection thresholds have been determined (considering the number of places and
applicants), applicants whose applications are still under consideration (i.e. status: “reviewed”, or
“in progress”) and that meet the final selection thresholds of the particular programme will receive a
conditional offer (if based on Grade 11 results). Alternatively, they are placed on the waiting list.
Acceptance of late applications and further consideration of applicants on the waiting list are
determined by the availability of places in the programme concerned.
Please also refer to Section 4.4 regarding being considered for BEng programmes other than that given
in the three preferences in the application.
4.3 After the Matric Results Have Been Released
The status of applicants that previously accepted a final offer remains unchanged.
Applicants that accepted the conditional offer (status: “final offer pending”) with Matric results that
meet the admission requirements for the BEng programmes, will receive a final offer. Applicants on
the waiting list, or those who request reconsideration or those who submit late application are
thereafter considered for the places available in each of the programmes.
If a final offer is issued, the applicant status will change from “final offer pending” to “final offer
issued”. The applicant must accept the final offer before it expires.

4.4 Applicants currently/previously enrolled at another university or other tertiary education

institutions
Applicants currently/previously enrolled at another university or other tertiary education
institutions, who want to transfer to a BEng programme in the Faculty of Engineering must submit
their final school-leaving results and full academic record from the other tertiary institution. These
applicants will be placed on the waiting list until their final results of the current academic year from
the other tertiary institution are available and have been uploaded on their profile on the application
portal.
Please also go to section 2.4.2 Applicants with prior tertiary learning of the Engineering Calendar
2023 for more information on admission requirements.

4.5 Changing the Preferred BEng Programmes in the Application

Applicants who applied for a BEng programme may request that one of the three preferences on their
applications be changed to another BEng programme. Such requests should be submitted to
[email protected], also citing their student numbers and which of the three preferences should be
changed. These applications will then be reconsidered for admission and selection for the newly
indicated BEng preference according to the normal selection process given above.
Applicants should note that all the four-year BEng programmes, except the Data Engineering
specialisation of the BEng (Electrical &Electronic Engineering), share the same core modules in the first
year. This common core allows students who passed all their first-year modules to change at the end of
the first year to any other BEng programme with the same core. If students did not pass all the modules
in their first year, changing to another BEng programme is subject to a selection process.

5 EXTENDED CURRICULUM PROGRAMMES

The Extended Curriculum Programmes (ECPs) were introduced to help students with educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds to master the BEng programmes. Educational disadvantages include
dimensions of socioeconomic circumstances and educational or teaching circumstances. The ECPs offer
alternative access to the programmes of the Faculty of Engineering. BEng ECPs require one extra year
of study, which precedes the curriculum of the 4-year BEng programmes. Students who have
completed this extra year successfully, and who meet certain additional requirements, may continue
with the curriculum of the 4-year BEng programmes.

5.1 Application Process

Students do not apply for the ECPs but apply for the 4-year programmes. A limited number of
students that are not selected for the 4-year programmes, but that do meet the admission and
selection requirements of the ECPs, are considered for admission to the ECPs. Preference is given to
students from disadvantaged environments.
5.2 Minimum admission requirements for the Extended Curriculum Programmes
Only South African students that are in matric in the year they apply and meet the following
requirements, are normally considered for admission:
• A NSC of IEB pass with admission to bachelor's studies, or an exemption certificate by the
Matriculation Board
• An average of at least 60% in the NSC
• An NSC Mathematics mark of at least 60%
• An NSC Physical Sciences mark of at least 50%
• NSC language marks that meet one of the following:
- English Home Language 50% (with no Afrikaans requirement) or
- English First Additional Language 60% (with no Afrikaans requirement) or
- English First Additional Language 50% and Afrikaans Home Language 50% or
- English First Additional Language 50% and Afrikaans Second Additional Language 60%

5.3 Selection Criteria

Applicants that meet the above minimum admission requirements are selected for the ECPs using the
same selection criteria that are applicable to the 4-year programmes, but with adjusted thresholds.
The thresholds are only determined after the closing date for applications, but the following selection
thresholds are indicative:
Minimum Selection Score: 560
Minimum Average: 60%
Minimum Mathematics: 65%
Minimum Physical Science: 55%
Socio-economic Score: 2 or more

Applicants that are issued with a conditional offer (based on Grade 11 results) for an ECP and who do
better in the Grade 12 examinations, will be reconsidered for an offer to a 4-year programme during
final selection.