Student Admission Requirements

(i) Diploma Programmes
Student evaluation for institute admission using the Swedish rating system

Under Institute admission procedure, no person shall be admitted to a diploma programme unless he or she has obtained a Senior Certificate or National Senior Certificate with a minimum aggregate symbol E, passed at least two science subjects in matric and obtained the required minimum score of 40 percent in the Swedish Rating System. This system, outlined below, has three components as shown.

(a) Matriculation Results
Admission Criteria for the National Senior Certificate (NSC)

The certificate or statement of results clearly indicates whether the candidate meet the minimum requirements to be admitted to a Higher Certificate, Diploma and Bachelor Degree programme. For example, it states that “The candidate is awarded the National Senior Certificate and has met the minimum requirements for admission to a diploma or higher certificates as gazetted for admission to higher education”. Then the candidate qualifies to be admitted to the Institute, provided the combination of subjects and level achievement meets the programme needs.

Admission Criteria for NSC
To be admitted for Diploma in Agriculture or Diploma in Forestry, the candidate shall be required to pass at a prescribed level (in the language of learning as certified by Umalusi coupled with minimum rating of 3 (Moderate achievement 40% – 49%).

The subject combinations required are as follows:

• English (Compulsory)
• Mathematics or Mathematical Literacy (Compulsory)
• Any two of the following:
• Physical Science,
• Life Sciences/Biology
• Agricultural Sciences

The preference will be given to those applicants with science subjects. For those applicants who may not have the preferred combination of subjects, but meet the minimum criteria the admission, the Committee will evaluate their applications individually.

      (b) Subject evaluation code -subject I Rating
      (a) With exemption – i.e. 4HG & S2SGsubjects 10
      (b) With exemption – i.e. 4SG & 2HG subjects 6
      (c) Senior certificate – 3HG & 3SG subjects 2

Category I (All these subjects carry a +4 rating)

1. Mathematics
2. Biology
3. Physical Science
4. Agricultural Science
5. Chemistry
6. Accounting
7. Economics
8. Computer Studies

Category II (All these subjects carry a +2 rating)

1. English
2. Geography
3. Practical Agriculture
4. Business Economics

Category III
(Any other subject, other than those listed in categories I and II, carries a zero rating
Scoring for subjects in categories I and II

Subject symbol: A B C D E F G
Score for higher grade: 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Score for standard grade: 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

NOTE: The total maximum points score possible for each subject is 12.
(This is made up of the +4 rating for a Category 1 subject added to the +8 rating for an A symbol)
(Science subjects refers to Mathematics, Physics/Chemistry and Biology)

Foreign Qualification
Applicants are responsible for the evaluation of their qualifications by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). Certified copies of qualifications and the relevant Certificate of Evaluation from SAQA must be submitted to the Institute’s Admissions Committee.

NB: The above admission criteria will be subjected to the Institute internal evaluation procedures.

      (c) Post-matriculation experience
           Circumstance Value
           Experience 2
           No. experience 0
           Maximum points possible 2

Summary of maximum points possible from Sections 1, 2 and 3 above:

1. Matriculation results…………………….. 10
2. Subject evaluation code (six subjects) ………….. 72
3. Post-matriculation experience……………….. 2

GRAND TOTAL 84

The minimum score of 40 percent for a student to be considered for admission to Fort Cox diploma is thus 34 points.

NOTE: Only six relevant subjects should be evaluated, but if a student has done seven subjects he/she will be evaluated on a total point of 96.