Over one million enrolments expected in public universities
Registration for the academic year 2023 commenced on January 16 and is expected to close on February 20.
Over one million enrolments are expected within the public university sector for the 2023 academic year.
Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister, Dr Blade Nzimande, said for the 2023 academic year, the public university sector is projected to provide 1 112 439 spaces, an additional 41 545 spaces from the previous year.
Nzimande said the increment in university spaces, from 1 070 894 in 2022, illustrates that the public university sector is steadily growing.
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Citing 2021 audited data, Nzimande said 655 427 students were female and 412 428 were male.
“In the 2023 academic year, our first-time entering enrolments have been projected at 208 299 nationally. Sixty-nine thousand and sixty-nine (69 069) of these first-time entering enrolments will be within scarce skills areas,” Nzimande said.
He said the scarce skills that have been projected for first-time entering enrolments will include 17 085 Engineering, 17 584 Life and Physical Science, 985 Animal Sciences, 209 Veterinary Sciences, 10 418 Human Health, and 22 788 Teacher Education.
Nzimande was briefing media on the state of readiness for the post school education and training (PSET) sector for the 2023 academic year in Pretoria on Tuesday.
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He said a considerable portion of the spaces within scarce skills areas require a National Senior Certificate (NSC) Mathematics mark of at least 60%.
As a result, he said through the Science and Innovation Department, agreements have been entered into with Provincial Departments of Education to support Mathematics, Science and Technology Education (MSTE).
“This intervention will ensure that we increase the number of learners passing Grade 12 MSTE,” Nzimande said.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges’ planned headcount enrolment for 2023 is 497 032 for the ministerial approved programmes, with an additional 59 383 headcount enrolment for programmes that are funded through other sources.
This brings the total planned TVET enrolment for the academic year 2023 to 556 415, Nzimande said.
However, Nzimande assured that several universities will allow late registrations, and advised students to continue to liaise with the universities of their choice through their communication channels.
