Storm over UCT admissions policy

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Cape Town - Members of UCT’s Progressive Youth Alliance’s (PYA) Admissions Policy Task Team are up in arms that National Benchmark Tests (NBT) are being used as an entrance requirement at the university.

The alliance, comprising the SA Students Congress, the ANC Youth League and the Youth Communist League of SA, spearheads a programme at UCT to transform higher education and address issues faced by students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Luntu Sokutu, spokesperson for the task team, said they recently discovered that UCT had used NBT results instead of the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results when it came to admission requirements.

But UCT rejected the claim, saying that NBTs were used as an additional requirement in some courses.

Sokutu said previously the NBT was used to increase the chances of getting an offer and scholarship to the university, and to examine whether a prospective student would need additional support.

The organisation was notified of three instances where students’ applications were rejected because they did not meet the NBT criteria.

Neliswa Sigonyela said her nephew Xabiso was rejected for construction studies at UCT because he did not meet the NBT requirements, despite obtaining “a good mark” for his year-end NSC results.

“I couldn’t believe that students could be prevented from studying because of NBT results. He wrote the NBTs in February last year and if we had been informed earlier that he had failed, we would have made other arrangements,” she said.

Sokutu said: “Our issue with the NBT results being used for admission is that students from disadvantaged schools generally perform worse than they do for the Senior Certificate. Pupils from wealthier schools are told about the benchmark tests before writing the exams, while in rural areas teachers don’t even know what this test is about. At disadvantaged schools pupils are just told to go and write the examinations without knowing what it’s about. The fact that the university is aware that pupils from disadvantaged communities and schools are less prepared to write NBTs than pupils from well-off schools illustrates its endeavours to reject the black, coloured and Indian population groups.”

Cheryl Pearce, director of student enrolment management at UWC, said it also used NBTs, but for diagnostic rather than admission purposes.

She said with the influx of applicants to universities there were more students who met the minimum criteria. Where a decision had to be made about two students with identical NSC results, UWC resorted to using NBT results to make a final placement decision.

But UCT spokesperson Pat Lucas said the claims made by the PYA were baseless.

“Performance in the NSC remains the principal basis for winning an undergraduate place at UCT. We supplement the NSC results by other indicators of an applicant’s ability to succeed at UCT,” said Lucas. Admission to a particular UCT faculty or programme, in most cases, required more than a good pass in the NSC. In courses like engineering, minimum levels of achievement in mathematics and science were also required.

She added that UCT’s admissions policy was specifically designed to increase the numbers of black students and graduates.

Doron Isaacs, of Equal Education, said the real problem was inequality at schools.

“Students from poorer schools have a huge disadvantage. Schools are still divided by social class and still reflect racial division. When one measures the schooling in middle class, township and rural areas, the difference is staggering. It is almost impossible for pupils from these areas to excel on pure talent and ability.”

Cape Times
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http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-afr...-uct-admissions-policy-1.1804175#.VLTN3MnQg9s
 
NSC is a joke. Someone I know got 9 As but couldn't manage to get the minimum of I think 60% in the NBTs to get acceptance at UCT. I also wrote the NBTs but never got my results.
 
So is it true....that children from poorer schools/areas are less prepared for NBT tests/exams?
 
ambroseg1 said:
So is it true....that children from poorer schools/areas are less prepared for NBT tests/exams?
Click to expand...
Not really, every one at my University/technikon was made to write it, it's more general knowledge not something you really need to learn for.
 
UCT and other universities are using the NBTs because the matric is not what it used to be. Duh.

I went to a privileged school when they first introduced NBTs years ago and I was never trained at all. Btw, wealthier schools do better in matric exams as well...
 
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Sadly, the NSC is such a waste of time, its not that hard to get distinctions in matric if you have a good memory. University is a slightly different ball game, where more depth of understanding is required - although you can still pass on good memory. If the university is using NBT as an admission criteria, it can only be good news. Most of the idiots who are not cut out for university will not be allowed in.
 
The fact that the university is aware that pupils from disadvantaged communities and schools are less prepared to write NBTs than pupils from well-off schools illustrates its endeavours to reject the black, coloured and Indian population groups.”
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Yep, lets play the racist angle for supporting those lazy cants that could not make it. So strange that my white kid was also rejected on his GOOD NSC and had to write the MBT unprepared. Still waiting for the results!

Learners do not take school seriously enough and as such do not acquire the required points the enter varsity.
 
ambroseg1 said:
So is it true....that children from poorer schools/areas are less prepared for NBT tests/exams?
Click to expand...

Sure, thats because of the quality of teachers they get from the ANC government and their lack of interest to excel.

But lets just blame van Riebeeck!
 
Sokutu said: “Our issue with the NBT results being used for admission is that students from disadvantaged schools generally perform worse than they do for the Senior Certificate. Pupils from wealthier schools are told about the benchmark tests before writing the exams, while in rural areas teachers don’t even know what this test is about. At disadvantaged schools pupils are just told to go and write the examinations without knowing what it’s about.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an issue of Guvmint failing, not UCT.
 
What they are arguing is that the universities are failing to wave less-that-ready students through. The NBT's don't discriminate. Your mark is your mark and is a measure of ability. I wrote mine 2 months ago and besides the dedicated maths one it is not something you can learn for it's more like an aptitude test.

The problem is that kids in poorer schools aren't receiving quality education. Trying to push poorly educated candidates into university is just going to waste everyone's time.

I actually can't stand this dribble anymore.

Lets not complain that the cart doesn't work when you haven't even got the horse.
 
The problem is the way that SASCO etc sees university.

To earn a lot of money, you need a good job.
To get a good job, you need a degree.
To get a degree, you need to go to university.

So far, so good.

But then SASCO and most normal people go their own separate ways regarding university.

Normal people think:
To get a degree, you need to work hard in school to get into university, and you need to work hard in university to get your degree

SASCO thinks:
You are owed a degree and you must get one in the subject you choose regardless of hard work or ability. We dimund.
 
I've done the NBT tests before, and I thought they were an excellent test of basic reasoning rather than factual knowledge.
 
I wrote 82/93/71 and still didn't get into IT there for next year, wonder what the real requirements are. Guessing being black is one of them.
 
This is just such a typical South African mentality. Waive these NBT results and let all these people in then watch them fail in droves. I guess then these people will be crying that higher education standards need to be lowered so that 30% can be considered a pass...
 
Pupils from wealthier schools are told about the benchmark tests before writing the exams, while in rural areas teachers don’t even know what this test is about.
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How is this the uni's problem.

Maybe someone should fire Angie. She is missing the mark on so many levels.
 
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