Welcome to a brief introduction about Stellenbosch University's Psychology Department.
My name is Dale, and I'm going to talk about what students who enrol in the psychology programme can expect to learn.
Before we begin, I want to share an interesting fact, psychology is the
biggest department in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University.
Every year our department attracts roughly around 1 200 first-year students, 800 second-year
students, 600 third-year students, around 30 to 40 Honours students, 8 clinical Master’s students,
around 40 research Masters students, and 40 doctoral students.
Now the question begs, why does our department attract so many students?
Or another way to put it is, why do so many people want to study psychology?
Before I answer this question, I want to talk about two stereotypes or
common assumptions that people generally maintain about the work of psychologists. The first one,
many people believe that the job of psychologists simply involves charging people thousands of Rands
for simply asking in therapy, how does that make you feel. The second stereotype is that many South
Africans believe that only crazy people go to psychologists. Now if these stereotypes are true,
then that means the reason why so many students come to our department is because
they either want to become very rich by charging people thousands of Rands for therapy,
or they are fascinated by so-called crazy people, right? Now, this may be true to a certain extent,
but I guarantee you that students who enter our programme quickly learn that there is much more to
psychology than these stereotypes and preconceived ideas. In fact, the majority of students who
come to us want to learn about why they are the way they are, why is their personality
the way it is, or even how their parents and their upbringing shaped their behaviour and personality.
Psychology can indeed help students embark on a journey of self-discovery. However, psychology
does more than simply teach students about themselves, their personality, and behaviour.
Psychology is also concerned with broader social, political, and historical processes
and issues that have an impact on human behaviour. In the South African context,
psychology can help students to answer questions such as, how do young men become violent?
Why do young girls end up having sugar daddies? What makes people fall in love with specific people?
How has apartheid shaped how people understand themselves and others based on race?
What is the effect of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia on people? So these are just some
of the few questions that psychology asks, and for which it can provide answers.
Importantly, these questions are also concerned with aspects of human pain and suffering,
to which psychology can bring about answers and solutions.
Our department aims to provide students with an understanding
of how the external world, such as our country, communities and relationships shapes our internal
world, and how we see ourselves. Donald Winnicott, the developmental psychologist famously said:
What all psychologists, rather "what all good psychologists do, is that they hold, they contain,
they pay attention, they listen and they try to understand". I like to think of our department as
a space in which our staff provides as Winnicott said the necessary emotional holding, containing,
attending, listening, to understanding, so that students can safely explore various fields,
and subjects within psychology, which our department has to offer.
So let's take look, or rather let’s take a closer look at the structure of our programme.
Students' first entry point is a three-year undergraduate programme which leads to a major in psychology.
It is compulsory for students to complete all three years in sequence
in order to proceed to a postgraduate level of study.
Once students have completed all the requirements for the undergraduate
programme, they can pursue the first step in psychology training at a postgraduate level,
which is a one-year honours programme presented in English.
For admission into this programme students must have obtained a Bachelor's degree with a major in psychology
and for which the student pass with 65% and higher. Students must also be aware
that a higher performance cut-off may be set in a given year, depending on the number and
achievement level of the applicants. Admission into this programme is dependent upon selection,
that is based purely on academic achievement. It is a full-time academic programme which may lead
to further postgraduate studies in psychology, both in South Africa and internationally.
The programme cannot be completed on a part-time basis and does not lead to registration as a counsellor,
or psychometrist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
Once students have completed an Honours degree in Psychology, they have the option of pursuing one
of two Master's programmes. The first option is a research Master's in Psychology.
For admission into this programme students must have an Honours degree with a minimum
average of 65% or an equivalent qualification acceptable to the university.
Applications must also be accompanied by a brief preliminary research proposal. The research Master's programme
is a minimum of one year to a maximum of three years in which students are required
to complete a thesis and publish an article based on their research.
The second Master's programme is a clinical Master's in Psychology, which is an intensive three-year training period.
Upon completion, students qualify for professional registration as a clinical psychologist.
In order for students to be considered for this programme
they need to obtain an Honours degree in Psychology. That is no less than 65%.
And they must be proficient in at least two of the official South African languages.
Once students have completed their Master's in Psychology, they also have the option
of undertaking a PhD level of study, which requires students to write up a dissertation.
In order for students to enter the PhD programme, they need a Master's in Psychology,
as well as an approved research proposal. It is important for students to bear in mind that it
takes around three to five years to complete the dissertation on a full-time basis, although it can
take longer in some instances. So throughout our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes
students can expect to learn about the following areas of psychology, in which our staff
members are specialised and have published extensively on. These areas in psychology
include abnormal behaviour, child psychology, developmental psychology, community psychology,
psychotherapeutic counselling, social psychology, critical psychology,
health psychology, personality psychology, as well as quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Now if you would like more information about our department, please visit our website which can be
found on the Stellenbosch University web page, and in the social sciences and humanities section.
I will end this welcome and introductory note by saying that we are looking for students who are
serious about engaging with psychology in a way that is innovative and brings about real change
to the lives of people living in South Africa, as well as outside.
If this is you, then we are excited to have you enrolled at our department. Until that time,
we thank you for listening, and we warmly wish you all the best. Thank you, Dankie and Enkosi.