Good day, everybody. My name is Fiona van Kerwel
and I work at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University.
Today I have my colleague, Jeneen Wallow, with me and together will the two of us take you through a tour in this wonderful Faculty.
Let’s start off.
What are we going to cover today? First of all, we’d like to say hello, which we already did.
Then we’re going to tell you about our undergraduate programmes.
We’re going to tell you about our basic admission requirements.
Then we’re going to take a road trip through the general degree programmes, our specialised programmes, and
of course, we’re going to end off with where you can reach us.
Janeen, would you like to tell them, how are we going to take this trip on this journey through the world of the BAs?
Thank you, Fiona. Normally we would have our open days in person and then we have the privilege to
go and visit the different stalls at our different departments in the BA world.
You will also get an experience of what it really looks like and how it feels in the BA world.
There will also be advisors which you can talk to and if there’s questions you can ask and that is what
it normally looks like before COVID. Thank you, Fiona.
Would you take us further into this journey? What will you find within the world of arts?
Firstly, the Arts and Social Science Faculty consists out of three different environments
and those three different environments have 18 departments. We have our Arts, we have our Social
Sciences, and of course, our Languages. Within our arts we have three different departments,
which are Drama, Music, and Visual Arts. Within Social Science we have nine different
departments and let me read them to you so that you know. It’s Geography and
Environmental Studies, it’s History, Information Science, Journalism which is mostly postgrads,
we have Philosophy where you can think about your thoughts, we have Political Science,
we have Psychology where we study behaviour, we have Social Work, and of course,
we have Sociology and Social Anthropology. Within the world of Languages we have Afrikaans
and Dutch, our African Languages, our Ancient Studies, English, our General Linguistics,
and of course, we have Modern Foreign Languages and at Stellenbosch University
the modern foreign languages that we offer are French, German, and Mandarin.
Janeen, would you like to tell everybody about our undergraduate degree programmes?
We have three basic streamlines that our undergraduate degree programmes fall in.
The first one is the general programmes. That is BA Humanities and BA Language and Culture.
Then we have our specialised programmes. B in Social Work, BA Development and Environment,
BA in International Studies, BA Political, Philosophical, and Economic Studies,
BA in Data Science, B in Human Resource Management, BA Law, BA Sport Science.
But then there’s also specialised programmes within our Arts Department.
That is BA Drama and Theatre Studies, BA Music Studies,
BMus, which is also part of the music programme, and then also the BA in Visual Arts.
Fiona, would you like to sum it up for us, please? There’s the Afrikaans offering.
Let’s sum it up because it’s a mouthful, isn’t it? There’s such a wonderful world that you can explore.
You already heard about the general programmes and that is the general admission requirements.
But some of our programmes are selection programmes and for those degree programmes
you have different dates for when you can apply. Let’s start off with our selection programmes.
It’s Law and a BA in Sport Science, BA in Drama and Theatre Studies,
BA with Music and the BMus programmes, and also the BA in Visual Arts.
For you to get into this world of BA you would need some basic admission requirements and that would now be
a National Senior Certificate or an Independent Examinations Boards certificate.
Of course, these need to be certified by Umalusi for admission to study a bachelor degree at the University.
For some programmes you will have to write the National Benchmark Tests, but all that
information you will find, as soon as you apply you will be guided in that direction and then
you can do your NBTs and register for your NBTs as indicated.
Remember, international students, your academic records will be evaluated.
Let’s start off with our general degree programmes,
which are the BA in Humanities and the BA in Language and Culture. Specific requirements
is there a Home Language 50% and, of course, your First Additional Language at least 40%.
Language and culture you will need for your Home Language as well as your Additional Language both a 50%.
Remember, prospective students, these are just requirements. It’s basic requirements.
The better your marks, the better your chances. Let’s go further. Remember,
Humanities is a general degree programme and the world is your oyster for the different fields
that you can think of study in a postgraduate offering and the same with Language and Culture.
It realty prepares you for a job within media or journalism or marketing.
Our next specialised programme is the one in Social Work.
This is the one degree that actually prepares you as a professional social worker
and enables you to register with the South African Council for Social Service Professions.
So, when you leave the University, you are a professional social worker.
A BA in Development and Environment, this is the degree programme that learns you how
communities work in interaction with the natural environment through the different processes.
You will do stuff like biodiversity and some future studies on what is important with our climates.
A BA in International Studies, it’s such an exciting programme.
It gives you training in economic and political issues and it really opens the world for you,
especially also in postgraduate programmes. Remember, for the BA in International Studies
your English Home Language must be 50% and your English First Additional Language 60% or more.
Then of course, we have a BA, what we call a PPE, that’s Politics, Philosophy, and Economics.
This is the programme that really focuses on all issues. Within our South African context
it is aimed at people who are interested in doing something like management or journalism, law
or diplomatic, even in the public services.
But if you are interested in being an investigating journalist, this is the way to go. Let’s go to our next degree.
That’s the BA in Data Science. This is a specific degree that really examines data.
You will work with data through the duration of your studies.
Remember, you must have an NSC aggregate of 80% or more,
your Maths 80%, your Home Language 60%, and your First Additional Language 70% or more.
Then we will move over to our BA in Human Resource Management. This is a degree that actually opens
the world of industrial psychology to you and it helps you to manage people within the workplace.
Remember, you must have pure Maths 50% or 60% when you’re going to have statistics,
Home Language 50%, and your First Additional Language 40%.
Now let’s move over to our BA Law, and remember, this is the selection programmes.
This is a programme that lays the foundation for legal studies further on,
also providing you insight into human behaviour and social issues.
The human behaviour and the social issues are specifically within the Faculty of Arts and Social Science.
So, a postgraduate programme you can do your LLB or study anything further.
Your BA in Sport Science equips you for a career in sport science, like sport psychology, or any research,
biokinetics, fitness and health, movement and education, or recreation with people with disabilities.
We South Africans are an active nation, so let’s go for it.
But what do you need to get entrance into this programme? Home Language 50%, First Additional Language 40%,
Maths 60% or Maths Lit 70%, Physical Science 40% or Life Science 50%, and an NSC average of 60%.
Let’s go to our next degree.
Our BA in Drama and Theatre Studies prepares you for a world in entertainment.
This is where you are on stage or behind stage.
This is the area where you can really enlighten the world of people through arts.
You would need a Home Language of 50%, First Additional Language 50%, and of course,
you need to do an audition to get entrance into this field.
Our BA in Visual Arts, also a selection programme. You will need to hand in a portfolio of your work as an art student.
Within visual arts there are three streams, namely fine arts, visual communication design, and jewellery design.
It really prepares you for the world as a fine artists or a graphic designer or a jewellery designer or even a teacher or an art theorist.
Let’s move to music. Within music we told you that we have two degrees.
The one is a BA in Music and the other one is a BMus.
The BA in Music combines training in music with the option of gaining expertise in a language or in a social science or even maths
and thus provides the ideal foundation for a teacher.
You would need Home Language 50%, your First Additional 40% for both these degrees.
And remember, you will be asked to do an audition and also a theoretical test to make
sure that you meet the necessary requirements.
The BMus is a specialised programme within music and that will prepare you for the world within music,
such as a music teacher, performing artist, music technologist, a researcher or a composer.
But music also has some offerings, undergraduate programmes which are a diploma or a certificate programme.
You can read that up in our calendar, but the practical diploma in music,
that’s a three-year programme and our advanced and higher certificate programmes are only one year.
On that note, Janeen, I would really like you to tell the people where can they reach us?
Thank you, Fiona. You will contact our dean’s office where you will talk with
our friendly Ms Liesl van Kerwel and you will reach her at the following number, 021 808 2138.
Then her email address is lek@sun.ac.za.
You can also go onto our link, our website link, www.sun.ac.za, and you will also
see there our calendar and also our yearbook.
Now, specifically for our young people and for our students that will become part of the University
of Stellenbosch, the quote of our late President Nelson Mandela.
He said, “Young people must take it upon themselves to ensure that they receive the highest education possible
so that they can represent us well in the future as future leaders.”
Now, we give over to you, Fiona.
On that note, all I’d like to say is thank you, enkosi, baie dankie.
It was a real nice trip with you and we hope to see you in the future. Thank you.