Vice-chancellors of South Africa’s universities have rejected reports that prospective students must write compulsory entrance exams in 2009.
Several newspapers said the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors’ Association (SAUVCA) decided that students must write entrance exams because the proposed new grading system will be unreliable.
The SAUVCA’s decision reportedly meant that even after obtaining a Further Education and Training Certificate (FETC), which will replace the matric certificate in 2008, students will still have to complete an entrance exam to test their academic literacy.
But SAUVCA chief executive Piyushi Kotecha said the reports were ”factually incorrect”.
”The introduction of benchmark tests by the higher-education sector is a move to augment and not replace the Senior Certificate and the FETC.”
Kotecha said many universities conducted their own internal tests in the past.
”This expertise will now be pooled with the introduction of a national benchmark to establish, for example, mathematical and literacy competencies.
”This will allow the higher-education institutions to better place students in appropriate fields of study and to provide greater levels of support, thereby enhancing their chance of success,” she said.
Kotecha said the SAUVCA’s ”benchmark tests are an empowering mechanism, which will help applicants, parents, schools, colleges and the public at large”.
”We are working towards systemic coherence rather than negating the value of the new certificate,” he said. — Sapa