The University of the Free State (UFS) has an enrolment capacity of 8 900 for first-time entering undergraduate students in 2019, approved by the university’s Senate and the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET). To date, the institution has received over 52 000 applications for these limited spaces.
Impact of over-enrolment
Although the UFS has significantly increased its student enrolment numbers in the past few years, the university has reached its admissions capacity and is not able to take walk-in applicants in 2019.
Over-enrolment has a serious impact on students in terms of the academic integrity of the university’s academic programmes. It stretches the university’s resource capacity, which affects the workload of academic and support staff and negatively impacts the university’s infrastructure, given the limited space in lecture venues and laboratories.
Central Application Clearing House
For the 2019 registration period, applicants without an acknowledgement letter for 2019 study or who submitted an application after the closing date of 30 September or who do not have an offer to study, should apply to the Central Application Clearing House (CACH).
CACH is an initiative of the Department of Higher Education and Training, offering a service to assist applicants who wish to study at one of the many South African universities or colleges in 2019, but have not yet applied or been offered a place at the institution where they applied.
Applicants without an acknowledgement letter for 2019 study or who submitted an application after the closing date of 30 September or who do not have an offer to study, are advised not to come to the University of the Free State’s campuses, but to access CACH via the link: http://cach.dhet.gov.za.
Note
Definition of walk-in applicants are those prospective undergraduates:
- without an acknowledgement letter for 2019 study or
- who submitted an application after the closing date of 30 September 2018 or
- who do not have an offer to study