The University of the Free State (UFS) is excited to welcome all prospective first-year students to the Kovsie community! Please take note of the following important information regarding the official admission process to study at the university. 

ADMISSION PROCESS 2020

What can you expect from the UFS in the next few weeks? 

1. If you have received an offer during 2019, you should also have received the Financial Agreement. You have to complete, sign, and email the Financial Agreement to tuitionfees@ufs.ac.za as soon as possible. Failure to do so will delay your registration process.

2. Once we receive the National Senior Certificate (NSC) results from Universities South Africa (USAf) at the beginning of January 2020, we re-evaluate all applications, including offers made. Final selection is made subject to the availability of places, academic results, and other entry requirements where applicable. Kindly take note that due to limited space, fulfilling all the minimum entry requirements does not guarantee acceptance to study at the UFS, or entrance into any particular programme offered by the UFS.   

3. Once all 2020 admission offers have been reviewed, a confirmatory SMS will be sent to you during the course of January–February 2020 (as early as 9 January 2020 and onwards; however, no guarantee is made when, or if you will receive an SMS from the UFS) to inform you of your admission status for each programme that you applied for. A letter will also be emailed to you, which will confirm whether you have been accepted for the relevant programme (you will receive a letter for each programme you applied for). 

4. Should you receive communication constituting a final admission offer, you will be required to accept such offer within a specified time frame as set out in the correspondence constituting or communicating such final admission offer. The procedure to accept the final admission offer will be stipulated in this correspondence. Failure to accept a final admission offer within the prescribed time frame will result in automatic expiry of such offer upon expiry of the deadline. In other words, if you do not accept the final offer before the deadline, the final offer will be withdrawn.

REGISTRATION 2020

How to register
Registration dates

Registration is the process by which you formally register as a student at the UFS. 
1. Kindly take note that upon acceptance of a firm admission offer from the UFS, a registration information guide will be sent to you via email. The UFS will send out registration guides in mid-December for students who have already accepted their offers. Students who accept offers in January will receive their registration information guides within two working days.

2. Registration will take place according to a set schedule which will be detailed in the registration information guide. 

3. Adhering to the specific dates for registration is very important. Should you arrive for registration prior to the following dates, you will not be assisted with academic advice and will not be able to register during this period. Registration and academic advice for first-year students will take place: 
• 20–24 January 2020, daily between 08:00 and 15:00 for all undergraduate programmes presented on the Bloemfontein Campus. Note that no registration services will be available on weekends.
• 8-17 January 2020, daily between 08:00 and 15:00 on the Qwaqwa Campus.

Registration enquiries: If you have any queries, contact the Student Service Centre at +27 51 401 9666 or send an email quoting your student number to studentadmin@ufs.ac.za. Our friendly staff is ready to assist you.

Password enquiries:
If you have any password related queries, contact the ICT helpdesk on +27 51 401 2000 and select option two.

FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS

For complete information on the first payments, accommodation fees, banking details, and payment dates, please click on the following link: www.ufs.ac.za/kovsielife/student-finance 

If you are a self-funded student, please note that a first payment is payable five (5) working days prior to registration at the UFS. Should you neglect to pay the amount, you will not be able to register. The first payment must reflect as credits on your tuition-fees account. 

Should the tuition fees be less than the first payment required, the full amount is payable;

If you are a top achiever with a final AP of 35 and higher, you will receive a merit award according to the value that corresponds with your AP score. This amount will be automatically credited to your tuition-fee account after you have registered. If the merit award does not cover the first payment payable five (5) days prior to registration, you will have to pay the shortfall.

The first payment is not applicable if you (SA students only):

• Received a provisional offer from NSFAS for 2020 and a NSFAS bursary has been allocated to you by the UFS Financial Aid Office (you must receive a confirmation SMS in this regard from the Financial Aid Office). Please note that your NSFAS funding will not be valid if you register for a course that is not funded by NSFAS. If you want to register for a course that is not funded by NSFAS, you will have to pay the first payment five (5) days prior to registration.
• Receive financial aid (bursary/loan), excluding NSFAS. Proof of the financial aid must be faxed to 051 401 3759 five working days prior to registration. It is important that you present the original proof of the bursary/loan upon registration. Failure to do so will delay your registration.
• Receive a merit award that covers the whole amount of the first payment.

HOUSING AND RESIDENCE (ACCOMMODATION)

If you have applied for a residence on campus and have accepted the residence offer, you are reminded to pay the breakage deposit to the amount of R960. It is important to note that you will be finally admitted with your final NSC results. As the UFS has limited space in our on-campus residences, please note that payment of the breakage deposit does not guarantee final placement in an on-campus residence.

First-year students can move into residences on campus on:
• 11 January 2020: South Campus
• 17 January 2020: Bloemfontein Campus
• 25 January 2020: Qwaqwa Campus

To prepare yourself for residence life, click on the link for the list of items that you must bring along; follow the link to Residence Life for an overview of junior residences housed by the university.

If you want to check your application status for an on-campus residence, you can send an email to resapplications@ufs.ac.za. Use your student number as the reference number.

If you did not apply or you did not receive an offer for a place in an on-campus residence and therefore need to source off-campus accommodation, please click here or a list of accredited off-campus accommodation close to the campus.

WELCOMING OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ON ALL THREE CAMPUSES

First-year students and parents are invited to attend the official welcoming by the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Francis Petersen, as follows:

• Bloemfontein Campus
o Date: 18 January 2020
o Time: 19:00
o Venue: Red Square in front of the Main Building

• Qwaqwa Campus
o Date: 8 February 2020
o Time: 10:00
o Venue: Geography Auditorium

• South Campus
o Date: 31 January 2020
o Time: 08:30
o Venue: Madiba Arena

First-year students and parents are also invited to the faculty welcoming by the respective deans on the Bloemfontein Campus. You will have the opportunity to meet your faculty staff and receive critical academic information.
• Date: 18 January 2020
• Time: 09:00
• Venues: In the respective faculties (Bloemfontein Campus students only). Please see the Gateway booklet for venues.

ORIENTATION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS ON ALL THREE CAMPUSES

• Bloemfontein Campus
o 25 January 2020–1 February 2020

• Qwaqwa Campus
o 20 January 2020–1 February 2020

• South Campus
o 27 January 2020–31 January 2020

For more information, please contact the Gateway Orientation Office or click here
T: +27 51 401 9876
E: gateway@ufs.ac.za

MORE INFORMATION

For additional information, please visit the sites below on the UFS website:
• Student Finance
• Financial Aid and Bursaries 
• Academic Merit Bursary 
• International Students Information 
• Housing and Residences 

For more information about the faculty you applied to, please click on the following site: 

For more information about the programmes, please click on the following site:

UFS Prospectus 2020
Faculty booklet: Economic and Management Sciences
Faculty booklet: Education
Faculty booklet: Health Sciences
Faculty booklet: The Humanities
Faculty booklet: Law
Faculty booklet: Natural and Agricultural Sciences
Faculty booklet: Theology and Religion

How to find us
Bloemfontein Campus Interactive Map
Qwaqwa Campus Interactive Map
South Campus Interactive Map
Click here for GPS coordinates to our three campuses