Acceptance Process at South African Schools

Wanted to give everyone an update on the process to be accepted at UFS. I am sure that UNISA and other ZA schools operate in the same way. I started to make inquiries in July, and my MBA level field study topic was accepted in August (I have to do this first, since I did not have a masters with dissertation). I must wait until October before I can make a formal application to the program (even though I have already applied to the school), because a faculty member must agree to accept my topic. (they must feel competent to work with a given topic). So, there is still a chance that no one will take me on.

I am on a list of students with proposed topics, so that is a comforting sign. Once a faculty member agrees to work with you, then you negotiate your topic with them, and prepare a 10 page topic paper draft. I am prepared to add a ZA twist to my work, since it applies to business aspects of distance learning, and can be generalized to ZA organizations. If accepted, I will be required to make two oral presentations (in SKYPE) along with other milestones. Papers are typed in Arial Font with 1.5 inch spacing. APA is not a factor here, so the focus is on substance.

After I pass the field study, I will be accepted into the PhD program. This should be less onerous, since the field study will set the stage. BTW, there is much more communication at UFS than at traditional online schools, since they are really not a distance learning organization. They also do not have thousands of students in each program.

Since there is still a chance that I might not get accepted to UFS, I am also hedging my bets at Aspen's EDD program, which is reasonably rigorous. As a contrast, I started to apply at Aspen about the same time, and I am already underway in my first class. Aspen has been good to work with so far.

Once I see the way ahead, I will drop one of the schools from my signature. :yup:

 

Part of this is also because UFS is a 100% b&m university and courses run at set times. The same applies to applications. They basically have a yearly intake so regardless of when you apply, you will start at the beginning of the following year.
South African school pupils usually actually apply in their second-last year of high school. They can then get provisionally accepted to the university pending their final high school results. This also gives them a year to decide which uni to choose.