Higher Education Institutions currently provide qualifications in terms of the following policies:

A Qualification Structure for Universities in South Africa - NATED Report 116 (99/02)

General Policy for Technikon Instructional Programmes - NATED Report 150 (97/01)

Formal Technikon Instructional Programmes in the RSA - NATED Report 151 (99/01)

Revised Qualifications Framework for Educators in Schooling, in Norms and Standards for Educators (Government Gazette No. 20844, February, 2000)

The Education White Paper 3, A Programme for the Transformation of Higher Education (1997) proposed a single qualifications framework for higher education. In this regard, a unitary higher education qualifications framework will replace the above policies.

The purpose of this policy is to provide for a policy on the statutory minimum admission requirements in terms of the National Senior Certificate, whose specifications were approved by the Minister of Education in the National Senior Certificate - A qualification at level 4 on the National Qualifications Framework, Government Gazette, Vol. 481, No. 27819, July 2005, for undergraduate higher education qualifications and programmes, namely the Higher Certificate, Diploma and Bachelor’s Degree.

The National Senior Certificate will first be issued in 2008. Students entering higher education in 2009 must therefore meet the requirements of this policy. The policy will be implemented from 1 January 2009.