Reconnaissance du diplôme de l'IB par les établissements d'enseignement supérieur

In May 2005 the Committee of University Principals (CUP) merged with the Committee for Technikon Principals (CTP) to become Higher Education South Africa (HESA) in 2005 but the jurisdiction of the Matriculation Board (MB) remained restricted to advising the Minister of Education via the CUP on the minimum requirements for admission to bachelor's degree studies, being a senior certificate obtained with matriculation endorsement.

The MB Office issues, on application, certificates of exemption from the matriculation endorsement requirements for bachelor's degree studies in South Africa, the senior certificate in accordance with the minimum admission requirements approved by the Minister and published in a Government Notice².

As from the new student intake in January 2009 an endorsed senior certificate, a certificate of exemption or a National Senior Certificate (NSC) passed with bachelor's degree admission, may be accepted for admission to bachelor's degree studies. Admission to undergraduate diplomas and higher certificates were determined by universities themselves up to 2008 but as from 2009 the minimum admission requirements for higher certificate and diploma studies on the basis of the NSC is also determined in the university admission policy.

Holders of qualifications other than the locally approved benchmarks - e.g. the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma or specified IB Certificate credits - are required to apply for certificates of exemption, the details of which can be accessed on the Matriculation Board's website Individual universities may require holders of IB qualifications to satisfy additional faculty or course admission requirements and holders of conditional exemption certificates are required to complete the required number of university courses for the bachelor's degree before a certificate of complete exemption can be issued with retrospective effect.

Applications for exemption certificates must be addressed to the Matriculation Board via the university concerned and must be accompanied by the application form, copies of the qualification and the relevant exemption fee and can be activated using the Online system of Assessment

Universities may be prepared to grant recognition for IB Higher Level (HL) subject passes, for which they may grant exemption from a first level requirement or course in that subject but not grant credit for it towards any degree. In practical terms it means that a candidate could be exempt from, for example, first-year Physics by virtue of a good pass in IB Physics HL, entitling the student to enrol for a more senior Physics course, but it would not count towards the degree. Universities are in such cases likely to require an outline for the IB course and a copy of a recent past exam paper. Where necessary, the Africa, Europe, Middle East regional office will supply appropriate documentation to universities.

The Senior Project Manager
Matriculation Board
PO Box 3854
0001 PRETORIA
SOUTH AFRICA
Tel: 27 12 481 2847/8

December 2008