About MB
The Matriculation Board

The Matriculation Board is an advisory committee on minimum admission requirements to Higher Education South Africa (HESA), the organisation which marks the coming together of the South African Universities Vice-Chancellors Association (SAUVCA) and the Committee of Technikon Principals (CTP).

Responsible for setting minimum admission requirements to degree study on the basis of the senior certificate, the Matriculation Board has a long history that dates back to statutory responsibilities vested in the Joint Matriculation Board (JMB). The JMB operated from 1918 to 1992 when it was dissolved and its records were transferred to the Matriculation Board a statutory advisory structure of SAUVCA. The functions of moderation, examination and certification were transferred to the South African Certification Council – now known as Umalusi – while the function of determining minimum thresholds to degree study was taken over by the Matriculation Board.

The Higher Education Act of 1997 (read with the Universities Act of 1955 and the Technikons Act of 1993) provides for the functions of the Matriculation Board to determine minimum general university admission requirements (or better known as matriculation endorsement requirements). Umalusi endorses senior certificates of candidates who meet these requirements. Sections 7(1)(d) and 7(1)(e) as well as the transfer requirements of Section 7(3) provide the legal basis in terms of which matriculation endorsement/exemption regulations are determined and are published in the Government Gazette.

The functions performed by the Matriculation Board

The Matriculation Board has a staff component of 18 members who are responsible for administering the ministerially approved endorsement and exemption regulations and resolutions. The Matriculation Board committee continues to fulfill its statutory role and function in regulating admissions to degree study, which entails a range of services:

• Certifying applications for exemption from the matriculation endorsement requirements;
• Benchmarking foreign and SADC qualifications and maintaining international profiles on 169 countries; and;
• Providing critical advisory services to schools, parents and HE institutions.

In its service to students and institutions in 2006, more than 28 000 certificates were issued and the Matriculation Board continues to provide an important service to students who do not meet the statutory minimum admission requirements to enter first HE degree studies in South Africa.

The Acting Chairperson of the Matriculation Board committee is Mr Hugh Amoore and the other members are:

Prof Izak Broere
Prof Nico Crowther
Prof Joe Teffo
Prof Henry Thipa.

Umalusi also sends a representative to the Matriculation Board meetings.

Mr Hugh Amoore, as one person Exemptions Committee and Matriculation Board member, advises the Matriculation Board, and ultimately HESA, on admission policy issues.

With the phasing in of the new policy on minimum admission requirements, the services of the Matriculation Board and future Minimum Admissions Services will be extended to include the regulation of minimum entry requirements to certificate, diploma and degree study and its services will, in time, be offered to both public and private HE institutions.

In the interim transition period the Deputy-Director General (HE Branch) has requested that HESA develop a proposal related to the regulation of minimum admission requirements in terms of the current qualification frameworks (i.e. Reports 116 and 150), as well as determine entry requirements to specific programmes of study in terms of the new schools curriculum and draft HEQF. Both tasks will be attended to as a matter of priority.

The Admissions Committee as HESA standing committee operates in parallel to the existing Matriculation Board with the priority task to prepare HE institutions for the 2008/9 admissions cycle and needs to align admissions systems with the new schools exit qualification, the National Senior Certificate (NSC).

The Chairperson of the Admissions Committee is Prof Vuyisa Tanga and the other members are

Mr Hugh Amoore
Prof Magda Fourie
Prof Duma Malaza
Dr Ingrid Miller
Prof Henry Thipa
Dr Cay van der Merwe.

A further structure central to the operations of the Matriculation Board and the Admissions Committee is the Consultative Forum for HE Admission Requirements. Approved in 1996 as a sub-structure of the Heads of Education Committee (HEDCOM), this Forum is chaired by the Matriculation Board chairperson and it has proved invaluable in providing a constructive space for debating critical issues related to HE admissions regulation, and apart from representatives from the public HE sector a wide range of stakeholders is included:

• Representatives from each of the nine provinces;
• The national Department of Education;
• Umalusi;
• The Independent Examinations Board (IEB); and
• The South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).

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