Course information

Please ensure that you complete the learning agreement in your application form. While you can list more courses than you need credits for, be sure to indicate how many credits you need, and also which courses you have to take. We will then liaise with the relevant SU departments. You can take fewer courses than those you have preapproved for, but not a course for which you have not been preapproved. Once we’ve received feedback from our departments on your course selection, we will return your learning agreement. Kindly ask your home coordinator to sign the final learning agreement. Also please note the following important information on courses at Stellenbosch University.

Course Admission Procedure at Stellenbosch University

Your listed courses are manually processed and evaluated to allow you a sufficient number to choose from for registration after arrival. The course admission procedure consists of these three phases:

Finding courses at Stellenbosch University

Mainstream Courses:

Undergraduate Courses

At Stellenbosch University, most undergraduate degree programmes are three years. The level of application is compared to the applicant’s academic background. However, first year level courses are open to all applicants. Courses on second or third (final) year level, pre-requisites need to be considered. If no pre-requisites are listed, applicants are encouraged to apply for the course target of their choice as well as lower level courses to enlarge the possibility of admission. The levels of the courses are indicated by the three-digit course code, also called module codes, as listed in Addendum A. Each course is presented by a specific academic Department, but also falls under a specific division, as indicated by a five-digit code.

Postgraduate Courses

Postgraduate courses at SU are either honours or master’s programmes. An honours programme is a year-long degree in which students further their studies in one of their majors. Modules from these degrees are indicated by a three-digit code, starting with a 7. Master’s course options, which are indicated by the number 8, are limited, as many master’s degrees at SU are thesis/research-based, and modular work is not always an option.

The postgraduate courses are listed in the front part of each faculty’s Calendar, or on the respective departments’ websites. For enquiries about SU’s postgraduate offering per semester, please contact our Global Education Centre, who will approach the relevant department for more information.  

Course Selection:

For general instructions on finding courses, please click here. For course selection information by department, click here. Both aforementioned links will direct you to, among others:

• SU’s online Calendar (for an overview of degree programmes and course lists by faculty); and
• the faculty websites, which, in turn, will lead you to the departments’ websites.

Useful links in your search for courses are supplied in the above two documents, and will lead you to:

• List of Courses that international students have taken in the past.
• The Online Yearbook (Overview of Degree Programmes and Course Lists per Faculty)
• The Faculty Websites (which will lead you to the Departments’ websites:)
• The Departments’ websites can also be found under the university’s A – Z links

Global Education Programmes (GEP) Offering:

For a summary of the GEP course offering, please download the GEP course offering.  We normally advise students to select their first-choice courses from the mainstream offering, for two reasons. Firstly, this will ensure that you have the chance to interact with your South African peers, since GEP courses are attended by international students only. Secondly, the mainstream offering has a much wider variety of course options to choose from.