Glossary Of Higher Education Planning Terms
The glossary consists of a number of frequently used terms. If you have questions about other terms please contact iiu.dataqueries@uct.ac.za, and we can add it to the list.
Contents:
Academic Year of Study (AYOS)
Academic Progression, Academic Exclusion and Academic Progress Codes
Courses and Course Levels (HEMIS)
Course Cesms
Course Credit Value
Drop-out in Good Academic Standing (GAS)
Entrance Category
Exemption Status (Senior Certificate)
Exemption Status (National Senior Certificate)
Full-Time Equivalent Enrolments
Graduation Rate
Head Count Student Enrolment
Longitudinal Study (Cohort Analysis)
Mature Student
Qualification
Qualification Types (Hemis)
Retention Rate
Short Course
Student
Success Rate
Time to Degree
Throughput Rate
An indicator of a student’s seniority within a particular programme. The academic year of study is of importance at the undergraduate level, and within structured postgraduate programmes (such as the MCRP and MCPUD in the EBE Faculty) only. It should be noted that UCT’s 6 Faculties currently have different approaches to locating an undergraduate student in an AYOS, but in all cases a first-time entering undergraduates is located in AYOS=1 and a potential finalist in AYOS=3 (in the case of a 3-year programme), in AYOS=4 (of a 4-year programme) or in AYOS=6 in the case of the MBChB.
Academic Progression, Academic Exclusion and Academic Progress Codes
Academic Standing Codes
|
Code |
Status |
Description |
Used by |
|
CONT |
Good Standing |
Academically eligible to continue |
FEC |
|
DECD |
Good Standing |
Deceased |
SRO |
|
DJPP |
Pending |
Status pending misconduct hearing |
SRO |
|
DJP* |
Pending |
[Disciplinary code associated with underlying academic standing] |
FO(AA) |
|
DSOS |
Pending |
FO to update academic status (when there is a change mid-year before the meeting of the FEC at year end) |
FO/SRO |
|
EXPL |
Dismissed |
Expelled for misconduct |
SRO |
|
FAIL |
Dismissed |
Failed the qualification |
FEC |
|
FECC |
Good Standing |
Concession (FEC) to continue |
FEC |
|
FECF |
Good Standing |
Concession (FEC) to change programme within Faculty |
FEC |
|
FECP |
Pending |
Status pending FEC decision |
FEC |
|
FECR |
Good Standing |
Progression requirements not met but allowed to continue |
FEC |
|
INQF |
Pending |
Graduation depends on fee clearance |
SRO1 |
|
LEAV |
Pending |
Leave of absence |
FO(AA) |
|
POTA |
Pending |
Potential qualifier Autumn |
FO(AA) |
|
POTD |
Pending |
Potential qualifier December |
FO (AA) |
|
POTJ |
Pending |
Potential qualifier July |
FO (AA) |
|
QUAL |
Good Standing |
Qualifies for award of degree/diploma |
FEC |
|
QUAS |
Pending |
Qualification depends on supp/DE results |
FEC |
|
RACB |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to continue after Semester 1 probation |
RAC |
|
RACC |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to continue in same Faculty and Programme |
RAC |
|
RACF |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to change programme within Faculty |
RAC |
|
RACL |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to return after leave of absence |
RAC |
|
RACO |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to return after prescribed break |
RAC |
|
RACP |
Pending |
Status pending RAC decision |
RAC |
|
RACT |
Good Standing |
Concession (RAC) to transfer from another Faculty |
RAC |
|
RENN |
Dismissed |
Academically not eligible to continue |
FEC |
|
REVK |
Revoked |
Qualification revoked |
FEC |
|
RLOA |
Pending |
Return from leave of absence |
FO(AA) |
|
RUST |
Dismissed |
Rusticated for misconduct |
SRO |
|
SCAN |
Good Standing |
Student has cancelled |
FO(AA) |
|
SUPP |
Pending |
Status pending : continue if SUPP/DE exams passed |
FEC |
|
UXAM |
Pending |
Under examination |
FO |
1 On advice from Fees Office
Codes used by the FEC:
The CONT code is given to students who may return without a concession or restriction in the following year.
The FAIL code is given to students who have failed the dissertation and hence the qualification.
The FECC code should be used where a student has failed to meet the published minimum readmission requirements, but is granted a concession by the FEC to continue. Certain conditions may be set (eg, move from CA stream to another in the same programme).
The FECF code should be used where a student has failed to meet the published minimum readmission requirements, but is granted a concession by the FEC to continue in another programme in the faculty (eg, a BBusSc student is allowed to continue with a BCom).
The FECR code is used to identify all students who must be given specialised curriculum advice appropriate to their situation before registration. This allows students a ‘first miss’ of the readmission requirements without being excluded.
The QUAL code is used when the candidate has completed all degree requirements and will graduate.
The QUAS code is used where the candidate has potentially met all the degree requirements and will graduate pending the positive outcome of the DE or supp exam. These students are reviewed by the FEC in February and either become QUAL or, if the DE or supp is failed, CONT (or even FECC or RENN).
The RENN code is for students who:
a.) have failed to meet the published minimum readmission requirements,
AND
b.) the FEC has decided not to grant a concession to readmit as it appears from the record that they will not succeed.These are two separate decisions: No exclusion is automatic, or based on a.) only.These students will need to appeal to the RAC and show grounds (personal circumstances, trauma etc) that have prevented satisfactory progress. Based on the appeal, the RAC may readmit them.
The SUPP code is a temporary code (the final code needs to be decided when the DE or Supp result is known). It is to be used ONLY where the outcome of the DE or supp exam is decisive in deciding whether a student may continue or not. It should not be given to all students who have a supp or DE. If the FEC is able to judge based on the other courses, that the student is able to continue then a CONT or FECC code should be given, (or that a student should be excluded then RENN). Students coded SUPP are required to appeal in case the outcome of the DE or Supp exam is a fail.
During year-end processing, if there is a DJPP academic standing on a student’s record the faculty office must update the academic standing to one of the combined academic/disciplinary codes (listed below). The combined codes will enable both the academic and disciplinary standing of a student to be recorded and displayed on the system. At the time of year-end processing, the DJPP must not be left on the record or overwritten with a regular academic standing code as this causes problems both academically and with the disciplinary process but it must be updated to the relevant combined academic/disciplinary code. If the disciplinary is cleared after the faculty office has entered the combined academic/disciplinary code, SRO will update the system with the applicable regular academic standing code.
Please also note that the DSOS academic standing code is a holding code until the final academic standing is available and the description indicates ‘FO (Faculty Office) to update academic standing’. SRO uses DSOS when students complete disciplinaries (so are no longer DJPP) but the final academic standing isn’t available yet. At the time of year-end processing, the DSOS must not be left on the record, faculty offices should update the record with the applicable regular academic standing code.
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Courses and Course Levels (HEMIS)
A course is an identifiable component of a programme of study for a programme or qualification. A course may be taken over more than a year, over a year, or over a semester or shorter period. Each course is identified by a unique “course code”, and course results for each student are recorded in PeopleSoft.
Each course is assigned a course level, based on an assessment of the intended level of complexity of the course materials associated or on the level of comprehension required of students taking the course. Course level categories are not dependent on the year of study of the curriculum in which courses to be classified appear.
The following course levels apply:
Lower undergraduate: courses which require a level of comprehension normally associated only with undergraduate diplomas or certificates. Lower undergraduate courses carry a weighting of 1 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Intermediate undergraduate: courses which require a level of comprehension normally associated with a general academic first bachelor’s degree. Intermediate undergraduate courses carry a weighting of 1 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Higher undergraduate: courses which require a level of comprehension normally associated with the fourth or subsequent years of a professional first bachelor’s degree. Higher undergraduate courses carry a weighting of 2 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Preparatory postgraduate: postgraduate courses which require a level of comprehension normally associated with general academic first bachelor’s degrees or with undergraduate diplomas or certificates. Most courses taken within postgraduate diplomas are deemed to be of a preparatory nature. Preparatory postgraduate courses carry a weighting of 1 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Lower postgraduate: courses which require a level of comprehension normally associated with honours degrees. Lower postgraduate courses carry a weighting of 2 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Intermediate postgraduate (non-research): non-research courses offered at a level of comprehension normally associated with masters degrees. Intermediate postgraduate (non-research) courses carry a weighting of 3 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Intermediate postgraduate (research): research courses at a level of comprehension normally associated with masters degrees. Intermediate postgraduate (research) courses carry a weighting of 3 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Higher postgraduate (non-research): non-research courses offered at a level of comprehension normally associated with a doctoral degree. Higher postgraduate (non-research) courses carry a weighting of 4 in the Teaching Input Grid.
Higher postgraduate (research): research courses at a level of comprehension normally associated with a doctoral degree. Higher postgraduate (research) courses carry a weighting of 4 in the Teaching Input Grid.
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Course Cesms
Each course is also assigned to a specific course CESM (Classification of Educational Subject Matter) group, based on the disciplinary nature of the bulk of the course content. The first order (first two digits) of the CESM classification of each course are important in the New Funding Framework: first order CESM categories are grouped as follows within the Teaching Input Grid:
CESM’s 07 (Education), 13 (Law), 14 (Librarianship), 20 (Psychology), 21 (Social services/public administration) are in Funding Group 1 and carry a Funding Group Weighting of 1.
CESM’s 04 (Business/commerce), 05 (Communication), 06 (Computer Science), 12 (Languages), 18 (Philosophy/religion), 22 (Social Sciences) are in Funding Group 2 and carry a Funding Group Weighting of 1.5.
CESM’s 02 (Architecture/planning), 08 (Engineering), 10 (Home Economics), 11 (Industrial Arts), 16 (Mathematical Sciences), 19 (Physical education) are in Funding Group 3 and carry a Funding Group Weighting of 2.5
CESM’s 01 (Agriculture), 03 (Fine and Performing Arts), 09 (Health Sciences), 15 (Life and Physical Sciences) are in Funding Group 4 and carry a Funding Group Weighting of 3.3
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Course Credit Value
The credit value of a course is the fraction which it constitutes of a full-time curriculum in a year of study of a specific programme or qualification. The credit value for a course may vary depending on the structure of the programme or qualification for which it is being undertaken by a student.
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Drop-out in Good Academic Standing (GAS)
A student who leaves the university without completing his/her qualification, and who has not been excluded from the institution on academic grounds, is considered to have dropped out in good academic standing.
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Entrance Category
This defines the status of a student in terms of prior qualifications and experience at UCT and elsewhere:
A first time entering undergraduate student (FU) is effectively registered for an undergraduate programme and has not in the past been effectively registered in any higher education programme either at UCT or elsewhere.
A first-time entering postgraduate student (FP) is effectively registered for a postgraduate programme and has not in the past been effectively registered for a postgraduate programme at UCT or elsewhere.
A transfer undergraduate student (TU) is effectively registered in the an undergraduate programme and has not at any time in the past been effectively registered at the UCT for any higher education programme, but has at some time in the past been effectively registered for a higher education programme at some other higher education institution.
A transfer postgraduate (TP) is effectively registered for a postgraduate programme and has not been effectively registered for a postgraduate programme at UCT, but at some time in the past has been effectively registered for a postgraduate programme at some other institution.
An entering undergraduate (EU)has been formerly registered at UCT, and is effectively registered for an undergraduate qualification for a qualification which he/she has not followed at any time in the past at the UCT.
An entering postgraduate (EP) has been formerly registered as a postgraduate at UCT he/she has not been effectively registered at any time in the past at UCT.
A Non-entering undergraduate (NU) is effectively registered at UCT for an undergraduate and has been previously registered for the same qualification at UCT.
A Non-entering postgraduate (NP)is effectively registered for a postgraduate degree programme for which s/he has been effectively registered at some time in the past at UCT.
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Exemption Status (Senior Certificate)
The secondary education completion status of a student. The following completion status codes are used at UCT (the equivalent HEMIS codes are shown in brackets):
| Full matriculation exemption: | FM (01) |
| Ordinary conditional exemption: | CO (02) |
| Mature age exemption: | CM (03) |
| Foreign conditional exemption: | CF (04) |
| Senate discretionary exemption: | CS (06) |
| School leaving certificate: | SL (07, usually) |
| Failed: | FD |
| Not known: | NN (99) |
Note: For the purposes of the HEMIS submission, institutions are only required to report the secondary education completion status of first-time entering undergraduate students.
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Exemption Status (National Senior Certificate)
The relevant NSC achievement symbols are:
| Bachelor’s entry | BE |
| Diploma entry | DE |
| Higher Certificate Entry | CE |
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Full-Time Equivalent Enrolments
An FTE student enrolment takes as a unit a student who is following a standard full-time curriculum. A part-time student who is taking (say) one third of a standard curriculum is counted as 0.33 of an FTE enrolment. FTE enrolments per department and per Faculty are built up from the course level, summing the unweighted credit values per course.
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Graduation Rate
This is a percentage computed from a simple fraction where the numerator is the graduate total and the denominator is all enrolled students in the programme, qualification, qualification type etc. The Department of Education makes use of the following benchmark graduation rates by qualification type in arriving at planned FTE enrolments per institution:
| General academic (3-year) bachelors’ degrees: | 25% (22,5%) |
| Professional first bachelors’ degrees: | 20% (18%) |
| Postgraduate diplomas: | 60% (54%) |
| Honours degrees: | 60% (54%) |
| Masters degrees: | 33% (30%) |
| Doctoral degrees: | 20% |
“Softened” versions of the graduation rate benchmarks (up to and including masters degrees) are used in the normative Teaching Output calculation within the New Funding Formula. These are shown in brackets above.
DISCLAIMER
The calculation of the Graduation Rate is useful under static conditions but not during enrolment growth.
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Head Count Student Enrolment
A head count enrolment total is literally a counting of heads, which implies that full-time as well as part-time students are taken as units. Unduplicated head count enrolments are used where required in Funding Formula calculations: where a student is concurrently registered for two programmes, only the more senior programme, or the first alphabetically where both programmes are at the same level, is included.
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Longitudinal Study (Cohort Analysis)
A study by means of which an entering cohort of students is tracked on a year to year basis in order to assess their persistence, final academic outcomes cohort completion rate at UCT. At the undergraduate level, longitudinal analyses are usually carried out on cohorts of first-time entering (FU) students in particular programmes or qualifications, and such studies allow for tracking these students across n+2 calendar years, where n is the minimum formal time of the programme being investigated.
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Mature Student
The University Dashboard counts all students aged 23 years or more as mature students. (Note that this differs from the cut-off age of 24 years used in standard participation rate calculations.) Of particular interest is the group of mature students who entered UCT via mature age exemptions (UCT Exemption Type = CM, HEMIS SECED field = 03), which would include students entering the University via RPL (recognition of prior learning).
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Qualification
A qualification is the degree, diploma or certificate which an institution awards to a student on the successful completion of a programme of studies.
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Qualification Types (HEMIS)
The following formal qualification types are offered at UCT:
- Undergraduate certificate: a qualification which has a minimum duration of less than 3 years and which does not have a bachelor’s degree or diploma as an entry requirement
- Undergraduate diploma: a qualification which normally has a minimum duration of 3 years and has a grade 12 pass or equivalent as a minimum entry requirement
- General academic first bachelor’s degree: a qualification which has a minimum duration of 3 years and which has a grade 12 pass with matriculation exemption as a minimum entry requirement
- Professional first bachelor’s degree: a qualification which has a minimum duration of 4 or more years and which has a grade 12 pass with matriculation exemption as a minimum entry requirement.
- Postgraduate diploma: a qualification which has a first bachelor’s degree as a minimum entry requirement and which has a minimum duration of 1 year.
- Postgraduate bachelor’s degree: a qualification which has a first bachelor’s degree as a minimum entry requirement and has a minimum duration of either 1 or 2 years. Note that the 2 postgraduate bachelor’s degrees offered by UCT (the postgraduate LLB and the BArch) were both re-classified as professional first bachelor’s degrees (in 2002) and the levels of the component courses have been adjusted accordingly.
- Honours degree: a qualification which has a first bachelor’s degree as a minimum entry requirement and has a minimum duration of 1 year.
- Master’s degree: a qualification which has either a first bachelor’s degree or an honours degree as a minimum entry requirement, which is of a level higher than that of an honours degree and which has a minimum duration of 1 year.
- Doctoral degree: a qualification which has either an honours or master’s degree as a minimum entry requirement, which is of a level higher than a master’s degree and which has a minimum duration of 2 years
| HEQSF Qualfication Types | Nqf Exit Levels |
| 00 | Pre-tertiary |
| 01 | Lower undergraduate |
| 02 | Intermediate undergraduate |
| 03 | Higher undergraduate |
| 04 | Preparatory post-graduate |
| 05 | Lower post-graduate |
| 06 | Intermediate post-graduate (non-research) |
| 07 | Intermediate post-graduate (research) |
| 08 | Higher post-graduate (non-research) |
| 09 | Higher post-graduate (research) |
Retention Rate
The retention rate for a particular programme (or group of students registered for a programme) most usefully examines the average proportion of students registered in year n (by entrance category and academic year of study) who re-register in year n+1.
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Short Course
Short courses form part of ‘continuing education’ provision by higher education institutions (please see entry on ‘continuing education’ above). which includes a wide range of courses and services such as occupationally orientated professional development courses, access courses, community education, and specialised training. In line with international trends the overarching term ‘continuing education’ will be used in this policy. However the distinction between CE courses that are credit bearing or non-credit bearing as defined in the SAQA Guidelines (SAQA, 2003, p11) will be retained.
UCT’S short course policy covers courses which are not credit bearing, or which are not designed to carry sufficient credits for the award of a full higher education qualification, which at this stage means a minimum of 120 credits. This policy therefore covers all courses which are less than 120 hours/credits. UCT policy recognises four categories of short courses:
1. Courses which are taken for personal enrichment for which a certificate of attendance may or may not be required and which are not credit bearing e.g. summer school courses offered by the Department of Extra-mural Studies.
2. Courses which are taken to meet the requirements for continued professional registration or continuing professional development but which are not credit bearing
3. Courses which are designed to enable learners to obtain credits towards qualifications or which would enable learners to get exemption from parts of a UCT programme included in UCT’s PQM, if the student subsequently registers as a bona fide student for a full qualification. This will only be possible where the design of the full qualification allows for this to happen.
4. Courses which are based on unit standards registered on the NQF, but not aligned with any programme that is part of UCT’s PQM.
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Student
In order to be considered for government funding (subsidy) a student must:
(a) be in possession of either a senior certificate with endorsement or certificate of exemption, or a senior certificate without endorsement, or be admitted at Senate’s discretion.
(b) be enrolled for a course which forms part of the institutions’ formally approved suite of degree/diploma/certificate programmes (i.e. those qualifications that have been accredited by the HEQC and whose introduction has been approved by the relevant government authority)
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Success Rate
This term is most often used in the context of course rather than programme performance, and refers to the percentage of passes in relation to the total course registrations. In some cases, FTE rather than head count success rates are used: the Department of Education, for example, commonly reviews the overall undergraduate course FTE success rates, by population group, for each institution.
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Time to Degree
The number of years of actual registration for a particular qualification, per graduate in that qualification. The unit values (per student) are often averaged across graduating cohorts, or in relation to specific interest groups within graduating cohorts.
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Throughput Rate
This term is variously used to refer to the graduation rate, the year-to-year retention rate and the cohort completion rate, amongst others. It is more useful therefore to more clearly specify which of these intended.
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