Given the COVID-19 pandemic, both the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) and University of Cape Town (UCT) have waived the requirements for first entering students for the 2021 academic year to sit for the National Benchmarking Tests (NBT). The NBT is a university entry examination required by a number of South African universities as an admission requirement.
In a notice to prospective applicants, UCT Registrar Royston Pillay, called on applicants to submit their Grade 11 final reports as part of their applications as these would be important in assisting the university to make conditional offers study.
The Executive Management team of Wits also issued a statement advising prospective students that NBT will not be a requirement for admission to study in the 2021 academic year. “After due consideration of the matter, and given the exceptional circumstances in which we find ourselves at this moment, we have agreed that the results of the NBTs will not be taken into consideration when students apply for the first year of study in 2021. This means that the NBTs will not form part of Wits University’s admission criteria for 2021 for students applying for the first time,” the team said in the statement, further stressing that this measure is for 2021 only.
NBTs go online
Meanwhile, the Centre for Educational Testing for Access and Placement (CETAP) has announced that it will now conduct the NBT tests online in July 2020. “Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are unable to offer national sessions during lockdown level 3. There is far too much uncertainty as to when the lockdown will ease and when venues will become available. The national sessions will only resume and be limited to certain venues once lockdown level 1 is reached. Kindly note at this point we cannot give any confirmed dates for such sessions and strongly encourage you to write the Online NBT,” says CETAP.
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