The impact of the late release of matric results won’t affect the state of readiness for the 2023 academic year, according to the Department of Higher Education and Training.

Institutions’ planning processes are at an “advanced stage”, department spokesperson Ishmael Mnisi said, adding that they had been enrolling students since the middle of 2022.

“Effectively, teaching and learning will be continuing based on institutions’ planned and agreed academic programmes,” Mnisi told News24.

“Our first-year entry students are pre-admitted by our institutions regardless of their final results, so [that when] they are released, their registration will be finalised.

“Returning students do not have to wait as their progression is automatic when they have passed. Those who have not passed to the next level know their registration status by now and have made arrangements for their reregistration this year.”

Biki Lepota, the spokesperson for Umalusi, the council for quality assurance in general and further education and training, said the date for the release of the results had long been agreed upon.

According to Lepota, this was to accommodate the changes brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

“Things have had to be shifted slightly. The schedule we are working with now is the schedule that was approved last year, even before the start of the examinations.”

Lepota explained that the changes are a result of school closures in 2020. Because of these closures, the school timetable for 2021 was affected and this caused a ripple effect, which has resulted in the matric results being released only on 19 January.

On where the results are at present, Lepota said: “We have just gone through the standardisation of results across four assessment bodies for all the qualifications and we are preparing for the approval for the release of these results, which is happening next week.”

Umalusi standardises the matric exams across academic subjects and the various assessment bodies, such as the Department of Basic Education, Independent Examinations Board and the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute. This is to maintain one set standard across the various assessment boards and determine factors such as the matric pass rates, both overall and per subject, while assessing the quality of the exams and results.

The education department informed institutions last year of the later publication of results through the Universities South Africa body.

Walter Sisulu University spokesperson Yonela Tukwayo said this would not disrupt their university calendar.

An executive decision would be made “should there be a need to review the plans already in place”.

According to Lauren Kansley, spokesperson for the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), the university “will work within the limitations of the current situation to ensure courses are full”. She added that CPUT understood the pressures that this new schedule placed on students.

While the late release of the results would not cause any change to the universities’ rules regarding registration, it would add pressure to the institutions that now need to process applications in shorter time frames, as is the case with the University of Pretoria (UP), said Dr Abbey Mathekga, UP’s director of enrolment and student administration.

To accommodate this change, new students may register from 24 January, with classes at UP starting on 21 February. According to Mathekga, the university has prepared both its staff and students who have been conditionally accepted to mitigate the delay.

Much like UP, the University of the Western Cape would also have a shorter registration period, as well as a shorter timeframe for matriculants to accept their study offers, said spokesperson Gasant Abarder.

While universities are capable of managing the short timeframe between results being released and registration for new undergraduates, Carol Corsley, the registrar at Wits University, said matriculants may find themselves with “little room for any manoeuvrability” as they have a much shorter timeframe to make life-altering decisions such as which university they would like to attend and which degree to pursue.

According to Mnisi, NSFAS-funded students and returning students won’t be affected by the delay.

“The first entry students [new students] who qualify already received their feedback from NSFAS. They only need to submit to NSFAS their acceptance letters for their institution for final approval for funding,” Mnisi said

Applications are expected to close shortly after the results have been released.

News24