Department of Information Science

Stellenbosch University

Bachelor of Informatics Honours

Background

The dramatic uptake of information technology in organisational environments has fuelled the need for professional persons with a skill set enabling them to guide the organisation through the processes of the adoption and management of information technology. This programme aims to further enhance the knowledge and skills of graduates in the field of Informatics by building upon undergraduate foundations in an intensive one-year honours programme. The programme, like this academic domain, is distinctly interdisciplinary and draws from the computer, social and management sciences.

Programme Structure

The programme is a one-year (Jan-Dec), full-time course consisting of four modules of equal credit weighting (30 credits each).

  • Computing in Information Systems
    • This module has a practical orientation and covers project management, systems analysis and design, and software development projects. The module involves the completion of start-to-end software development projects in groups.
  • Advanced Information Systems Theory and Practice
    • In this module students are exposed to prominent and current theoretical discourses in the academic field of Information Systems. The module also covers contemporary trends in enterprise systems practice and information security. Finally, the module includes an overview of emerging technologies and the future impacts these may have on information systems development practice.
  • Information and Knowledge in Organisations
    • This module covers important contemporary themes relating to the harnessing of information and knowledge resources for optimal organisational performance. These themes include data analysis, social network analysis and knowledge engineering.
  • Research Assignment: Information Systems Management
    • In addition to taught modules students perform a research project under the supervision of a staff member. Research projects are typically conducted within one of the departmental research groups and focus on topics these groups are working on at the time. The staff page provides an indication of the research profiles of staff and serve as an indication of the sort of projects students can expect to work on.

The modules are presented in parallel throughout the year.

Specific Admission Requirements

Any Bachelor's degree (NQF Level 7 qualification) with specialisation in Informatics.

This should be interpreted to mean that a student has completed at least 48 credits, from a single subject of Informatics at NQF Level 7. Applicants can fufill this requirement by completing the required number of credits in any common subject in Informatics, including, but not limited to Organisational Informatics, Informatics, Information Systems, or Computer Science.

For applicants completing an undergraduate qualification at Stellenbosch University, this requirement should be met by majoring in either Organisational Informatics, or Computer Science.

Selection Process and Policy

Due to the limited number of places available in the programme, all applications are considered against the admission requirements for honours study at Stellenbosch University (see the Faculty Calendar), as well as the specific requirements outlined above. Meeting these criteria do not guarantee an applicant a place in the programme, and individual students are accepted to the programme against the selection policy below.

  1. The Department of Information Science will determine in each programme year the number of available places in the programme subject to the capacity of the Department. The Department will consider at most this number of applicants each year.
  2. If the number of qualifying applications exceeds the number of available places, all applicants are ranked according to their academic performance at NQF levels 6 and 7.
  3. In order to provide timeous feedback on applications, this ranking is performed twice in each application year, once in August and once in November. All applications received prior to the August cutoff will be considered in the first round, applications received after this cutoff are only considered in November.
  4. Provisional acceptance is offered, in August, to qualifying applicants who have passed at least 32 credits in Informatics at NQF level 6 and 24 credits in Informatics at NQF level 7. Applicants must have a credit weighted average of at least 65% across the Informatics modules at NQF level 6 and 7 to be considered in August. Applications with a lower average are only considered in November, subject to the availability of places.
  5. Due to the typical volume of applications, applicants with a credit weighted average of less than 60% across the NQF level 6 and 7 modules in Informatics will not be considered for a position.

How to Apply

Applications can be done through the post-graduate programmes website. Students are encouraged to apply as early as possible to ensure timeous consideration of their applications.

Programme Enquiries

Richard Barnett (Programme Coordinator)
[email protected]