DESPITE a low turnout at the Umbilo Glenwood Education Expo, matriculants who attended the event at Penzance Primary School on Saturday left feeling informed and equipped to take the next step into higher education.

The attendees were treated to one-on-one talks from Londeka Mbatha of UKZN, Sindi Zuma from the Central Applications Office (CAO) and Nokulunga Sibiya from eThekwini Skills Development. They were given options on courses that are still open for applications and had the NSFAS and CAO application process explained to them.

Mbatha explained the points system to the youngsters and what courses are offered by UKZN at its five campuses. As some of the attendees had already matriculated and were upgrading their marks, Mbatha highlighted how to make the best choices. She said, “The points that you see in the requirements are a baseline that you must aim to surpass. When we are doing acceptance, the selection process starts with the highest marks first and gradually goes down.”

Also Read: Umbilo Glenwood Education Expo to equip learners

Mbatha made an example that if the course requires 30 points, and the applicant has 34 while there are others with 38, that is where the selection process will begin. “When applying put the points out of your mind because that is the minimum required,” she said. “Yes you might qualify by meeting all the requirements, but you have to be mindful that others might have higher marks than you. It’s simple, you need to aim for higher marks than required.”

Zuma took the applicants through the application process to make sure that they tick the right boxes. “Applicants often make the mistake of not reading the notes that are stated in the requirements for each course,” said Zuma. “For some institutions, they want you to make your course selection either first or second choice, if you do not read those notes you will not know this and might not even be considered for that course because you failed to follow the guidelines stipulated.”

She said another mistake is to select one institution when applying. “KZN has plenty of higher education institutions and campuses; do not limit yourself to just one,” she advised, before educating the attendees on the rollover process.

The programme organiser, Ben Madokwe, said that he was pleased that those who attended left feeling informed. “The expo did the job that it was intended to do because we often hear complaints from the youth because they don’t know which road to take when applying,” said Madokwe.

He said there are plans to host the expo again early next year.

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