Education degrees are the most popular among first-year university students this year.
A survey by the Sunday Times, in which 17 out of the 26 universities responded, said the three most popular career choices were teaching, law and medicine.
The 26 institutions received about 1.6-million applications for 206,033 places across all disciplines.
The distance-learning University of SA (Unisa) received 196,422 applications for 73,928 places from those wanting to teach, and 117,990 for 6,000 places in the higher certificate in education, which helps students meet the minimum requirements.
The University of the Free State received 35,647 applications for 1,662 first-year places in the education faculty. Spokesperson Lacea Loader said bursaries were most common for studies in education, natural and agricultural sciences, and humanities.
Rathnum Naidoo, registrar of Sol Plaatje University in the Northern Cape, said 57% of first-year applications were for a teaching degree.
At the University of Limpopo, 23,097 applications — about a third of 74,760 received — were from prospective teachers. A further 11,111 were for the LLB degree.
Spokesperson Johannes Selepe said the education degree was in high demand because of “a guaranteed job” after graduation.
North West University’s Louis Jacobs said 29,885 applications were received for education courses, 20,236 for economic and management sciences and 16,575 for health sciences.
The University of Johannesburg’s (UJ’s) Herman Esterhuizen said education, law, social work and selected programmes in the College of Business and Economics “fill up very quickly”.
UJ dean of education Professor Sarah Gravett said future employment prospects were particularly bright for maths or science teachers or those specialising in foundation phase teaching (grades R to 2).
Stellenbosch University spokesperson Martin Viljoen said it had provisionally admitted 11,500 first-year students after receiving 45,000 applications.
The University of Venda said that social work, teaching and law were most popular.
Ashton Bodrick, spokesperson for the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), said teaching, engineering, law, medicine and social work were in high demand. “Places in these programmes are highly contested.’’
The University of the Witwatersrand’s medical school attracted 14,000 applicants, the highest in the country, for 220 places. The University of Cape Town’s medical school received 8,000 applications for 220 places; UKZN 7,000 applications for 250 places; and Stellenbosch 4,364 applications for 290 places.
Wits spokesperson Buhle Zuma said: “Currently, provisional offers are being made to consistent top academic performers and final offers will be made to applicants once the final matric examination results are released.”
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