Application open for postgraduate studies

The two-year part-time Honours degree is primarily aimed at people working in the IS/IT industry with non-IS qualifications, but at least three years’ relevant working experience. In the absence of tertiary education qualifications, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) will be used as a criterion for admission. Contact the department for our RPL policy, Students have a choice of four streams:

• Bachelor of Commerce Honours specialising in Management Information Systems
• Bachelor of Commerce Honours specialising in Cybersecurity
• Bachelor of Commerce Honours specialising in Enterprise Systems and Business Process Management
• Bachelor of Commerce Honours specialising in Business and Systems Analysis

In their first year, students complete coursework in modular blocks. In their second year, students complete a supervised research project. Admission into the second year of the programme is subject to a student’s academic performance (i.e. at least 65% in the first year). If their academic performance is not at the required level, they will convert to a Postgraduate Diploma.

Further information is available at:

http://www.sit.uct.ac.za/sit/postgrad/management-in-information-systems

The two year part-time Postgraduate Diploma is primarily aimed at people working in the IS/IT industry with non-IS qualifications, but at least three years’ relevant working experience. In the absence of tertiary education qualifications, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) will be used as a criterion for admission. Contact the department for our RPL policy. Students have a choice of four streams:

• Information Systems Management
• Cybersecurity
• Enterprise Systems and Business Process Management
• Business and Systems Analysis

In the first year, students complete coursework in modular blocks. There are four block weeks in a year. Block week 1 will be conducted in Jan (Face to Face) on campus in Cape Town. The dates and modes of learning for block 2, 3 and 4 will be announced by the convenors at the beginning of the year.

In their second year, students complete a work-related project using the knowledge gained in their first year of study. Those with good academic performance (i.e. at least 65% in the first year) may be invited to convert to the Part-Time Honours programme.

Further information is available at:

http://www.sit.uct.ac.za/sit/postgrad/management-in-information-systems

This highly innovative one-year, full-time Honours programme targets recent graduates majoring in IS (or other relevant fields) The programme focuses on the major contemporary issues in practice and recent research contributions in the field of IS applications and management. Students work closely with academics in their research and systems development projects.

Applicants are expected to have obtained an overall credit-weighted average of at least 65% for their third year IS/CS major courses, have programming experience at third year level and have a good overall academic record. Applicants may be required to write an entrance exam.  Work experience is not necessary.

The programme will commence on 3rd February 2025.

Further information is available at

http://www.sit.uct.ac.za/sit/postgrad/honours_information-systems

The full-time honours industry steam affords students to include experiential learning in their programme. The students spend one year in a workplace environment through an internship programme or through a full-time arrangement with the aim of integrating the knowledge obtained in the modules in the programme. Students complete a work-related project using the knowledge gained in the programme. Note that this is a different programme to the Part Time Honours in IS.

We encourage applicants who do not have enough programming skills to qualify for the 1-year programme, to apply for the Industry Stream. To qualify for the programme, applicants must be employed (e.g. internship). However, they do not require 3 years of work experience. An applicant who recently completed an undergraduate degree in IS (or other relevant fields) and who has a job offer could be considered for the Industry Stream. Applicants are also required to submit a 500-word write-up on their work-related project they are planning to work on

Should an applicant be accepted into the programme, they will be required to attend lectures and participate in all course activities. The programme commences on 3rd February 2025.

To qualify, applicants are expected to have obtained an overall credit-weighted average of at least 65% for their third year IS/CS major courses, have a good overall academic record and have a job offer.

The Master’s degree is offered by coursework and dissertation or, in certain circumstances, by dissertation only. It is open to students with a good Honours degree in IS (or other relevant fields). Students with exceptionally strong and broad research background are accepted for the master’s by Dissertation only degree course. Students can complete the programme within 18 months. Coursework seminars are conducted online, and weekly from 4pm-6pm on Monday and 5pm-7pm on Thursday. However, there will be three (3) compulsory weekly seminars on Campus in Jan, May and June.

Current research areas include IS Education and Educational Technology; ICT Innovations, and the Use of ICT for innovation; IS Management/Project Management/Systems Development/Cybersecurity and ICT for Development, among others.

Further information is available at:

http://www.sit.uct.ac.za/sit/postgrad/masters-information-systems

The MIT degree is by coursework and research, using mainly self-study materials for the coursework – with no lectures. The programme is aimed at graduate students without a degree in computer science or information technology/systems.

The MIT programme comprises two components: (i) coursework (courses, assignments and exams), (ii) a minor dissertation, done in the final year. The coursework can be done in a single year but may be done over two years (four modules per year) for part-time students. Students in this programme do not need to be resident in Cape Town - the coursework is online and all work is submitted online. However, students are expected to come to UCT for exams at the end of each semester.

The minimum requirement for entry into the MIT course is a non-IT honours degree, or equivalent.

Further information is available at:

https://sit.uct.ac.za/masters-information-technology

The Doctoral degree is offered by dissertation only. To support preparation for PhD-level research, candidates are required to participate in a Philosophy of Social Science and Information Systems course in the first year of the doctoral programme. It is open to students with a good Masters degree in IS (or other relevant fields). Application for places is highly competitive, so the Masters degree should have a significant research component, and be awarded with a minimum of 65% overall, and a minimum of 70% for the dissertation component. Other considerations include quality of initial research proposal submitted, supervisory interest and department supervisory capacity.