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Your experience could translate into subject credits within your qualification or direct access into undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications.
During your lifetime, you will have acquired various skills, competencies and experiences. This learning – which may have taken place outside of formal education and training
– is valuable, irrespective of where or when it was obtained. You may have acquired skills or knowledge from a combination of training conducted while at work, experience you
gained in the workplace, short courses or from community work in a relevant field.
Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) permits you to gain credits within formal certificate, diploma and degree qualifications offered by any of our partners based on the level and extent of your knowledge.
Your prior learning will be measured against specified prescribed learning outcomes.
How we Do It:
1. Decide what to study based on the available research focus areas based on the available research focus area
Choose a qualification based on the offered research focus areas. This will ensure that departmental expertise is available.
If you are not sure what to study, visit the Directorate for Counselling and Career Development website.
2. Check that you meet the admission requirements for your chosen qualification. The admission requirements for each qualification are available on the Partner Websites.
Should you have any enquiries about the master's and doctoral (M&D) online application process, send an e-mail to MandD@deseret.ac.za.
3.If you do not meet the admission requirements. RPL is required.
The RPL process allows for alternative access to a master’s or doctoral degree. Applying for direct access to a
postgraduate qualification means the following:
You do not have a prerequisite degree (in other words, you might have an incomplete honours or master’s degree, or an honours degree and no master’s degree, and so on),
but you do have considerable relevant experience in the field. The qualifications you already have – when coupled with your relevant experience in the field – must meet the
SAQA-level outcomes specified for a master’s student, as well as those laid down for entry into a doctorate if applying for admission to doctoral study. These claims must be
supported by relevant evidence. In deciding on the appropriate qualification for your master’s and doctoral studies, take into account your previous work experience, relevant
prior learning and research experience in the field.
4. Do the RPL self-assessment
If you consider an application for direct access to a postgraduate qualification through RPL, you are claiming that your prior learning and the learning gained though different
contexts of learning is equivalent to the formal admission requirements of the qualification. To access a master’s or a doctoral degree through RPL, you should demonstrate that
you are competent in terms of your prior learning, relevant learning through experience and research skills.
For full details on the exit-level outcomes, please contact the RPL specialist, Dr M Snyman msnyman@deseret.ac.za).
Self-assessment as preparation
You are strongly advised to reflect on your prior learning and then do a self-assessment exercise before applying for the RPL process. You do this by using the exit-level outcomes
for a master’s and/or doctoral degree to establish how your prior learning meets the requirements. You should be able to interpret the SAQA exit-level outcomes and transfer this
interpretation to a practical situation. Your prior learning should be appropriate to the academic context of the specific qualification, and your learning as a result of experience
must still be current, valid and applicable. You do not need to submit the self-assessment activity, as it serves as preparation for your RPL application process.