General transfer criteria (all students)

The Faculty of Commerce requires students who want to transfer into the Faculty (either from within UCT or from other universities) to meet the following criteria:

  1. Meet the minimum entrance requirements for the Faculty of Commerce for the year of application as published in the Undergraduate Prospectus. 
  2. The annual GPA must be at a minimum of 60%, and no subject must be failed.
  3. The applicant must be able to finish a degree within the Commerce Faculty in the minimum time. This takes into consideration the number of years already taken within a bachelor's programme; for external applicants – the years at another university, and for internal applicants – the years in another faculty.
  4. All transferring applicants must have valid National Benchmark Tests (NBTs) that meet the minimum requirements of the Commerce Faculty.

INTERNAL UCT TRANSFER only: How to apply for transfer to Commerce from another Faculty at UCT

Please note the process outlined below for all UCT students who intend to apply to transfer to the Faculty of Commerce for admission for Semester 2 of 2025:

  1. Application email: Students intending to transfer must send an email to comfm@uct.ac.za with the subject line: CAMPUSID Transfer Application.
  2. Required documents:
    • A letter of motivation must be attached to the email.
    • Indicate the degree programme in the email (e.g. Business Science Finance with Accounting)
    • If a student advisor was consulted, the name must be included in the email content.
  3. ACA09 Application Form: Students must complete an ACA09 Application for Change of Curriculum form and submit a service request. Please indicate the programme code for the degree you want to transfer into.
  4. Transfer criteria: Applications will be assessed based on the applicant’s ability to complete a degree within the minimum required time. It is important to note that the first year of undergraduate study at UCT counts towards this minimum time. Applicants who require more than the minimum time to complete their degree (including the first year from another faculty) will not be considered for transfer.
  5. Deadline: The deadline to submit transfer applications for Semester 2 2025 is 20 June 2025. Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.
  6. Outcome notification: Applicants will be informed of the outcome by 18 July 2025.
  7. All successful applicants must be registered by 30 July 2025.

Process for students transferring from another University

An applicant from outside the University of Cape Town, currently enrolled at another University, who would like to transfer into the Commerce Faculty must apply through UCT's Online Admission System.

The deadline for transfer applications from another university is 31 July 2025. As part of the admission application, the applicant must declare that they have previously been registered at another university.

Equivalent Credits

Students who have previously studied at another university can be credited for courses deemed equivalent to UCT courses.

The following list contains the various courses that are recognised at UCT for degree purposes:

Entrance Exams (all students)

Some courses require you to write entrance exams to be admitted to the associated programme.

Accounting

To register for the second year accounting courses, eligible students who satisfy the faculty’s transferring criteria must write the ACC1011N Financial Reporting I entrance exam and obtain a result of at least 60%. Students who obtain a result of 50%-59% in the ACC1011N entrance exam will earn a CR for ACC1011S Financial Reporting I but will not be permitted to continue into the second year ACC courses. Noting that there is presently no equivalent to ACC1015 accepted from another university. It is therefore unlikely that a student is able to satisfy point 3. under General transfer criteria (above) for students to be able to transfer into an accounting programme from another university.

Graduates of other universities may consider the Advanced Diploma in Accounting, which replicates the final year BCom CA programme. Please refer to the latest Commerce Undergraduate Handbook for detailed admission criteria. Entrance exams for ACC2012W, ACC2018H, ACC2022H, and ACC2023H will be required.

Economics

All transferring undergraduate students (including those from international institutions) who want to continue with Economics must write an entrance exam on the first day of lectures in February.