Programme: BA Visual Studies

Kindly take note of the disclaimer regarding qualifications and degree names.
Code Faculty Department
01130133 Faculty of Humanities Department: School of the Arts
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 3 years Total credits: 368 NQF level:  07

Programme information

With the increasing importance of the visual medium in the communications and cultural media, informed interaction with all forms of visual culture has become imperative. This programme aims to promote visual literacy by offering instruction in the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of various aspects of visual culture, in both an historical and contemporary context.

Closing date for applications: 30 September annually.

Admission requirements

Important information for all prospective students for 2024

The admission requirements below apply to all who apply for admission to the University of Pretoria with a National Senior Certificate (NSC) and Independent Examination Board (IEB) qualifications. Click here for this Faculty Brochure.

Minimum requirements

Achievement level

English Home Language or English First Additional Language

APS

(Grade 11)

APS

(NSC/IEB completed)

5

30

28

* To retain admission, candidates must obtain an APS of at least 28 in the NSC/IEB.

Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the APS. 

Applicants currently in Grade 12 must apply with their final Grade 11 (or equivalent) results.

Applicants who have completed Grade 12 must apply with their final NSC or equivalent qualification results.

Please note that meeting the minimum academic requirements does not guarantee admission.

Successful candidates will be notified once admitted or conditionally admitted.

Applicants should check their application status regularly on the UP Student Portal at click here.

Applicants with qualifications other than the abovementioned should refer to the Brochure: Undergraduate Programme Information 2024: Qualifications other than the NSC and IEB, available at click here.

International students: Click here.

Transferring students

A transferring student is a student who, at the time of applying at the University of Pretoria (UP) is/was a registered student at another tertiary institution. A transferring student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance. Students who have been dismissed from other institutions due to poor academic performance will not be considered for admission to UP.

Closing dates: Same as above.

Returning students

A returning student is a student who, at the time of application for a degree programme is/was a registered student at UP, and wants to transfer to another degree at UP. A returning student will be considered for admission based on NSC or equivalent qualification and previous academic performance.

Note:

  • Students who have been excluded/dismissed from a faculty due to poor academic performance may be considered for admission to another programme at UP, as per faculty-specific requirements.
  • Only ONE transfer between UP faculties and TWO transfers within a faculty will be allowed.
  • Admission of returning students will always depend on the faculty concerned and the availability of space in the programmes for which they apply.

Closing date for applications from returning students

Unless capacity allows for an extension of the closing date, applications from returning students must be submitted before the end of August via your UP Student Centre.

Other programme-specific information

LANGUAGE GROUPS FOR SELECTION IN PROGRAMMES

Note: Consult the yearbook for module-specific requirements/prerequisites by searching for the relevant language module.

Module group 1 – Afrikaans
Year level 1
• As a first language: AFR 110, 120
• For speakers of other languages (also for speakers of other languages who are registered for qualifications in education and law) AFR 114

Year level 2
• As a first language: AFR 214, AFR 210 ,220
• For students following a programme in education: AFR 214, AFR 220

Year level 3
• As a first language: AFR 311, 321
• For students following a programme in education: Any modules with alpha codes AFR offered at year level 3.

Module group 2 – English
Year level 1
• For special purposes: ENG 118
• For academic purposes: ENG 110, 120

Year level 2
ENG 210, 220

Year level 3
• ENG 310, 320
• ENG 311, 322

Module group 3 – French
Year level 1
• For beginners: FRN 104
• Cultural-professional (for students who have passed French in Grade 12): FRN 113, 123

Year level 2
FRN 211, 221

Year level 3
Cultural-professional: FRN 361, 362, 363, 364

Module group 4 – German
Year level 1
• For beginners: DTS 104
• Cultural-professional (for students who have passed German in Grade 12): DTS 113, 123

Year level 2
DTS 211, 221

Year level 3
Cultural-professional: DTS 361, 362, 363, 364

Module group 5 – Greek
Year level 1
GRK 110, 120

Year level 2
GRK 210, 220

Module group 6 – Hebrew
Year level 1
HEB 110, 120

Year level 2
HEB 210, 220

Module group 7 – Latin
Year level 1
LAT 110, 120 (students who passed Latin in Grade 12 may start immediately with Latin at year level 2)

Year level 2
LAT 210, 220

Year level 3
LAT 310, 320

Module group 8 – IsiNdebele
Year level 1
For speakers of isiNdebele as home language or first or second additional language
NDE 110, AFT 121

Year level 2
NDE 210, AFT 220

Year level 3
NDE 310, AFT 320

Module group 9 – IsiZulu
Year level 1
• For beginners: ZUL 110, 120
• For speakers of isiZulu as home language or first or second additional language: ZUL 111, AFT 121

Year level 2
• For students who did ZUL 110, 120 at year level 1: ZUL 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121: ZUL 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, ZUL 211

Year level 3
ZUL 310, AFT 320

Module group 10 – Sepedi
Year level 1
• For beginners: SEP 110,120
• For speakers of Sepedi as home language or first or second additional language: SEP 111, AFT 121

Year level 2
• For students who did SEP 110, 120 at year level 1: SEP 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121, SEP 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, SEP 211

Year level 3
SEP 310, AFT 320

Module group 11 – Setswana
Year level 1
• For beginners: STW 110, 120
• For speakers of Setswana as home language or first or second additional language: STW 111, AFT 121

Year level 2
• For students who did STW 110, 120 at year level 1: STW 210, 220
• For students who did AFT 121, STW 111 at year level 1: AFT 220, STW 211

Year level 3
STW 310, AFT 320

Module group 12 – Spanish
Year level 1
For beginners: SPN 101, 102

Year level 2
SPN 211, 221

Year level 3
SPN 311, 321

Module group 13 – Portuguese
Year level 1
• For beginners: PTG 101
• Portuguese language and culture (for students who have passed Portuguese in Gr 12): PTG 113, 123

Year level 2
PTG 211, 221

Year level 3
PTG 311, 321

Academic literacy

Students with an achievement level of 5 or 6 or 7 for English Home Language or an achievement level of 6 or 7 for English First Additional Language may apply for an exemption from ALL 110 and ALL 125 or the foreign qualification equivalence, as per the conversion table.

Students who are deemed NOT to be at risk of their level of academic literacy are compelled to take language modules to the value of 12 credits from the other departments.

Students with an achievement level of 4 and below for English Home Language or an achievement level of 5 and below for English First Additional Language or the foreign qualification equivalence must register for ALL 110 and ALL 125. 

Department of English
ENG 110 Introduction to literature in English (I) 
ENG 120 Introduction to literature in English (II) 
ENG 118 English for specific purposes 

Departement Afrikaans
AFR 110 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde 
AFR 120 Afrikaanse taalkunde en letterkunde 
AFR 114 Afrikaans vir sprekers van ander tale (I) 

Department of African Languages
NDE 110 Introduction to isiNdebele grammar – Capita selecta 
* Students who want to take isiNdebele in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
ZUL 110 IsiZulu for beginners 
ZUL 111 Introduction to isiZulu grammar – Capita selecta 
* Students who want to take isiZulu in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
SEP 110 Sepedi for beginners 
SEP 111 Introduction to Sepedi Grammar – Capita selecta
* Students who want to take Sepedi in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)
STW 110 Setswana for beginners
STW 111 Introduction to Setswana Grammar  – Capita selecta
*Students who want to take Setswana in the second semester, should also register for AFT 121 (African languages literature: Capita selecta)

Department of Modern European Languages
DTS 104 German for beginners 
DTS 113 German: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 German
FRN 104 French for beginners 
FRN 113 French: Cultural-professional (1) *Prerequisite: Grade 12 French
SPN 101 Spanish for beginners 
SPN 102 Spanish for beginners 
PTG 101 Portuguese for beginners

Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures
HEB 110 Hebrew 
LAT 110 Latin 
GRK 110 Greek

Minimum credits: 122

Elective modules for the first year

Select any three disciplines (subjects) at year level one and do two semester modules from each of these disciplines (to the value of at least 68 credits).

If a language is selected as one of the three disciplines, the information provided under Language Groups should be taken into consideration – see Other programme-specific information.

Fundamental modules

Core modules

  • Module content:

    This module provides an overview of the fundamentals of marketing by considering the exchange process, customer value, marketing research and the development of a marketing plan. It also addresses the marketing mix elements with specific focus on the seven service marketing elements namely the service product, physical evidence, people, process, distribution, pricing and integrated marketing communication.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Foundations of visual culture
    This module introduces art and visual culture theory using a wide range of texts and ideas. The module gives students wide exposure to visual discourses and includes a variety of visual culture examples e.g. artworks, advertisements. These discourses may include:  exploring what visual culture is; modes of analysis; introducing terminology such as ideology and myth; dealing with selected periods from history contextually; introducing cultural icons and themes from popular visual culture.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Images across media: current issues
    This module presents an introduction into the ways in which images appear across media in contemporary visual culture from a specific African perspective within the global. This is done by means of exploring key modes, themes, genres, platforms and visual texts. Among the media and mediums that may be covered are photography, art, graphic design, advertising, film, documentaries, video, digital and social media. 

    View more

Elective modules

  • Module content:

    This introduction to social anthropology introduces basic themes of the discipline including ritual, religion, marriage and sex. It combines classic studies with recent scholarship, and asks the ‘big question’ about human society and human cultures that offer challenging perspectives on the world we live in.

    View more

  • Module content:

    This module builds on the ethnographic and theoretical themes introduced in APL 110, asking particular questions about how we may think about the relationship between the local and the global; indigenous and universal; public and private; the real and the possible.The module continues in the vein of APL 110, in that it explicitly encourages students to understand the society in which they live through a series of critical anthropological perspectives.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The languages of drama and film
    This module introduces the languages of drama and film as well as approaches to drama and film analysis. In addition, historical and contemporary drama and film theories will be used to read various drama and film texts.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Drama and film genres: This module introduces the notion of genre as part of a wider concept of narrative building and storytelling in both drama and film. Different types of genre are introduced and discussed with regard to film and drama and furthermore linked to the idea of emerging identities in contemporary storytelling. All these parts are conceptually introduced and provide an introduction to reading, interpretation and giving meaning to various discourses in film and drama narratives.

     
    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016

    View more

  • Module content:

    Overview of the origin and nature of tourism development of South African cultural, natural and adventure tourist destinations.

    View more

  • Module content:

    An introductory exploration of the relationship between heritage conservation and tourism.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Introduction to Philosophy

    The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely epistemology and metaphysics with reference to the work of a range of scholars from Africa and the rest of the Global South as well as from Asia and the West. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as judgment and discernment.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Introduction to Philosophy

    The two semester modules at first-year level introduce students to four main subfields of philosophy, namely metaphysics, epistemology, political philosophy and ethics. This module introduces students to two of these subfields, namely political philosophy and ethics and the emphasis is on texts by African and Western scholars. Students will become acquainted with the nature of philosophical reflection by exploring a number of classical philosophical themes in each subfield. Throughout the module there is an emphasis on developing those critical thinking, reading and writing skills that are required in Philosophy, while students become acquainted with the power of critique as judgment and discernment.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The making of the Modern World: a survey
    A selection of themes on Asia, Africa, the Americas and Europe and their contribution to the making of the Modern World.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Africa and South Africa: a survey
    An overview focusing on the making of African and South African societies from the earliest times to the present with emphasis on the most significant historical forces, factors and events.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Introduction to Information Science. This module is an introduction to the study field of information science and its various professions. Key concepts that will be discussed include the following: the human as information processor and user; the life-cycle of information in terms of processes, products and role-players; as well as the communication of information. The social-ethical impact of globalisation is included as a key concern, with reference to Africa, the 4th Industrial Revolution and other revolutions to come are addressed as well as core principles such as equity, diversity and inclusion.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Information and communication technology. This module offers a brief overview of hardware and software and telecommunications technologies. Various networks, network applications. intranets, internet, the World Wide Web, deep web and cloud computing are discussed. Computer ethics, ICTs, e-commerce, ergonomics, mobile computing technology and the influence that new trends and developments such as the 4th Industrial Revolution and virtual reality have on the creation and distribution of information are covered in this module. The practical component focuses on the introduction to the coding language, Python. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    What is religion? The functions of religion. Studying religion. Perspectives on religion. Common concepts and key terms in various religions will be dealt with - also generic dimensions and aspects.  The interdependence of religion, culture and society.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The occurrence of religion in societies. Types of religion. Primal religions. Christianity, Judaism, Islam.  A variety of religions will be addressed: capita selecta will be made from Christianity; Hinduism; Buddhism; New Religions; New Age; main developments in the world and South Africa.

    View more

Minimum credits: 126

Elective modules for the second year

Select any two disciplines (subjects) which were sucessfully completed at year level one and do both semesters at year level two ( to the value of 80 credits). If DFK and /or BEM modules are selected, an additional module must be taken to meet the minimum credit requirement of 80.

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Programme-specific execution of a community-related project.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Gender, sexuality and visual representation
    Introduction to the representation of sex, gender and sexuality in visual culture.  Gender theory and terminology related to feminism, masculinity studies and lbgtq theory (lesbian, bisexual, gay, transgendered, queer) are unpacked. Themes and issues in gender and identity politics such as the male hero, the nude in late 19th century art, the femme fatale, hysteria, androgyny and transsexuality are dealt with. Sexuality and gender issues across a range of visual cultural such as soaps, sitcoms, artworks, advertisements, fashion, music videos and films are addressed.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Visual (Post)colonialisms
    This module investigates aspects of Africanness, Afrocentrism, multiculturalism, transnationalism and the African diaspora and studies a cross section of work including traditional art, tourist art and the hybrid aesthetics of contemporary African art and visual culture. The module also focuses on the ideology of imperialism and colonialism and its influence on art and visual culture from the nineteenth century onwards. The influence of postcolonial thinking on the deconstruction of the ideology of colonialism is highlighted with reference to landscape and memory, the exotic and primitivism in South African visual culture.

    View more

Elective modules

  • Module content:

    Cultural constructions of sex and sexuality are the primary building blocks of social organisation. Anthropological discussions of sexuality tend to revolve around the various aspects of social organisation, such as the lifecycle, gendered identities, and personhood. These discussions are informed by the cultural meanings we impute to differences in biological sex and reproduction, and the ways in which these meanings influence social organisation, personhood, and power. In this module, we will consider cultural constructions of sex and sexuality as these inform certain aspects of social organisation such as kinship and marriage. We will attempt to develop an anthropological perspective on the interplay between sex, culture and society. To this end, we will examine the physiology of sexuality, and then consider different theoretical perspectives on human sexuality as reflected in cross-cultural ethnographic case studies.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Power and wealth
    This module explores anthropological perspectives on politics, power and wealth in colonial and postcolonial contexts.  Key concepts that are discussed include anthropological approaches to citizenship, cosmopolitanism, hegemony, human rights, neoliberalism, sovereignty, civil society, gender, race and class.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Internal and external influencing factors of consumer behaviour, the consumer's decision process and application fields of consumer behaviour, consumerisms and social responsibility, buying behaviour of consumers in both product and service related industries, consumer psychology and the influence thereof on buying behaviour, psychology of pricing, influencing factors in consumer buying behaviour, the impact of various forms of marketing communication on buying behaviour.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Integrated brand communications approach, marketing communication planning, objectives and budgets for integrated marketing communications, principles and strategising of marketing communication elements, new media, the brand name communication process, marketing metrics and evaluation for marketing communication effectiveness.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Historical modes of Western performance
    The module involves a study of the socio-political contexts of Western Classical and Renaissance theatre, redirecting the focus to the notion of violence in performance during the age of Enlightenment.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

     

    View more

  • Module content:

    Realism and contemporary South African performance
    Concepts of naturalism and realism will be interrogated in relation to dramatic texts and performance values in both drama and film. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives since the "Age of Reason" will be offered. Against this background, the concept of "realism" will be interrogated in relation to performance texts and performance values in the emergence of interdisciplinary framework of performance studies. Ways in which dramatic realism emerges from and reflects historical perspectives will be offered and discussed, so as to draw connections between realism, and contemporary South African performance.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    A multidisciplinary look at notions of representation and perception as they pertain to the tourism sector.

    View more

  • Module content:

    An analysis of tourism’s history and development theories, focussing on community-based tourism (CBT) and pro-poor tourism (PPT). 

    View more

  • Module content:

    The content of this module engages in the historical emergence of contemporary African philosophy in relation to the Western canon. The first quarter traces the history of modern western philosophy, recounting key positions in epistemology (e.g. Descartes, Kant), metaphysics (e.g. Heidegger, Putnam), ethics (e.g. Bentham, Levinas) and political philosophy (e.g. Rawls, Habermas).The content of the second quarter considers recent works in African philosophy, as critical responses to, but also independent of the Western philosophies, with regard to epistemology (e.g. Menkiti, Ikuenobe), metaphysics (e.g. Mbiti, Ramose), ethics (e.g. Tut, Gyeke) and political philosophy (e.g. Biko, Fanon).

    View more

  • Module content:

    In this module contextually relevant aspects of human reality are reflected on through philosophy considered as practical activity. Students will engage issues of social, political, or economic relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. A range of themes may be investigated, such as structure and agency, social imaginaries, issues of social justice, gender and sexuality, the ethics of science and technology, the role of art and others. The focus is on key themes and debates of contemporary relevance and may include issues from any of the sub-disciplines of philosophy such as political philosophy, moral philosophy, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of mind and artifical intelligence, and philosophy of science.

    View more

  • Module content:

    A selection of themes on the history of Africa and its people in the recent past that shaped the African historical experience.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The development of South Africa through segregation and apartheid to democracy.

    View more

  • Module content:

    User studies and dissemination. This module focuses on the individual as seeker, user, reader and communicator of information. Various user groups are identified and their information use and communication patterns and requirements are analysed and investigated. This module covers methods of service provision to facilitate and enhance the use and dissemination of information in accordance with the user's needs. Core principles of diversity, equity and inclusion are included.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Social and ethical impact. This module examines moral and legal regulation practices related to information in print and digital environments. Different ethical theories are identified and applied to privacy, accuracy, intellectual property, access and security information, information poverty and censorship. Digital divide, information poverty and big data are discussed in this module. The interpretation and enforcement of rules and regulations are discussed.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Economics and politics of information. This module examines the economics and politics of information, with a special emphasis on South Africa's information sector. It aims to promote an understanding of the market and non-market qualities of information, and their consequences for the production, distribution and marketing of information goods and services. The ways in which information access and expression are regulated and the use of ICTs in crime and corruption is also addressed. The module also addresses the different types of information industries which are located within the information sector of the economy, and how their growth transforms the production and delivery of products and services across the local and global economy.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Investigating the method of Phenomenology as way of studying religions. Focussing on African Christianity and the phenomenon of African Independent Churches. Highlighting Prosperity Theology as phenomenon in Africa. Exploring the place of land, water and the city within religion in Africa

    View more

  • Module content:

    Ancient religions and Health:
    Exploring ancient religions (Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Zoroastranism, Aztec, Inca and Mayan) and health. Exploring the San religious treatment of health matters. The relationship magic and religion is investigated.

    View more

Minimum credits: 120

Elective modules for the third year

Select one discipline (subject) which was sucessfully completed at year level two and do both semesters at year level three ( to the value of 60 credits). If DFK and /or BEM and/or INL modules are selected, an additional module must be taken to meet the minimum credit requirement of 60.

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Post/Modernities: Contemporary discourses
    This module investigates Modernism and Postmodernism as the dominant aesthetic, discursive and visual paradigms of the 20th and 21st centuries. Key concepts in these discourses and counter-discourses are highlighted and explored, such as the creation of modern subjectivity, the beautiful and the sublime, the avant garde, the metaphysics of presence, originality, authorship, hermeneutics, the “language turn”, différance and the so-called “end of art”. Theorist may include: Kant, Heidegger, Derrida and Foucault.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Visual and virtual spaces 
    Critical decoding of culturally encoded ideas and ideologies embodied in the construction of space, place, and cyberspace in selected Modernist and Postmodernist cultural practices. Topics include spaces of consumption and entertainment such as shopping malls; gender and spatiality; symbolic spaces; surveillance and the architecture of fear. Land art, environmental art and related debates are also addressed. The ways in which real space is virtualised through new technologies; the history and development of virtual reality, virtual communities, the cyborg and cyberpunk, as well as post humanism, are all engaged with specific emphasis on how embodiment and disembodiment are represented visually.

    View more

Elective modules

  • Module content:

    This module considers the colonial histories of anthropology in Africa and their impact on traditions of knowledge production in the discipline to propose a decolonised anthropology. It does so by critically reflecting on old and contemporary ethnographies from and about the African continent and pays particular attention to ethnographic methods, politics of representation, reflexivity, power and identity as pertinent questions to establish a decolonised anthropology. Students in this module are encouraged to imagine a decolonised anthropology in and for Africa. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    Fieldwork, ethnography and theory
    This module reviews themes such as conducting fieldwork, writing ethnography and developing theory in anthropology.  The module allows the opportunity to gain experience with ethnographic field methods in order to develop insight into the implications of methodological choices and their relationship to research questions and settings.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Strategic issues in marketing, strategic marketing, strategic analysis (market analysis, customer analysis, competitor analysis and internal analysis), market strategies (competitive strategies, strategies in the product life cycle and relationship building strategies) and strategy implementation and control.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Reading cultural representation
    Against the framework of post-colonialism, issues of signification, representation and meaning in performance will be considered in relation to selected theoretical approaches to performance and their concern with gender in theatre and film. Representation and subjectivity and how they are revealed as gendered fictions rather than "natural", inevitable realities will be explored through various drama and film texts. The student will explore how the body, as codified cultural product, can become a symbolic battleground for cultural supremacy in and through performance.

    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    Counter discourses
    Social relations, material conditions, discursive practices, identity and representational structures will be studied in relation to Marxist Materialism, cross-cultural theatre, postmodern discourse and post-theory ideas. Key figures and ideas from relevant critical theory will guide an interrogation of popular performance and cinema as well as non-dominant cinemas and modes of performance.
     
    A & B: For students who enrolled for the BA Drama programme prior to 2016, as well as for students entering the BDram programme in 2016. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    An evaluation of South African cultural activities and heritage sites, with a specific focus on tourism in practice.

    View more

  • Module content:

    A selection of themes in tourism innovation, research and industry.

    View more

  • Module content:

    In this module the focus is on understanding humankind, its knowledge and its relation to reality.This module traces the development of the conceptions of ‘self’ and ‘subjectivity’ in any given philosophical tradition in Africa, or more generally the Global South or the West, by focussing, amongst others, on issues such as the nature of the human mind, existentialism, the nature of personal identity, the relation between personal identity and morality, the nature of subjective experience and the issue of free will.

    View more

  • Module content:

    In this module contextually relevant aspects of human reality are reflected on through philosophy considered as practical activity. Students will engage issues of social, political, or economic relevance in contemporary (South) Africa, the Global South and beyond. A range of themes may be investigated, such as, structure and agency, social imaginaries, issues of social justice, gender and sexuality, the ethics of science and technology, the role of art and others. The focus is on key themes and debates of contemporary relevance and may include issues from any of the sub-disciplines of philosophy such as political philosophy, moral philosophy, epistemology, aesthetics, philosophy of mind and artificial intelligence, and philosophy of science.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Historical trends in the modern world
    A selection of political, economic and social themes.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Interpreting the process of global change. Explaining the debates and the origin and nature of globalisation and its significance.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The Information Organisation. The module is concerned with the organisation of information in the digital environment focusing on the structure and use of document management and workflow systems, as well as distribution channels and virtual environments. The characteristics and application of the internet, intranets, as well as portals and applications use, are considered within the information culture of the organisation. The module introduces the practical component of business continuity and information organisation which includes information access, storage, organisation and security using SharePoint as web-based collaborative platform.

    View more

  • Module content:

    Digital repositories. This module deals with the design, development and management of digital repositories. It addresses the characteristics of the digital repository in a rapidly changing technological world and a challenging information society. Core aspects include: system design, digital collections, metadata and rights management, standards and the development and evaluation of digital repositories. The role repositories in the Open Access movement is considered. 

    View more

  • Module content:

    The function of myths and rites in current society is investigated. The relation between religion and art is explored. The place and function of music in religion is investigated. The way in which holy texts are interpreted (scriptural reasoning) within different religions is explored.

    View more

  • Module content:

    The following social themes are addressed: Religion and Media; Religion and Ecology; Religion and Xenophobia; Religion and Homophobia; Religion and Violence; Religion and Gender equality; the possibility of Inter-religious dialogue.

    View more


General Academic Regulations and Student Rules
The General Academic Regulations (G Regulations) and General Student Rules apply to all faculties and registered students of the University, as well as all prospective students who have accepted an offer of a place at the University of Pretoria. On registering for a programme, the student bears the responsibility of ensuring that they familiarise themselves with the General Academic Regulations applicable to their registration, as well as the relevant faculty-specific and programme-specific regulations and information as stipulated in the relevant yearbook. Ignorance concerning these regulations will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression, or basis for an exception to any of the aforementioned regulations. The G Regulations are updated annually and may be amended after the publication of this information.

Regulations, degree requirements and information
The faculty regulations, information on and requirements for the degrees published here are subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information.

University of Pretoria Programme Qualification Mix (PQM) verification project
The higher education sector has undergone an extensive alignment to the Higher Education Qualification Sub-Framework (HEQSF) across all institutions in South Africa. In order to comply with the HEQSF, all institutions are legally required to participate in a national initiative led by regulatory bodies such as the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), the Council on Higher Education (CHE), and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA). The University of Pretoria is presently engaged in an ongoing effort to align its qualifications and programmes with the HEQSF criteria. Current and prospective students should take note that changes to UP qualification and programme names, may occur as a result of the HEQSF initiative. Students are advised to contact their faculties if they have any questions.

Copyright © University of Pretoria 2024. All rights reserved.

FAQ's Email Us Virtual Campus Share Cookie Preferences