Pre Registration Assessment

Abstract

PCF2 // The paper will start with a theoretical overview of the literature on Pre Registration Assessment. An overview will be provided on the different admissions requirements that is used at some of the other major Technikons and Universities in South Africa. A focus will be placed on the role of pre registration assessment in the admission requirements. Specific emphasis will be given to the University of the Free State and Technikon Free State. The implications of the new academic policy document for the future of pre registration assessment at tertiary institutions in South Africa will also be dealt with. The advantage and disadvantages of each model will be discussed. The cost and ease of implementation will also be discussed. From this discussion it will be clear why the region chose to implement the pre registration model using the m scores. // An overview will then be given on the Pre registration assessment project of 2001 in the Free State region. During 2001 the Free State region of Technikon SA conducted a pilot study to firstly determine the relationship between success in the matriculation examinations and success during the first year at Technikon SA. The matriculation results were used to calculate an M Score. The second aim of the study was to determine the success of using the M Score as a placement tools to channel learners into the different learner support programmes that is offered by the regional office. This intends to solve the problem that the same learner support programmes target a very diverse group of learners. The aim of the project is to improve the throughput rate of the learners in the region. // As a follow-up to the first project the Academic Development Centre at Technikon SA have developed its own Pre registration assessment process. The project is being piloted in the Free State Region during 2002. The lessons learnt in the process of implementation and a prediction on the success of impact of the model will be made in the second part of the paper. // As a conclusion some suggestions will be made for the improvement of the current pre registration assessment processes at Technikon SA. //