SAQA All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.
SOUTH AFRICAN QUALIFICATIONS AUTHORITY 
REGISTERED QUALIFICATION THAT HAS PASSED THE END DATE: 

Master of Arts 
SAQA QUAL ID QUALIFICATION TITLE
20931  Master of Arts 
ORIGINATOR
University of Transkei 
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
CHE - Council on Higher Education  HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework 
QUALIFICATION TYPE FIELD SUBFIELD
Master's Degree  Field 07 - Human and Social Studies  General Social Science 
ABET BAND MINIMUM CREDITS PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL NQF LEVEL QUAL CLASS
Undefined  120  Level 8 and above  NQF Level 09  Regular-Provider-ELOAC 
REGISTRATION STATUS SAQA DECISION NUMBER REGISTRATION START DATE REGISTRATION END DATE
Passed the End Date -
Status was "Reregistered" 		 SAQA 2663/05  2006-07-01  2009-06-30 
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2010-06-30   2013-06-30  

In all of the tables in this document, both the pre-2009 NQF Level and the NQF Level is shown. In the text (purpose statements, qualification rules, etc), any references to NQF Levels are to the pre-2009 levels unless specifically stated otherwise.  

This qualification is replaced by: 
Qual ID Qualification Title Pre-2009 NQF Level NQF Level Min Credits Replacement Status
80149  Master of Arts  Level 8 and above  NQF Level 09  120  Complete 

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION 
The Masters programme is designed to enhance and deepen students' knowledge in specific disciplines within the faculty of Humanities and to acquire practical skills in research design, statistics and computing. 

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING 
The entrance requirement for the Masters programme is an honours degree (480 credits) or equivalent. 

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING? 
N 

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES 
Students who successfully graduate from the Masters programme will have:
  • Developed appropriate skills for conducting research
  • Made an original, critical contribution to the field of their choice.

    Specific Outcomes:

    Having completed the Masters and Doctoral programmes, learners will demonstrate:
  • Competent understanding of research models and strategies
  • Skills and competence in the design and implementation of research
  • Empirical work judged to constitute a substantial contribution to knowledge.
  • Evidence of originality as demonstrated by the discovery of new facts by the exercise of independent critical judgements. 
    		•

    ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA 
    The assessment of the learners' performance is both summative and formative for the course-work Masters PhD programme. Continuous evaluation of course work contributes 50% toward the final mark.

    Continuous evaluation of course work for the Masters programme is based on the following:
  • Written seminars
  • Class presentation of seminar papers
  • Peer evaluation and self-evaluation of performance
  • Participation in class discussion and attendance.

    Written examination and a mini-dissertation form part of the final assessment for the course-work Masters programme.

    The assessment of the research Masters programme is on the basis of course work and or a detailed research proposal that demonstrates the student's command of the theoretical and empirical literature related to the topic makes a clear statement of the theoretical and methodological approach to be undertaken and include a draft outline and work-plan. The work-plan includes the research instruments to be employed. The supervisor and student are expected to submit 6 monthly progress reports to the Higher Degree Committee. The final assessment of the student's performance is based on the research thesis (with at least 40 000 words for a Masters degree), which makes a distinct contribution to the knowledge of the subject and demonstrates familiarity of the student with research methodology. The thesis is examined/ evaluated by one internal examiner, (the supervisor) and two external examiners. 
    		•

    ARTICULATION OPTIONS 
    After successful completion of the Bachelor's degree, students have access to post-graduate studies at Honours level, and then to the Masters and Doctoral levels in a variety of fields at other institutions of higher learning.

    Specific articulation:
    Students who successfully graduate from the Masters programme will be able to pursue PhD programmes offered by the School of Social Science, School of Humanities and Cultural Science and the School of Languages subject to individual disciplinary requirements. 

    MODERATION OPTIONS 
    The examination at the Masters phase (course-work Masters) is externalised. The Masters theses are examined by an internal examiner(s) (supervisor) and two external examiners. 

    CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS 
    Staff members involved in the Masters programme have the Doctoral qualification as the minimum requirement. 

    REREGISTRATION HISTORY 
    As per the SAQA Board decision/s at that time, this qualification was Reregistered in 2006. 

    LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    When qualifications are replaced, some of their learning programmes are moved to being recorded against the replacement qualifications. If a learning programme appears to be missing from here, please check the replacement.
     
    NONE 


    PROVIDERS CURRENTLY ACCREDITED TO OFFER THIS QUALIFICATION: 
    This information shows the current accreditations (i.e. those not past their accreditation end dates), and is the most complete record available to SAQA as of today. Some Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionaries have a lag in their recording systems for provider accreditation, in turn leading to a lag in notifying SAQA of all the providers that they have accredited to offer qualifications and unit standards, as well as any extensions to accreditation end dates. The relevant Primary or Delegated Quality Assurance Functionary should be notified if a record appears to be missing from here.
     
    NONE 


    All qualifications and part qualifications registered on the National Qualifications Framework are public property. Thus the only payment that can be made for them is for service and reproduction. It is illegal to sell this material for profit. If the material is reproduced or quoted, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) should be acknowledged as the source.