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:

Bachelor of Commerce: Economics and Finance

SAQA QUAL ID	QUALIFICATION TITLE
4445	Bachelor of Commerce: Economics and Finance
ORIGINATOR
University of Cape Town
PRIMARY OR DELEGATED QUALITY ASSURANCE FUNCTIONARY			NQF SUB-FRAMEWORK
CHE - Council on Higher Education			HEQSF - Higher Education Qualifications Sub-framework
QUALIFICATION TYPE	FIELD		SUBFIELD
National First Degree	Field 03 - Business, Commerce and Management Studies		Finance, Economics and Accounting
ABET BAND	MINIMUM CREDITS	PRE-2009 NQF LEVEL	NQF LEVEL	QUAL CLASS
Undefined	432	Level 6	Level N/A: Pre-2009 was L6	Regular-Provider-ELOAC
REGISTRATION STATUS		SAQA DECISION NUMBER	REGISTRATION START DATE	REGISTRATION END DATE
Passed the End Date - Status was "Reregistered"		SAQA 06120/18	2018-07-01	2018-12-31
LAST DATE FOR ENROLMENT		LAST DATE FOR ACHIEVEMENT
2019-12-31		2024-12-31

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 does not replace any other qualification and is not replaced by any other qualification.

PURPOSE AND RATIONALE OF THE QUALIFICATION

The programme aims to train students to the Bachelor's level in fundamental Economics, with additional emphases on financial theory and financial modelling. It therefore combines three years of training in Economics with at least two years of training in Finance, Accounting and Statistics. The programme's designated 'target student' ultimately seeks a career in the financial sector, in which quantitative analysis and research skills must complement knowledge of the economy and understanding of economic logic. It is expected that most students will go on to postgraduate studies in Economics or Finance or related areas such as Accountancy so as to equip themselves to work at senior levels in the financial and corporate sectors. However, students who exit after the BCom will have acquired sufficient technical and analytic skills to be marketable for more junior positions within these sectors.

LEARNING ASSUMED TO BE IN PLACE AND RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING

A student entering the BCom (Economics and Finance) must normally gain admission through either:

(i) regular entrance to UCT 's Commerce Faculty on the basis of a matriculation exemption incorporating a minimum Standard Grade C in mathematics and 45 matriculation points calculated according to UCT 's weighting system, and with points for Mathematics and English doubled;

or

(ii) regular admission to UCT 's Commerce Faculty after transfer from another post-secondary institution or UCT Faculty;
or

re-admission to UCT after at least one year's prior registration in the Faculty of Humanities' BSosSci. (PPE) programme, in the course of which credit has been obtained for the following courses: STA101F (Mathematics for Economists); STA100S (Statistics) OR MAM100W OR MAM102W; EC0110F/H/S (Microeconomics); EC0111S (Macroeconomics); PLUS
PHI109W (Critical Reasoning in the Quantitative Sciences)
OR
BUS110F (Thinking About Business I)
AND
BUS221F/S (Thinking About Business II)

or

(iv) re-admission to the Faculty of Commerce following successful completion of the Faculty's Alternative Admissions programme;

or

Accumulation of verifiable life/work experience deemed to be demonstration of levels of proficiency in Mathematics and English at a level equalling or exceeding that necessary for attainment of a Higher Grade C pass in one of these subjects, and a Standard Grade C pass in the other.

RECOGNITION OF PRIOR LEARNING (e.g. Work or field experience (if applicable)
The University is prepared to test candidates wishing to enter through non-traditional means, to establish whether, in the opinion of Senate, the person is prepared for degree studies in which case an application will be made for conditional exemption.

RECOGNISE PREVIOUS LEARNING?

EXIT LEVEL OUTCOMES

(a) Critical cross-field outcomes (generic to all teaching and learning)

The Economics and Finance (BCom) graduate is competent to

(i) understand and manipulate quantitative information provided in tables, graphs and sets of equations;
(ii) critically understand written texts of descriptive, prescriptive and argumentative characters;
(iii) produce written texts of descriptive, prescriptive and argumentative characters to accepted international standards in his or her specific field of training (as these may exist at the time of his or her graduation);
(iv) find information of professional relevance efficiently and independently and
(v) Use and organize such information to conduct systematic research aimed at providing answers to questions whose resolutions and not antecedently known, or to verifying answers that are assumed on the basis of 'accepted wisdom';
(vi) Understand and critically appreciate the contribution of major artistic and cultural activities and performance to community and national life;
(vii) Use information - technology standard in professional offices (at the time of his or her graduation) efficiently and independently;
(viii) Use the internet to find and access information;
(ix) Understand when and how to acknowledge the limitations of his or her own expertise and elicit the more appropriate expertise of others;
(x) Appreciate the importance of life-long learning and the importance of self-initiative in pursuing it;
(xi) Understand and internalise as a personal value the importance of conducting professional activity within the scope of national, provincial, municipal and international law.

(b) General outcomes (contextually demonstrated general knowledge, skills and values of the programme)

The Economics and Finance (BCom) graduate is competent to

(i) Produce solutions to both familiar and novel business problems as these arise in the course of professional activity;
(ii) Communicate his or her understanding of business problems and solutions to other in ways that are clear but not arrogant or presumptive;
(iii) Critically receive and understand the descriptions and suggestions of business colleagues and clients;
(iv) Understand the difference between personal and social (often corporate, sometimes public) goals, so as to
(v) Understand the importance of commitment to the latter even when they diverge with his or her personal interests;
(vi) Appreciate the contexts in which specific technical competencies identified below can best be integrated with the general competencies just identified.

(c) Specific Outcomes, including professional outcome, contextually demonstrated

The BCom (Economic and Finance) graduate will be competent to:

(i) Read, critically understand and integrate economic data and reports;
(ii) Produce descriptive, prescriptive and analytical economic reports at a level of sophistication suitable to:

Internal office reports in response to clearly assigned criteria;

Memos of professional advice

Descriptive popular journalism
(iii) Appreciate the significance of economic data, reports and analyses in the context of national and international political dynamics, so as to be competent to
(iv) Evaluate the political implications of economic developments, policies and actions to the level of sophistication identified in (c) (ii) above;
(v) Locate national and international economic data in public sources as required to demonstrated competencies indicate above;
(vi) Utilise the principles of modern financial economic to understand and analyse the operations of financial markets;
(vii) Implement quantitative and statistical methods for financial and economic predictions and decision making;
(viii) Understand and analyse the operation of international financial markets with a special reference to exchange rates, interest rate and the mobility of capital.

ASSOCIATED ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

Students' achievement of the critical cross-field, general and specific learning outcomes will be assessed through a range of assessment methods in the final programme (exit level) of the programme.

For the purposes of stipulating the criteria by which student performance will be assessed, this interim submission focuses on the key sites of integrative assessment which are located in the final year core courses (see integrated assessment for full descriptive of integrated assessment).

A BCom (Economics and Finance) graduate will be assessed specifically on foundational competencies in critically literacy, critical reasoning, numeracy, and computer-literacy in all prescribed and optional courses from the first year of the programme. Such competence will be assessed, across all programme courses, through a mix of formal written examinations, individual and group projects, individual and group presentations, team problem-solving workshops and simulations. In all such assignments, a learner's performance will be assessed on the basis of his or her:
(i) demonstration of ability to organise ideas and facts in a logical, coherent way;
(ii) demonstration of ability to anticipate the responses and objections of an imagined reader;
(iii) ability to integrate numerical data into prose descriptions and arguments;
(iv) demonstrated understanding of the need to cite references fairly and accurately;
(v) demonstrated ability to represent and consider views and perspectives alternative to his or her own.

A BCom student will be assessed specifically on practical competencies in ability to formulate arguments, research goals, research strategies and public description and justification of goals, tasks and findings from the second year of the programme. Such competence will be assessed, across all programme courses, through assigned individual projects and classroom debate in second year, and through team problem-solving workshops and simulations in third year. The learner's performance will be assessed on the basis of his or her demonstrated ability to integrate these competencies to the level expected of a junior manager delivering a professional report to a meeting of colleagues.

Integrated assessment for students in the Economics and Finance programme takes the form of two multi-dimensional projects completed within the third year. The first project will be completed within the Advanced Microeconomic and Macroeconomic (ECO320f) course, the topic of which is generally macroeconomics and covers area of economic growth, convergence and development. The second project topic will be completed with the Quantitative Methods in Economics (ECO321s) courses and utilises quantitative economic techniques and econometric software packages to model economic behaviour. Students will be assessed on the basis of demonstrated competence in the following areas:
(1) Internet skills - accessing data and economic resources from the internet. Both projects require student to download data and readings from some of the key economic web site on the internet.
(2) Data analysis and manipulation - a core component of the first project is the selection of the relevant data and the subsequent calculation of growth rates, growth accounting decompositions and indicators of economic convergence using spreadsheet packages such as Microsoft Excel.

The second project involves the manipulation of time series data for use in the estimation of simple regression models.
(3) Analytical skills - student are required to interpret the data calculation and regression results, critically evaluate the regression models estimated, make comparisons with other countries and draw relevant economic conclusions. This forms the body of the project and assesses students' ability to apply economic theory and economic models to real world contexts.
(4) Presentation skills - students present the final report in the form of a written project and are required to utilise graphs and tables for expository purposes.

Student assessments will be differentially scaled against the threshold-levels in these foundation, practical and reflexive competencies as described immediately above.

INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT
Integrated assessment for Economics and the Finance takes the form of two multi-dimensional projects completed within the third year. The first project will be completed within the Advanced Microeconomic and Macroeconomic Economics (ECO320F) course, the topic of which is generally macroeconomic and covers areas of economic growth, convergence and development. the second project topic will be completed with the Quantitative Methods in Economics (ECO321S) courses and utilises quantitative economic techniques and econometric software packages to model economic behaviour. Students will be assessed on the basis of demonstrated competence in the following areas:
(1) Internet skills- accessing data and economic resources from the internet. Both projects require students to download data and readings from some of the key economics web sites on the internet.
(2) Data analysis and manipulation - a core component of the first projects is the selection of the relevant data and the subsequent calculation of growth rates, growth accounting decompositions and indicators of economic convergence using spreadsheet packages such as Microsoft Excel. The second project involves the manipulation of time series data for use in the estimation of simple regression models.
(3) Analytical skills - students are required to interpret the data calculation and regression results, critically evaluate the regression models estimated, make comparisons with other countries and draw relevant economic conclusions. This forms the body of the project and assess students' ability to apply economic theory and economic models to real world contexts.
(4) Presentation skills - students present the final report in the form of a written project and are required to utilise graphs and tables for expository purposes.

Student assessments will be differentially scaled against the threshold-levels in these foundational, practical and reflexive competencies as described immediately above.

ARTICULATION OPTIONS

This qualification serves as an entry point to the related qualification(s):
1. MPhil (PPE)
2. Honours BsosSci. (PPE)
3. Honours BsosSci. Or Honours BCom (Economics)
4. Honours BCom (Finance)
5. Honours BCom (Accounting); Honours B.SC. (Mathematics) (depending on student's choice of courses)

This qualification provides credits for the related qualification(s):
All other UCT BCom, BBusSci and BsosSci. Programmes.

MODERATION OPTIONS

The University of Cape Town has a system of external peer review and evaluation of each course. One of the aspects of the system is an evaluation of the standards and assessment practices of the department.

CRITERIA FOR THE REGISTRATION OF ASSESSORS

The academic staff of the University of Cape Town will be used in a manner, which is consistent with the quality assurance system of the University.

REREGISTRATION HISTORY

As per the SAQA Board decision/s at that time, this qualification was Reregistered in 2006; 2009; 2012; 2015.

NOTES

N/A

LEARNING PROGRAMMES RECORDED AGAINST THIS QUALIFICATION:

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.

1.	University of Cape Town