Important Reading: Some Useful Definitions, Information and Explanations

Undergraduate courses in Psychology at Wits are attended by two broad classes of students: students studying towards a degree, and occasional students studying for non-degree purposes.

The University defines a student as follows:
G1.23 Student means a person registered full-time or part-time at the University for a qualification. (Humanities R&S 2010 p2)

An occasional student is defined as follows:

G1.16 Occasional student means a person who is registered at the University for any unit for non-qualification purposes. An occasional student is deemed to be a student as defined in G1.23 for all other purposes. (Humanities R&S 2010 p2)

Typically, then, a degree student is thus someone studying towards their bachelors qualification (BA, BSc, BCom), while an occasional student already has a bachelors qualification (from Wits or another tertiary institution) but has returned to university to complete additional courses or satisfy additional requirements, such as meeting the requirements for a major in Psychology or Organisational Psychology.

It is helpful, in making enquiries at Wits, to identify yourself as either an occasional student or a student wishing to complete a degree qualification.

The University also distinguishes between full-time and part-time students. Full-time and part-time students differ in terms of how many courses/ units they are allowed to register for in a given academic term or year. As a rough guide, full-time students typically register for eight modules (half-year courses) per year, while part-time students register for four modules per year. These restrictions, stated in terms of points, are expanded on below:

Full-time student – 1000 and 3000 levels

Up to 72 points per term

Up to 144 points per year

Full-time student – 2000 level*

Up to 96 points per term

Up to 172 points per year

(* The difference at the 2000 level results from the fact that 2000-level courses count more points - 24 points each for a half-year module, and 48 points for a full-year course) 

Part-time student – 1000 and 3000 levels

36 points per term

72 points per year

Part-time student – 2000 level

48 points per term

96 points per year

(see Humanities R&S 2010 p35)

Occasional students may register either on a full-time (i.e. up to eight modules per year) or on a part-time (i.e. up to four modules per year) basis.

(Registration on a full-time basis implies that the majority of a student's time is available for the completion of their studies; it may further require availability to attend daytime lectures, depending on the courses chosen for a given year of registration.)

Lectures

Undergraduate Psychology at Wits is offered by way of both daytime and evening classes. Typically, daytime lectures are attended by full-time degree students, while part-time degree students and occasional students tend to attend evening classes offered through WitsPlus.

By arrangement with Psychology and the Faculty of Humanities, it is possible for:

-          Part-time and occasional students to attend daytime lectures

-          Full-time students to attend evening classes at WitsPlus

Please note that, due to a timetable change made by WitsPlus, it is not currently (2013) possible to register for different levels of Psychology in the same year via evening classes (e.g. Psychology I and II, or Psychology II and III). However, as of 13 May 2013, it has been agreed with the Director of WitsPlus that this timetable change will be reversed for 2014, and concurrent registration across different levels of Psychology will again be possible.

Courses offered both by way of daytime lectures and via evening classes are fully equivalent in terms of outcomes; the courses just differ slightly in their mode of delivery.

In terms of the Psychology curriculum, the other key differences between daytime classes and WitsPlus classes is that (i) there is no choice between modules available at third year level through WitsPlus (whereas there are twelve modules offered via daytime classes - compare the curriculum plans posted elsewhere on this website); and (ii) the advanced research course, Psychological Research Design and Analysis IIB is only offered via daytime classes.