About Studyfinder

What is Studyfinder?

Studyfinder is a free tool that helps South African matric students answer one question: "What can I study with my marks?" Enter your subjects and percentages — or snap a photo of your school report — and Studyfinder shows you the university and TVET college courses you qualify for, plus the ones you nearly qualify for.

It is free to use, has no adverts, and does not require an account.

Who builds it

Studyfinder is built and maintained by Hannes Wessels, an independent developer in South Africa. It is not affiliated with any university, TVET college, the Department of Higher Education and Training, SAQA, or Universities South Africa.

Where the data comes from

The course database is compiled from public, official sources:

• University admission requirements — extracted from each university's official published undergraduate prospectus (mostly the 2026 intake editions).
• TVET college programmes — the nationally standardised NC(V) and NATED (Report 191) programme catalogues prescribed by the Department of Higher Education and Training, mapped to all 50 public TVET colleges.

Where a university publishes only limited admission information, entries are marked from the best available public source and refined as newer prospectuses are released.

How the matching works

• APS calculation — your Admission Point Score is calculated from your best six subjects excluding Life Orientation, using the standard NSC seven-level scale. Universities with their own scoring systems (for example UCT's Faculty Points Score) are handled with their own rules where published.
• Subject requirements — where a course requires specific subjects at specific levels (for example Mathematics at level 5), your marks are checked against those requirements, including either/or alternatives.
• "Almost there" — courses where you are within roughly 10% of meeting one or two subject requirements are shown separately, so a near-miss is visible rather than silently hidden.
• AI assistance — the chat assistant and some course descriptions are powered by AI (Anthropic's Claude). AI content can contain mistakes and is a guide, not advice.

The honest fine print

Meeting the requirements shown here does not guarantee admission. Universities apply selection criteria this tool cannot capture — quotas, interviews, portfolios, NBT results, and deadlines that close early when programmes fill. Admission requirements also change between intake years. Always verify with the institution's official admissions page before you apply.

Contact

Found an error in the data? Have a question, suggestion, or want to use Studyfinder at your school?