If you have a degree in AgriSciences, you have a qualification with which you can compete on national and international level. You will be part of a group of experts who are highly sought-after in South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world. There is a range of challenging employment opportunities in the agricultural, forestry and conservation industries, ranging from the most practical to the highly technological. These include various management aspects, such as those relating to human resources, finance, plants and animals, equipment and the environment. Graduates may choose to work in the outdoors, in laboratories or in the business environment. The success of our former students in the work environment is widely recognised, with many graduates accepting senior management positions early in their careers.
Agricultural, forestry and conservation ecology education
Worldwide the biggest challenges are to supply food to rapidly growing populations; to ensure that food and food sources are unpolluted and safe for consumers; and to use and manage the environment in such a way that it can be preserved for posterity.
For the past 90 years, the Faculty of AgriSciences has played a key role in meeting these challenges. We provide training in each of the four broad areas of the agribusiness labour market, namely plant, soil and conservation sciences, animal production systems, food and wine production systems, agricultural economics and management. In collaboration with the Cape Institute for Agricultural Training: Elsenburg, we also provide training in applied agricultural production and management. Our programmes focus on equipping students with the theoretical, technological, practical and generic skills essential to the fields of sustainable food production and food security. Our graduates are well equipped to make use of a creative and problem-solving approach to managing complex and challenging agricultural systems.
Stellenbosch University is the only South African university that offers complete undergraduate programmes in conservation ecology, viticulture and oenology and in forestry and wood sciences. These programmes have become renowned as foremost in their fields in Africa. Students from all our neighbouring countries and from further afield in Africa, Europe and even South America come to Stellenbosch to study these degrees. Our training is scientific, but with a practical orientation. From the outset students participate in excursions, visits to the industry and fieldwork.
All our programmes lead to a bachelor’s degree that will equip you to compete successfully in almost any profession of your choice in one of the broad areas of agribusiness. After obtaining a bachelor’s degree, you may broaden your career opportunities considerably by obtaining further qualifications through postgraduate study. You may follow a master’s degree and then a doctorate in one of the specialised fields of the academic programmes under the guidance of one or more of our world-class researchers.
At the end of the description of each programme, we include the postgraduate programmes that follow. On completion of a four-year bachelor’s degree, you may register directly for a master’s degree. After a three-year bachelor’s degree, you will need to do an honours degree or postgraduate diploma before embarking on a master’s degree.
Strengthen your academic basis
Some students have difficulty in realising their full potential. This could be due to a host of factors, including inadequate schooling. If you are one of these students or if you would like to strengthen your academic grounding to make sure that you study successfully, then you should consider doing an extended degree programme.