Why is Orientation important?
Orientation in the Commerce Faculty is designed to give every first-year student new to UCT the best possible start to their academic career.

Many applicants to the university don't know what they want to do, nor do they understand the differences between our degrees and specialisations and what kinds of careers they lead to. The good news is that we don't expect you to, and have designed our degrees, as far as possible, to give you all exposure to the various subjects in the first year.

Moving from school to university is a big adjustment, and we want to give you the best possible start to your University education.

During orientation, you will learn about our degrees and how this educational process works in Commerce. It is vital to choose a degree with an understanding of its direction and how to keep your options open so that you can switch degrees when you know more about where your interests and passions lie.

Orientation will also introduce you to the other aspects of life at UCT that will make your time with us enjoyable; there are many different ways you can enhance your university years. You need to know how to do this. Our library, for instance, is a world-class knowledge resource that can significantly support your learning, and you need to know how to make the best use of the library resources.

Orientation is also designed to make sure that you can find your way around campus – UCT is a big place, and lectures, meetings and tutorials happen all over campus, and you need to know what is where.

We will also show you how to register and use our online systems, PeopleSoft and Amathuba – essential for you to access much of the course and administrative information you need to succeed.

Apart from all of the content of orientation, though, it is essential that you attend because you will have great fun meeting other senior students, your classmates and many of the lecturers and staff with whom you will be interacting over the next few years.