Processing of NRF Honours Applications 2025

Honours approvals are taking place between January and March 2025.

A) Summary of the Process

  • The NRF Connect system closed on 22 November 2024 for students to submit applications for the Honours scholarship.
  • The universities (NRF Designated Authorities) screen and score all applications in accordance with the NRF screening checklist. This implies that all applications received must be processed before a university can submit recommendations to the NRF. 
  • The NRF makes funding decisions based on the lists received from the universities. 
  • As soon as the NRF finalises a university’s outcome list, the NRF sends the list to the university.
  • The university (not the NRF) communicates the outcomes directly to applicants via email.
  • Successful applicants will receive notifications when they can claim their Award on NRF Connect.

B) Submission of Final Marks

Applicants who didn’t have their final-year marks at the time of application must send the examination results to the NRF DA at their proposed university for capturing.

C) Change of University

NRF applicants who receive a successful outcome can change their university via the postgrad/research office of the university that they initially applied to once they have accepted the award via the NRF Connect System. 

D) Queries

Honours applicants should direct any queries about their applications and outcomes to their universities’ postgrad/research offices where NRF Designated Authorities (DAs) are stationed to assist.

E) Application Statuses on NRF Connect

As applications move through the process, applicants from the same university will see different statuses at different times. Due to application volumes, it can sometimes take a while for an individual applicant’s status to update on NRF Connect. What matters during this time is the status of the entire university’s applications. (See Heading F)

F) Updates on University Statuses

The NRF will post regular announcements about the progress (statuses) of the universities on Facebook and Twitter whenever updates become available. The NRF will thus not respond to queries from individual applicants about the progress of a specific university’s applications.

Please note that a university’s status will only change once all applications have been received from that particular university.

Please see the table (communique) below for the latest update.

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