UCT Bcom

UCT Bcom

UCT Bcom, The Commerce Faculty is the largest of all the faculties in the University of Cape Town and continues to expand the programmes it offers its students. Commerce degree programmes prepare students for the personnel needs of the fast-growing world of financial service industries and prepare them for participation in the global economy. The Commerce Faculty receives strong support from international agencies, and remains committed to engagement with the African continent.
The Faculty offers two undergraduate degrees: a four-year Bachelor of Business Science (BBusSc) and a three-year Bachelor of Commerce (BCom). Both of these degree programmes are divided into a variety of streams to cater both for the interests of our students, and the employment needs of the country.

The History behind the Faculty of Commerce

The University of Cape Town’s Faculty of Commerce had its beginnings immediately after World War I. Robert Leslie, then Professor of Economics, led the drive to establish a faculty which would provide students with the broad educational background and professional training most appropriate to an executive career in the business world. From its inception, the Faculty of Commerce displayed that spirit of enterprise and unorthodoxy and that strong sense of purpose which were to become its most distinguishing characteristics. Thus the Faculty Board met for the first time on 25th November 1921, four days before it had been formally constituted by the University Council!
A two-year Diploma in Commerce was immediately organised. Then, in 1924, Professor (later Sir Arnold) Plant was appointed to the John Garlick Chair of Commerce, and drew up a curriculum for the Degree of Bachelor of Commerce. Courses were provided both for full-time and for part-time students, who worked during the day and attended lectures in the evening.
The postgraduate research degrees of Master of Commerce and Doctor of Philosophy were also offered. By virtue of its professional bias, and also because many of its students were already following commercial careers, the Faculty achieved the special advantage of being firmly rooted at once in the world of learning and also in the world of business.

Bachelor of Commerce (BCom)