The purpose of the diploma is to offer specialized knowledge and skills to enable the university to produce graduates who will be able to display competence in the integration and application of scientific-based food and nutrition theoretical and practical knowledge and culinary skills in food production, food retail, and food service with the aim of improving consumer wellbeing. The program's other primary objective is to empower food scientists and nutritionists with the wisdom, expert knowledge, and culinary skills they need to take on the challenge of creating and supplying foods that meet the continuously changing demands of the modern consumer industry brought on by changing lifestyles. The programmes aim to empower graduates with knowledge to find innovative routes to start-up businesses and develop their business ideas into opportunities thereby increasing the increase the chances of commercializing untapped indigenous food recipes, products, and processes, thereby contributing to job creation, personal fulfilment, and economic wealth. Successful program graduates start their own businesses in the Food and Beverage industries. Successful graduates can work as product/recipe developers, food buyers, food production managers, food journalists, market researchers, customer development consultants, food service managers, food and nutrition compliance officers, assistant nutritionists/nutrition advisors, and food quality control personnel, and become productive employees with minimal job orientation and training

A National Senior Certificate (NSC) with a diploma endorsement and achievement in the subjects as follows

• English at Level 3 [as a Home Language or First Additional Language]
• Mathematics at Level 3 
• Physical Science at Level 3

A Senior Certificate or equivalent qualification and with a minimum achievement in the subjects as follows:

•              E (SG) or E (HG) in English (Second Language)

•              D (SG) or E (HG) in Mathematics and

•              D (SG) or E (HG) in Physical Sciences

·         Applications from international students are considered in terms of institutional equivalence reference document (where required) submission of international qualification to SAQA for benchmarking in terms of HEQF

·         Mature Refer to requirements as per WSU’s General Rules & Regulations – Section 1.6

·         Prospective students can only be admitted to the programme provide they have achieved an APS score of 23