Career Opportunities for Science Graduates

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The Faculty offers a wide range of study fields and disciplines that give rise to excellent career opportunities. Whether you have a healthy interest in scientific principles, a knack for solving problems, an interest in the environment, the science of organisms, the earth and its natural processes, a fascination with modern technological development, unusual analytical abilities, or whether you like to solve mathematical problems, you will find a study package in the Faculty that suits you. Within all the disciplines, you can follow a career as a consultant and/or researcher. Further studies in any of the disciplines may lead to an academic career. Find out more in our Recruitment Guide.

APPLIED MATHEMATICS

  • Applied Mathematics concerns mathematical modeling as experienced in the sciences, technology and industry.
  • Applied Mathematicians are employed by various organisations as financial systems analysts, mathematical modelers, etc.
  • The Department of Applied Mathematics is the main contributor to the programme in Computational Science.

BIOCHEMISTRY

  • Biochemistry focuses on the changes and analysis of the biological processes of living systems.
  • Biochemists work mainly in the food, water, biomedical, biotechnological and agricultural sectors.

BIOTECHNOLOGY

  • Biotechnology is the manipulation of living cells or its enzymes for the benefit of mankind. It involves the microbiology, biochemistry, fermentation and genetics that are associated with these processes.
  • Career opportunities are found in a variety of industries, including food production companies, pharmaceutical industries, cosmetic industries, mining, and water purification industries.

BOTANY AND PLANT BIOTECHNOLOGY

  • Botany is the study of living as well as extinct plant species. Botany and Plant Biotechnology have linkages with various other fields of study.
  • Botanists are employed as ecologists, nature conservation scientists, water ecologists, algologists, ethnobotanists, etc.

CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY

  • Chemistry is one of the basic sciences and entails the study of the properties, composition and characteristics of matter and changes occurring therein. Analytical Chemistry, one of the applied fields of Chemistry, directly impacts on the quality of daily living through, for example, the determination of lead in fuel, the analysis of various components in drinking water to ensure that it is safe for human consumption, quality control of manufactured products like headache tablets and gauging the suitability of raw materials required for the manufacture of other products.
  • You can follow a career as a chemical analyst or researcher in any relevant industry, for example Sasol, pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies, Eskom, the health and food industry, mining and transport companies, etc.

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATICS

  • This entails the application of computer and information technology to assist humans with different aspects of their daily living.
  • Computer & Information Technology forms the backbone of modern technology. Job opportunities are therefore limitless in especially the commercial and industrial sectors.

FOOD TECHNOLOGY

  • Food Technology concerns the sciences of the production, processing, preservation, packing, distribution and evaluation of wholesome food.
  • Careers can be practiced in approximately 2 000 food factories in South Africa.

GEOGRAPHY, ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND ENERGY STUDIES

  • Geography as a discipline focuses on the spatial interaction between people and the natural and social environment, with the aim of managing the environment in a proper manner.
  • Geographers and environmental managers identify and analyze global, national and local spatial and environmental problems, which affect our current and future daily existence on earth.
  • Careers that can be followed include location analyst, town planner, geo-information specialist, informatics specialist, environmental rehabilitation manager, tourism planner, population development official, environmental planner, traffic planner, environmental auditor, environmental impact analyst, resource assessor, geomorphologist, etc.

GEOLOGY

  • Geology is the study of the physical, chemical and biological processes through which Planet Earth was formed and through which it is still influenced.
  • Careers in this field include mining geologists, mineralogists, geophysicists, geohydrologists, geomathematicians, geostaticians, palaeontologists, engineering geologists, geochemists, environmental geologists, etc.

PHYSICS

  • Physics is the study of the properties and behavior of the physical world in which humans find themselves. Objects of study include all phenomena, ranging from the smallest elementary parts of the atom, to the structure of the whole universe.
  • Physicists are extremely sought after in large industrial organisations, in developing new technology in nature and in the medical world, in the arms industry, in aviation and even in the financial world.

STATISTICS

  • Statistics comprises the collection, analysis and interpretation of data and the conversion thereof into a mutually intelligible form, which forms the basis of certain conclusions, predictions and the testing of hypotheses.
  • In the financial world, data is often available in abundance. Statistical knowledge enables you to obtain information from the data and then reach conclusions from such information. In financial mathematics, these conclusions are used to evaluate and optimize, interalia, investment portfolios.
  • Typical careers are actuaries, surveying statisticians, industrial statisticians, biometricists, econometricists, data-interpreters and financial analysts, etc.

MATHEMATICS

  • Mathematics can be defined as the study of, inter alia, the mathematical concepts of figures and numbers.
  • In Mathematics one studies the interdependent relations between concepts, the application of mathematical theories and the abstraction of concepts and theories.
  • Mathematics is used in the practice of professions in engineering, optometry, statistics, education, ect.

ZOOLOGY

  • Zoology is the study of animals, which includes the study of any living or dead organisms (eg palaeontology), which are not plants, fungi or bacteria. Zoology is concerned, for example, with the study of fish, sponges, worms, insects, snails, reptiles, amphibians, fossils and mammals – including humans.
  • Careers that you can pursue are a nature conservationist, environmentalist, an ecologist, an entomologist, a pathologist, a parasitologist, a geneticist, a food technologist, etc.