At Honours level students are required to take modules (see below) up to a total of 10 credits with an additional 2 credits for their research project. There is a possibility to gain credits from related courses offered by other departments at UCT but this is at the discretion of the Co-Directors and permission for this has to be obtained by the student.
Courses offered for 2026:
| Module | Credits | Semester | Convenor |
| Electromagnetism | 1 | 1 | Dr Gary Tupper (UCT) |
| General Astrophysics 1 (Stellar Astrophysics) | 1 | 1 | Prof Chris Engelbrecht (emeritus) |
| Observational Techniques 1 (Optical + IR) | 1 | 1 | Dr Rudi Kuhn (SAAO/SALT) |
| Computational Methods | 2 | 1 | Mr Mayhew Steyn (UCT) |
| General Astrophysics 2 (Extragalactic Astrophysics) | 1 | 2 | Dr Moses Mogotsi (SAAO/UCT) |
| Cosmology | 1 | 2 | Dr Alvaro de la Cruz-Dombriz (UCT) |
| General Relativity | 1 | 2 | Dr Bishop Mongwane (UCT) |
| Observational Techniques 2 (Radio) | 1 | 2 | Dr Kenda Knowles (RU/SARAO) |
| Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics | 1 | 2 | Dr Anne Marie Nzioki (UKZN) |
| Spectroscopy | 1 | 2 | Dr Retha Pretorius (SAAO) Dr Narges Hatamkhani (SAAO) |
Research Project
2 credits, over the whole year
Research projects will be offered by NASSP consortium partner scientists and the list will be made available on the main NASSP website early in the year for students to select by sending the NASSP Administrator an email. Students are required to meet (in person or via telecon) with potential supervisors to discuss projects before making a final choice. Since it may be the case that more than one student picks the same project, the NASSP Selection Committee will organise the final assignment of projects.
Analysis: Honours projects should take the equivalent of ~3 weeks of analysis time to complete and it is the norm that students do this work over the winter vacation period at the supervisor’s institution.
Write-up: The write-up part of the project takes longer and the final report should be submitted before final exams start in the 2nd semester.
Presentation: Students are required to present their project research work in the form of an oral presentation as part of the final project mark.