Page 24 - CAO Annual Report 2024/2025

CENTRAL APPLICATIONS OFFICE
As if this was not enough, after two days of receiving conflicting reports from the department we were informed at the 11th hour that the 2024 November National Senior Certificate embargoed results would, in fact, serve as the final verified results. Our carefully considered alternative plan had, once again, to be changed, which ended with our IT and support staff having to work through two consecutive nights to get the processed results to institutions before they were made available to the public.
At the start of 2025 the “Schools Mailing” was completed in time for the launch of the 2026 entry cycle on the 1st March 2025. The revamped reception with forty computers and a helpdesk opened at the same time. Reception operates daily from the 1st March to the end of December. January and February “walk-in” applications are exclusively done on-line and for the 2025 entry we received applications from 57,644 applicants and processed 212,987 applications. The total number of applicants that applied for the 2025 Academic Year is 340,588 with a total of 1,632,435 applications being processed.
Other than the twenty-five interns and the reshuffling of the existing staff, we have only added two additional staff members to our staffing complement. We have capitalized and continue to invest heavily in employee training and leadership development. In this way we equip our teams with the skills needed for a rapidly changing business environment. While expecting only the best from our staff and often placing considerable demands on them, the inclusive and transparent organizational culture that we have built at the CAO with a culturally diverse work-force continues to pay dividends.
We all look forward to the challenges of the current applications cycle and I have no doubt that, with the support of this dedicated staff, we shall further build the sustainability of the CAO.
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