Careers › Health

How to become a Physiotherapist

Helps people recover movement after injury, surgery or illness.

Apply early

Selection programmes like this often close months before the standard application deadline, and marks alone don’t guarantee a place. See the Dates page for the exact closing dates.

What does a Physiotherapist actually do?

More about this career

Helps people recover movement and manage pain after injury, surgery, stroke or chronic illness, through hands-on treatment and exercise programmes. Physios work in hospitals, private practice, sports teams and rehabilitation centres, and registration with the HPCSA is required to practise.

Where this degree can take you

  • Sports Physiotherapist
  • Neurological Rehabilitation Specialist
  • Paediatric Physiotherapist
  • Biokineticist

This is our general description of the role and related jobs, not from an official source – it’s here to give you a fuller picture, not as a careers-counselling guarantee.

Not from an official source

Subjects that usually help

  • Mathematics
  • Life Sciences
  • Physical Sciences

This is our general guidance about which school subjects suit this career. It is not an admission requirement and not from an official source – the real requirements are on the degrees below.

Not from an official source

Where to check this yourself

What the programmes we’ve captured actually ask for

  • Mathematics – asked for by 8 of 8 programmes
  • Physical Sciences – asked for by 8 of 8 programmes
  • Life Sciences – asked for by 6 of 8 programmes
  • Mathematical Literacy – asked for by 1 of 8 programmes

Counted from the requirements below (an “or” alternative counts for each subject named). Each programme links to the page it came from.

Programmes that lead here

8 programmes at 8 universities. More are added as we verify them.

Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

BSc Physiotherapy

School of Health Care Sciences

SMU APS 28

  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Two more subjects – Two further subjects at level 4 or better.

Raw-confirmed 2026-10-04 against SMU’s own admission-requirements page for this school (points and subject minimums match). Closes 31 July 2026 for undergraduate programmes (applications open 1 April 2026) - notably earlier than most universities in this batch.

Source: View the official page (smu.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Stellenbosch University

Selection programme

BSc Physiotherapy

Medicine & Health Sciences · 4 years

Stellenbosch aggregate 60 %

  • Mathematics: 60%
  • Physical Sciences: 50%

Every Stellenbosch programme is a selection programme. The figures shown are the published minimum requirements - the actual selection threshold is usually higher. About 55 students are selected.

Source: View the official page (files.su.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of Cape Town

Selection programme

BSc Physiotherapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

UCT Faculty Points Score 360 out of 600

  • Mathematics: 60%
  • Physical Sciences: 65% OR Life Sciences: 65%
  • English: 65% if it is your Home Language, 65% if it is your First Additional Language
  • Next 3 subjects: 60%
  • NBT – NBTs are compulsory and must be at Intermediate level or above.

The 360 shown is the APS sub-minimum (out of 600). Selection: Band A FPS 730, Band B WPS 797, Band C 580 / 610 / 680 for redress categories 1 / 2 / 3-4. About 70 places.

Source: View the official page (uct.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of KwaZulu-Natal

From an older document

Bachelor of Physiotherapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

UKZN APS 30 points out of 48

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Orientation: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)

The published APS range is 48-30. This comes from the Study@UKZN 2026 brochure, the most recent official source we could find. UKZN had not published a 2027 table when we checked, so treat these as 2026 figures pending a 2027 update. Applications go through the CAO.

Source: View the official page (studyatukzn.ukzn.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of Pretoria

Selection programme

BPhysio (Physiotherapy)

Health Sciences · 4 years

UP APS 30 points

  • English: level 4 if it is your Home Language, level 4 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)

A selection programme. Most UP closing dates are 30 June; Veterinary Science closes 31 May. Grade 12 applicants apply with their final Grade 11 results.

Source: View the official page (drupalwebprod-files.up.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

University of the Free State

Selection programme

BSc Physiotherapy

Health Sciences

UFS AP score 33 points out of 49

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)

CORRECTED from the 2027 Undergraduate Prospectus: Mathematics and Physical Sciences are both level 4 (50%), not level 5 as previously shown - only English and Life Sciences sit at level 5 (60%). Selection-form closing date is 31 May, earlier than UFS’s general closing date.

Source: View the official page (ufs.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of the Western Cape

BSc Physiotherapy

Community & Health Sciences

UWC weighted points 39 points out of 65

  • English: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Another language – Another language (Home or First Additional) at level 3.
  • Mathematics: level 4 (50% or more) OR Mathematical Literacy: level 6 (70% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)
  • Physical Sciences: level 4 (50% or more)

Raw-read 2026-10-04 from UWC’s own 2026 programme rules (the "Program Overview" PDF on the programme page, Calendar 2026). UWC points are its own weighted score (see the calculator note).

Source: View the official page (uwc.ac.za) (opens the official page)

University of the Witwatersrand

No cut-off published

Bachelor of Physiotherapy

Health Sciences · 4 years

No points cut-off published for this one – see the note below.

  • English: level 5 if it is your Home Language, level 5 if it is your First Additional Language
  • Mathematics: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Life Sciences: level 5 (60% or more) OR Physical Sciences: level 5 (60% or more)
  • Job shadowing – A job shadowing certificate of attendance (minimum 16 hours) is required.

CONFIRMED 2026-10-02 by a direct fetch of the live course-finder page (both figures and the Life Sciences AND/OR Physical Sciences alternative, previously shown as Physical Sciences only): Wits Health Sciences uses a Composite Index (75% school average across 5 subjects, 25% NBT), not APS, and does not publish the cut-off scores - the NBT must be written in person by 17 August.

Source: View the official page (wits.ac.za) (opens the official page) · 2027 intake

Are your marks enough?

Put your subjects in once and we’ll check them against every programme above – scored each university’s own way.

What do I qualify for?