The selection of students is a critical issue currently facing South African higher
education institutions. The identification and selection of disadvantaged students with the
potential to succeed in mathematics- and science-based study is a particularly pressing problem.
The new South African higher education law requires that selection is done in a fair and
transparent manner. Selection has to be followed by adequate support for selected students to
succeed in their study programmes. Issues of access are closely coupled to issues of retention
and success. The research results discussed in this paper illustrate how these issues can be
successfully addressed and how selection fairness and effectiveness may be optimised under
the constraints of selection efficiency. An optimal solution can be found by developing test
specifications and selection cut-off values based on the teaching programme for which the
selection is done. The resulting close fit between selection testing and teaching after selection
leads to a reasonable expectation of success for selected students in the study programme.
Under such conditions, selection can be seen as a contract to teach at the student’s level.