HX-RS-07
BSc Drone & Remote Sensing Agritech
Fly, process and interpret: drone operations, multispectral imaging, GIS and the regulatory reality of flying over South African farmland.
Overview
An image is not information until somebody has calibrated it.
Remote sensing has moved from a novelty to an operating cost on serious farms. This degree trains the person in the middle: the one who can plan a flight, hold a licence, process a multispectral dataset, and tell a farm manager what the picture actually means for the next seven days.
You will fly from your first year on our instrumented plots and on partner farms, work with satellite time series going back eight years, and build vegetation index models calibrated against sap and soil samples you collected yourself. The regulatory module covers SACAA licensing, airspace and privacy law, because an illegal flight can end a career before it begins.
- SACAA remote pilot licence preparation and flight operations
- Multispectral, thermal and LiDAR data capture and processing
- GIS, photogrammetry and spatial analysis
- Vegetation indices, calibration and ground truth sampling
- Airspace law, privacy and data governance
Curriculum
What the three years look like
Year 1
Flight and map
Geographic information systems · Remote pilot theory · Plant and soil science · Physics of light and sensors · Field practice I
Year 2
Capture and process
Drone operations and mission planning · Photogrammetry and image processing · Multispectral analysis · Satellite time series · Field practice II
Year 3
Interpretation
Advanced remote sensing and modelling · Flight law and compliance · Data products for farm decisions · Industry placement (12 weeks) · Mapping project
Entry requirements
Bachelor of Science · NQF 7
- National Senior Certificate with an APS of 28 or above
- Mathematics and Physical Sciences at level 4 (50%)
- A valid medical certificate for remote pilot licensing
- Willingness to travel to field sites across the Western Cape
Where it leads
BSc Drone & Remote Sensing Agritech
- Remote sensing specialist for an agritech or survey company
- Licensed drone operator in agricultural services
- GIS analyst for a producer group, municipality or conservation body
- Postgraduate study in geoinformatics or remote sensing
Next step
Applications for 2027 are open
Applications close 30 September 2026 for the February 2027 intake. Late applications are considered while places remain.