South Africa's matrics are on par with their counterparts in the US, Europe and Asia, according to a report released yesterday by the education monitoring body Umalusi and by Higher Education SA.

The country's National Senior Certificate qualification compared favourably with the qualifications of the Cambridge International Examinations and the International Baccalaureate Organisation.

The Cambridge qualifications are used in more than 157 countries, including the US, UK and Pakistan.

The IBO's qualifications are recognised in more than 138 countries, including Australia, China, France, Angola and some institutions in the US and UK.

Umalusi chief executive Mafu Rakometsi said yesterday that South Africa's National Senior Certificate was considered comparable to international qualifications in terms of curriculum and examinations.

But she warned against viewing matric as only a university entrance qualification because it " equipped pupils for citizenry".

"Not all pupils who do the National Senior Certificate go to university, but [they] are adequately equipped," she said.

Umalusi's senior manager for qualifications, curriculum and certification, Liz Burroughs, said the study on which yesterday's report was based compared qualifications, not pupil performance.

"[It indicates] that our exams are sufficiently demanding and their level of difficulty is sufficient when compared to others," she said.

The researchers in the study said they chose to compare South African qualifications with those of Cambridge International Examinations and the International Baccalaureate Organisation because those bodies' qualifications were widely recognised internationally.

Comparisons were also made to the Namibian Senior Secondary Certificate because more than 10000 students in South Africa's 23 universities came from Namibia.

Burroughs noted that the National Senior Certificate has its shortcomings.

"Some subjects need to be done in more depth," she said.

Department of Education spokesman Granville Whittle said the report confirmed the department's assertion that "the National Senior Certificate is a high-skills, high-knowledge curriculum that compares well to the best in the world".