Fundamental Unit Standards and Unit Standards with General Applicability are those that can be utilised as part of many different qualifications, usually as Fundamentals. They mostly have to do with communication, literacy, numeracy, health / safety, HIV / AIDs, generic management, project management, administration and information technology.

Please note the following:

• All of these fundamental unit standards are listed here, regardless of their registration status on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF). This is to ensure that they are easily accessible and available for utilisation across all learning fields, from the first stages of qualification design. Where applicable, these unit standards will thus be duplicated in either the database of qualifications and unit standards registered on the NQF, or in the database of those available for public comment.
• However, unit standards that were registered but have passed their end date are not listed because they are no longer available for utilisation in new qualifications. (These unit standards can still be viewed, for information only, in the database of qualifications and unit standards that have passed their registration end date.)
• The contents of unit standards with status other than Registered or Reregistered (e.g. Draft) may change before they are finally registered on the NQF.