​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The Research Committee of Senate advises the Senate on matters relating to research. This Committee has the authority to conduct certain matters on behalf of the Senate and makes a contribution to the promotion of research at Stellenbosch University.

Subcommittees A, B and C advise the Research Committee on matters relating to their particular areas of expertise and are empowered to allocate central research funds to researchers and to scrutinise submissions for evaluation and funding to the NRF. The subcommittees are at liberty to apply different criteria in the allocation of funds but need to submit the broad categories and criteria to the Research Committee for approval.

There are four standing subcommittees of the Research Committee:

1. Subcommittee A for the faculties of Arts and Social Sciences, Education, Law, Theology, Economic and Management Sciences and Military Sciences
2. Subcommittee B for the faculties of Science, AgriSciences and Engineering
3. Subcommittee C for the faculty of Health Sciences
4. The Subcommittee regarding Central Analytical Facilities (CAF)