University of KwaZulu-Natal
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| Motto | The Premier University of African Scholarship |
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| Established | 1910, merged 1 January 2004 |
| Type | Public |
| Chancellor | Frene Ginwala |
| Vice-Chancellor | Prof. Malegapuru William Makgoba (Oxon) |
| Staff | 8,431 |
| Students | 38,532 |
| Undergraduates | 28,904 |
| Postgraduates | 9,628 |
| Location | Durban and Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa |
| Campus | 5 urban campuses |
| Affiliations | AAU, ACU, HESA, IAU |
| Website | www.ukzn.ac.za |
The University of KwaZulu-Natal or UKZN is a public university with five campuses all located in KwaZulu-Natal, a province of South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 through the merger of two major universities in KwaZulu-Natal – the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville.
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[edit] Organisation
The University is divided into four colleges, each divided into faculties:
- The College of Humanities
- The Faculty of Education
- The Faculty of Humanities, Development, and Social Sciences
- The College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science
- The Faculty of Engineering
- The Faculty of Science and Agriculture
- The College of Health Sciences
- The Faculty of Nursing
- The Nelson R. Mandela Medical School
- The Faculty of Health Sciences
- The College of Law and Management Studies
- The Faculty of Law
- The Faculty of Management Studies
Each faculty is further subdivided into schools, many of which were created by the merger of several departments. Although departments are no longer officially part of the management structure, many schools are still effectively subdivided into departments. An example is the School of Biochemistry, Genetics, Microbiology and Plant Pathology.
Each college, faculty and school has a head, who reports to the head above him or her. The University also has the normal support structures including HR, ICT and Finance, there are approximately 6,000 staff members at the University and over 40,000 students.
The campuses still operate autonomously academically though they hold a joint graduation ceremony. The administration is however centralised.
Each campus is connected via highly sophisticated wireless networking equipment that makes data and voice communications between campuses possible.
[edit] History
The two KwaZulu-Natal universities were among the first batch of South African institutions to merge in 2004 in accordance with the government higher educational restructuring plans that will eventually see the number of higher educational institutions in South Africa reduced from 36 to 21. Confirmed by a Cabinet decision in December 2002, the mergers are the culmination of a wide-ranging consultative process on the restructuring of the Higher Education Sector that began in the early 1990s.
[edit] University of Natal
Founded in 1910 as the Natal University College in Pietermaritzburg, the University of Natal was granted independent University status in 1949 owing to its rapid growth in numbers, its wide range of courses and its achievements in and opportunities for research. By that time, the NUC was already a multi-campus institution, having been extended to Durban after World War I. The distinctive Howard College building was opened in 1931. In 1946, the government approved a Faculty of Agriculture in Pietermaritzburg and, in 1947, a Medical School for African, Indian and Coloured students in Durban.
[edit] University of Durban-Westville
The University of Durban-Westville was established in the 1960s as the University College for Indians on Salisbury Island in Durban Bay. Student numbers throughout the 1960s were low as a result of the Congress Alliances’ policy of shunning apartheid structures. This policy gave way in the 1980s to a strategy of “education under protest” which sought to transform apartheid institutions into sites of struggle. Student numbers grew rapidly and in 1971, the College was granted University status. The following year, the newly-named University of Durban-Westville moved into its modern campus in Westville and was a site of major anti-apartheid struggle. UDW became an autonomous institution in 1984, opening up to students of all races.
[edit] Notable alumni
- Steve Biko, non-violent anti-apartheid activist
- Colin Bundy, Warden, Green College, Oxford; formerly Director and Principal, School of Oriental and African Studies and Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of London; and previously Vice Chancellor and Principal, University of the Witwatersrand
- Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party
- Sheila Cussons, poet
- Lev David, writer, radio producer/presenter and media consultant
- Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Minister of Foreign Affairs in South Africa
- Adrian Furnham, organizational and applied psychologist and management expert
- Malusi Gigaba, deputy Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa
- Karthy Govender, commissioner for South African Human Rights Commission
- Mazisi Kunene, poet
- Douglas Livingstone, contemporary poet
- Lara Logan, television journalist for CBS News
- Colin Moss, actor
- Fatima Meer, writer, academic and anti-apartheid activist
- Frank Mdlalose, first premier of KwaZulu-Natal
- D.J. Opperman, Afrikaans poet
- Radhakrishna Padayachi, deputy Minister of Communications in South Africa
- David Papineau, academic philosopher
- Alan Paton, author, Cry, The Beloved Country
- Pat Pillai, presenter e.tv News
- Amichand Rajbansi, leader of the Minority Front
- Mamphela Ramphele, academic, businesswoman, medical doctor and anti-apartheid activist
- Imani Sanga, composer and ethnomusicologist
- William Smith, television mathematics and science teacher
- John van de Ruit, novelist, actor, playwright and producer
- Trevor Wadley, electrical engineer and inventor of the Wadley Loop
- Alan Whiteside, AIDS researcher and author
[edit] External links
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South African universities |  |
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| Traditional universities Cape Town | Fort Hare | Free State | KwaZulu-Natal | Limpopo | North-West Pretoria | Rhodes | Stellenbosch | Western Cape | Witwatersrand
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