The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN; , ) is a public research university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Having served a brief stint as the interim Vice-Chancellor in 2004 he was formally appointed as the founding Vice-Chancellor of the newly merged University of KwaZulu-Natal. He was installed at a ceremony on 30 September 2005.

Professor Makgoba served two five-year terms of office and retired in 2015. His tenure, however, was plagued with controversies. Makgoba is said to have created a "culture of hostility" at the university that resulted in an exodus of world-class academics. He was succeeded by Dr Albert van Jaarsveld.right|thumb|The main clock tower of Old Main Building, on the [[Pietermaritzburg campus.]]

University of Natal

University of Durban-Westville

thumb|The Memorial Tower Building on the Howard College Campus in Durban, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Organisation

The university is governed in accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1997, and its constitution is specified in the Statute of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, as approved by the South African Minister of Education and the Parliament of South Africa.

In the statute, the university consists of:

  • the chancellor (the titular head). The first chancellor of the merged university was Dr Frene Ginwala. It is currently Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
  • the vice chancellor (the executive head)
  • two or more deputy vice chancellors (currently there are five full and one acting)
  • the registrar (responsible for registering students)
  • the council (responsible for governance of the institution as a whole)
  • the senate (responsible for governance of academic activities)
  • the students representative council (responsible for students representation)
  • the institutional forum (responsible for advising the council on matters of human rights and equality)
  • the colleges (currently there are four)
  • the academic and support staff
  • the students
  • the convocation (all the alumni and some others)

Academic structure

The university is made up of four colleges, which are in turn made up of several schools. In most cases, a subdivision is spread across one or more of the university's campuses. For example, chemistry is in both the Pietermaritzburg and Westville campuses.

College of Agriculture, Engineering and Science

  • School of Engineering(all)
  • School of Agriculture and Science

College of Health Sciences

  • School of Medicine
  • School of Health Sciences

College of Humanities

  • School of Arts
  • School of Social Sciences
  • School of Education

College of Law and Management Studies

  • Graduate School of Business and Leadership (Business Management Association in cooperation with Hampton College Durban)
  • School of Commerce
  • School of Law

An institute built in cooperation with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute is the new KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV, opened in 2012. It is on the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine campus.

Campuses

The university is geographically divided into five distinct campuses, which partially correspond to its managerial and academic divisions. Two campuses (Edgewood and the Medical School) house specific academic divisions (education and medicine respectively), but the remainder of the university's academic divisions span Howard College, Pietermaritzburg and Westville.

Pietermaritzburg campus

thumb|UKZN Pietermaritzburg Campus

Pietermaritzburg campus was the main location of the University of Natal and its predecessor, the Natal University College, until the opening of the Howard College campus in Durban. This campus contains the university's oldest structure, Old Main Building, built in 1912. Howard College offers a wide range of degrees, with a large engineering department consisting of Electrical engineering and Chemical engineering. The College of Humanities and College of Law and Management are also positioned on this campus together with the Centre For Creative Arts (CCA) and the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre which host annually the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF), Poetry Africa, Time of the Writer and the creative dance festival JOMBA! which is produced by the FlatFoot Dance company.

Westville campus

thumb|UKZN Westville Campus

Westville campus is in an environmental conservancy in Westville, about 10 km west of Durban.

as well as the South African National Universities Debating Championships.

UKZN established the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) in 1996. The CCA is a multi-disciplinary arts organisation based within the School of Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It coordinates several respected annual festivals, providing students with access to creative platforms and interesting opportunities aimed at developing their artistic talents. The four main festivals organized by the UKZN CCA are:

  • Time of the Writer

The UKZN Time of the Writer festival invites international authors to take place in a variety of roundtable discussions, readings, seminars, book launches, and developmental programmes such as workshops, master classes and motivational talks. The festival has been running since 1998.

  • Durban International Film Festival

First held in 1979, The Durban International Film Festival is one of the oldest and largest film festivals in southern Africa.

  • JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience
  • Poetry Africa

The UKZN Poetry Africa started in 1997, and features performances, readings, and book-launches from some poets

Law clinics

UKZN has two law clinics, one in Pietermaritzburg and one in Durban, that provide free legal assistance to those that are unable to afford it. Specializing in the areas of HIV and AIDS, Family Law, and social justice matters, the UKZN law clinics are considered to be among the leading law clinics in the country.

The law clinics also provide a practical training environment for final year law students, who are mentored by the clinic's experienced practitioners. Both clinics also engage directly with the communities throughout the province through regular outreach initiatives, where the students and legal practitioners travel to various remote, impoverished communities with the intention of providing access to justice for those that are most vulnerable.

Rankings and reputation

thumb|University of KwaZulu-Natal World Ranking

UKZN was ranked fourth out of the universities in South Africa by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and sixth by the QS World University Rankings in 2018. UKZN has historically had a very strong reputation in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and is ranked first in the country for physical sciences and engineering, second for computer science, and third for mathematics. The university has also produced a number of prominent entrepreneurs and innovators. It was ranked first in Sub-Saharan Africa in Q4 2020 by the amount of venture capital funding raised by Unicorn startups founded by UKZN's alumni.

Internationally, UKZN is ranked in the 401-500 bracket by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and in the 701-750 bracket by the QS World University Rankings 2018. As of March 2021, it was ranked in the 801-1000 bracket by the QS World University Rankings.

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Controversies

There have been a number of controversies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal since its foundation.

Firstly, there have been several staff strikes and student protests,

with some protests from 2009 onward involving police intervention and the use of riot control measures, as well as violence on the part of some strikers.

Secondly, there have been a series of legal and disciplinary actions taken by senior university management against academics for speaking in public about the university. These actions have drawn wide criticism from academics and from organisations such as Cosatu and UNESCO.

They were also the cause of a 2008 staff strike.

  • Imani Sanga, composer and ethnomusicologist
  • Lize Heerman, singer-songwriter and media personality
  • Gita Ramjee, scientist and researcher in HIV prevention
  • Ncoza Dlova, first black dermatologist produced by the university and head of the School of Clinical Medicine
  • Eunice Nangueve Inácio, Angolan peace activist
  • Salome Maswime, global health expert and activist
  • Mondo Mazwai, legal practitioner and chair South Africa's Competition Tribunal from 2019
  • Mosa Moshabela, 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town
  • Promise Mthembu, HIV/AIDS activist
  • Nokwanda Makunga, biotechnologist
  • Gerhard van der Bank, F1 driver

For alumni of the previous institutions see:

  • :Category:University of Natal alumni
  • :Category:University of Durban-Westville alumni

See also

  • Open access in South Africa and List of South African open access repositories

References

  • Fight for Fazel Khan – Union Leader Fired from UKZN in 2006
  • Freedom of Expression Institute website
  • Official UKZN twitter
  • UKZN Press website
  • . Disa.ukzn.ac.za. Formerly known as "Digital Imaging South Africa"