Durban University of Technology

Durban University of Technology
Motto	A preferred university for developing leadership in technology and productive citizenship.
Established	2002
Type	Public University of Technology
Students	23000
Location	Durban & Pietermaritzburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa
Website	http://www.dut.ac.za/

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a University of Technology in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 by the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and was previously known as the Durban Institute of Technology. It has four campuses in Durban, and two in Pietermaritzburg. In 2005, around 20 000 students were enrolled.

History

The Durban University of Technology is a result of the merger in April 2002 of two technikons, ML Sultan and Technikon Natal. It was named the Durban Institute of Technology and later became the Durban University of Technology on March 15, 2006.

KwaZulu-Natal’s Indian population began arriving in the 1860s to work on the sugar plantations. In 1927, those with no educational qualifications were threatened with repatriation. This threat stimulated adult classes in literacy, as well as a range of commercial subjects, held in a mission school and a Hindu institute, but it was not until after the war, and thanks to substantial financial support from the public, that M L Sultan College came into being. It would be another decade, however, before the city council, now preoccupied with the strictures of the first Group Areas Act of 1950, allocated suitable land for a permanent campus.

The Natal Technical College was founded in 1907 and immediately began providing tuition to more than 350 part-time students. The strictures of apartheid as it was codified through legislation weighed heavily on this institution as well. In 1955 the college was taken over by national education authorities; and in 1967 it became an exclusively white institution.

Campuses

• Brickfield Campus, Durban
• City Campus, Durban
• Indumiso Campus, Pietermaritzburg
• ML Sultan Campus, Durban
• Ritson Campus, Durban
• Riverside Campus, Pietermaritzburg
• Steve Biko Campus, Durban

Academics

In 2007, the university employed 566 academic staff, 46 percent of them female and 12 percent holding masters and doctoral degrees.

• Cromwell Everson, the classical music composer and composer of the first Afrikaans opera. Head of Performing Arts Department 1976-1991.
• Ela Gandhi, granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi is the Chancellor of Durban University of Technology.

Ranking

See also: Rankings of universities in South Africa and Rankings of business schools in South Africa

In 2010 Webometrics ranked the university the 14th best in South Africa and 4050th in the world.

Student Enrollment

The Durban University of Technology offers contact learning only. In 2007, there were 22,702 contact students, 19,007 of whom were full-time and 3,695 part-time. Of these, 22,381 were South African citizens, 243 from other SADC countries, and 78 from non-SADC countries (actual data, 2007). The table below summarizes student enrolment per Faculty in 2007.

External links

• Official DUT website