University of KwaZulu-Natal

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.

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.



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.

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.

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.

Controversies
Immediately after the merger the management began introducing World Bank style reforms to the University. These were poorly received by staff (workers and academics), and have resulted in protests and strike action. In particular, staff have protested against intimidation by senior management and a lack of freedom of expression. Additionally, there have been scandals regarding the attempted eviction of shack dwellers from the university, including the firing of academics for colluding with the shack dwellers, as well as a sexual harassment scandal involving senior management.

Strike action
The staff went on strike in 2005 and again, for 12 days, in 2006. This time period covered registration week, and effectively shut down the university. Staff were banned from speaking to the media during the strike and wore T-shirts that read 'We Demand Academic Freeedom'. The Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa issued a statement in protest against infractions of academic freedom.

Intimidation and infractions of academic freedom
The University has consistently been accused of a failure to allow staff and students basic rights to free expression.

In 2005 the Mail and Guardian newspaper published an article by the vice-chancellor Professor Malegapuru Makgoba which compared middle-aged white academics to apes who had lost their alpha status.

In late 2006 an exhaustive study commissioned by the University's senate concluded that there was an atmosphere of intimidation and fear on the campus and that there was particular lack of respect for and trust in the integrity of the University's PRO Prof. Dasarath Chetty. Makgoba has stood by Prof. Chetty despite this. Management has sought to suppress the report and an academic was fired for discussing it with the media.

During November 2006, Makgoba defended himself against an attack by the Freedom of Expression Institute that alleged that the freedom of expression of academics at the University was being "eroded."

In the same year he made it clear that UKZN supported Jacob Zuma's bid for the presidency of South Africa.

Professor Chetty was officially censured by the South African Sociology Association after a failed attempt to sue fellow sociologist Prof. Jimmi Adesina after Prof. Adesina had liked Chetty to apartheid Bantustan leader Kaizer Matanzima after Chetty had instructed UKZN staff not to speak to the media during the 2006 strike.

Eviction of shack dwellers and firing of academics
In 2005 the management tried, but failed, to evict shack dwellers living on the campus. Later that year the Mercury newspaper reported that Makgoba had threatened to, at the request of the mayor of Durban, bring evidence from the National Intelligence Agency to the Council and to charge academics who had been working with the shack dweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo with 'incitement'. All three of the academics in question were rapidly removed from the university. A number of staff members, including critics of the management from the left and the right, have claimed that they have been widely slandered by Makgoba in emails sent to staff and to the media.

In late 2006 the management charged activist academic and trade unionist Fazel Khan, who has worked closely with the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo and who was a key trade union activist on the campus, for 'bringing the university into disrepute' after Khan answered questions put to him by the media after he was airbrushed out of a picture and removed from the text of an article on a film he had made that was printed in the University newsletter. Khan was then subject to hearing chaired by the controversial Mbekite laywer Christine Qunta and fired in a decision that was widely question on legal and moral grounds. He is taking the university to court and is widely expected to win.

Sexual harassment allegations
Makgoba, along with the council chairman, stepped aside from their positions on 28 November 2006, after a scandal emerged involving claims of sexual harassment and victimisation levelled by the dean of the Faculty of Management Studies. Makgoba denied these claims and relinquished his post pending the outcome of an enquiry. As the scandal unfolded staff were again issued an instruction not to speak to the media. Makgoba was subsequently found not guilty and resumed his position as Vice-Chancellor. Action is now being taken against Makgoba's accuser with regard to allegations of fraud.

Notable alumni

 * Imani Sanga, composer and ethnomusicologist

As the university has only existed since 2004, very few of its graduates have had the opportunity to attain great fame. There are, however, numerous notable alumni of its founding institutions:-

University of Durban-Westville

 * Malusi Gigaba, deputy Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa
 * Karthy Govender, commissioner for South African Human Rights Commission
 * Radhakrishna Padayachi, deputy Minister of Communications in South Africa