With four campuses in Durban and one in Pietermaritzburg, the University of Kwazulu Natal has evolved into one of South Africa’s largest academic institutions. Formed in 2004, the university has a distinctively multicultural feel and has links with over 250 institutions around the world.
Built in 1912, Old Main Building is a legacy to the university’s previous incarnation as Natal University College. It’s the centrepiece of the Pietermaritzburg Campus, a building of old-world grandeur dotted with elegant art pieces. Two of the Durban campuses are close to the coast and soak up the colourful influences of this eastern South African city. Howard College is the largest, situated in Berea Ridge just a couple of blocks from the Nelson Mandela Medical School.
Around 20 kilometres inland from Durban City Centre, Westville Campus is where the university’s management school is based. The University of Kwazulu Natal’s Faculty of Education can be found at Edgewood Campus, 30 kilometres from the centre of Durban. There are regular buses and shared taxis between Durban and Pietermaritzburg which pass close to the Edgewood and Westville campuses.
Ranked fourth in South Africa in the 2017 Times World University Rankings, the University was formed when the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville merged. Nelson Mandela Medical School was one of the very few institutions providing higher education to black people during the apartheid era.