Durban University of Technology
Contact Details
Suburb
City/Town
Province
Postal Code
4000
E-mail
info@dut.ac.za
Phone
031-373-2000
Website
Incorporating the former ML Sultan and Natal technikons, the university has major campuses in Durban and Pietermaritzburg as well as satellite campuses in Umlazi. As a university of technology, DUT focuses on applied research as well as on technological innovation.
It operates on five different campuses in Durban, and two in Pietermaritzburg, offering tuition through its six faculties of accounting and informatics; applied sciences; arts and design; engineering and the built environment; health sciences; and management sciences. It also has a Business Studies Unit.
As a University of Technology, DUT will prioritise the quality of teaching and learning by ensuring, amongst others, that its academic staff possess the highest possible qualification that they can get. Consequently, DUT has begun a drive to ensure that all academic staff attain the minimum of a Masters degree, and
then aim for 40% of them to have doctorates.This is in accordance with the benchmarks and criteria set by the Department of Education to be reached by universities of technology. DUT is starting late and from a low base because, firstly, it came from a technikon background and, secondly, it had to divert its time and energy in the last five years towards the merger by 2012 it will be expected that allpermanent teaching and research staff at DUT will have the minimum of a Masters degree
and that a substantial number would have a doctorate.
DUT recognises the need for a University of Technology to be engaged with the community. Although the university has been active in the broader community in a number of projects for a number of years and in a number of ways, the institution is consolidating all its activities and prioritising the academic and research link
with the community which is characteristic of a University of Technology. Of course, as was the case with the former technikons, the greater involvement of DUT with the community will be through the concept of Co-operative Education, specifically Work Integrated Learning which is a compulsory module in most of its programmes requiring students to do “on-the-job” training before they can graduate.