University of Natal (NU) reviews

I understand that most people are required to choose their courses prior to traveling abroad. UKZN is not as organized as most American universities however, and most of the international students that I went with ended up completely revising their initial schedule. If you have the chance to do so ask local students what courses they enjoyed or what professors they found to be good. Just like at your home university networking is key to having the best experiences, both socially and academically.

I had a strange experience academically while in Durban. I took three courses: one in anthropology, one in religious studies, and another on deejaying. The anthropology course was very poor and was pretty much useless except as a good situation for meeting and speaking with local students. The religious studies course was fun and took a distinctly South African perspective on the many religions of the country, including African Traditional Religions, which I had never had the chance to learn about before. Finally, the deejaying course was lekker (Afrikaans for cool or sweet). I now know how to put together deejaying equipment as well as basic deejaying skills. Probably the best part of the class (which is one of only two such courses in the world) is that half of the final requires you to deejay at one of the best and more upscale clubs in Durban. Overall however, I would say that academics at UKZN are not nearly as strenuous as in the US, but they do provide a unique point of view that cannot be found anywhere else.

The academics are not as good as in America (from the perspective of a private university student). However, the people, the food, the weather, the attractions, the animals, the languages, and the overall atmosphere of the place more than make up for the academic shortfalls. Put simply, I learned more while in South Africa to advance my personal and academic lives than I ever could have in one semester at my home university.