University of Zululand

In response to questions that I had asked in other threads regarding DL doctoral programs in the psychology of religion (“The Religious Function of the Psyche,” to use the title of Dr. Lionel Corbett’s book), a couple people suggested that I consider/investigate the University of Zululand. In response to a suggestion by Howard Rodgers, I have emailed inquiries to Professors Song and Edwards, but I have received no response.

I have opened this thread on UNIZUL in hopes that people who have had experience with that school might post descriptions of their experience. Who are the helpful people to contact with initial questions? How flexible is the school regarding the design of a degree program? Frustrations? Helpful hints for success?
Let the info flow!

 

Website is down

I have had contact with Zululand in recent days about an MA in English. I received a very polite reply from a Myrtle Hooper, who intended to get more info for me. I replied to her and the email was bounced back to me.
So I went to the web site to make sure I had the correct address, etc, but the web site seems to be down. This all occurred about two or three days ago (so March 24th?)
Hopefully, they will get it all worked out soon, and it is only a technical problem.
Anybody else heard from them lately? By the way, I have been lurking for awhile, but this is my first post. Thanks for the opportunity to answer in such a benign thread
Clint

 

UZUL is undergoing a period of restructuring/refocusing right now, if my understanding is right; every indication seems to be that the theology department will remain intact, but much of the rest of the university may be tailored to a more vocational track.

The University of Natal may be an option (I believe they have one of the most prestigious philosophy departments in the world, FWIW), but it has been recommended that they be merged with several other schools in the region.

Have you contacted the University of Pretoria? They seem to be immune to the merger business, and they've expressed a willingness to negotiate nonresident doctorates in the past. (Just be sure you get everything in writing.)

Good luck!


Cheers,

 

unizul

I also have been unable to email them recently or even get on their website.

Reuben at SATS (affiliated with Unizul) recently faxed me that "UNIZUL has been told to incorprate other programmes from existing Technicon level institutions into its existing "menu" but that will not affect Theology at all. It definitely will not affect your studies."

Now, I know someone just said something like this, but I'm shooting for "senior" membership. Should just give that honor to us oldfolks anyway!

 

University of Natal is slated to be merged with University of Durban-Westville (an institution established during the apartheid era to serve the Indian community). I believe that this merger should not be a concern. Natal is the larger (23,000 students vs 8,000 -- and the ratio is even more unbalanced if you consider only postgraduates). Also, Natal is already a multicampus university so they know how to manage such an arrangement.

The KwaZulu-Natal province is also home to ML Sultan Technikon and Technikon Natal, whose proposed merger has led to recent student riots. This merger is unrelated to the proposed U. Natal/Durban-Westville merger.

U. Pretoria is South Africa's largest contact university, and is not targeted for a merger. I think we can expect their distance education programs run by third parties to be curtailed. Programs run in-house (such as doctoral programs in religion, theology, and the like) will be OK.

 

Thanks so much, Good People, for these informative posts. Kinda wish that I given the thread a more general title, something like "South African DL Universities." It would be great if we could collect in one place lots of community knowledge about SA opportunities. Or maybe such a thread already exists and I don't know about it. Please lemme know if such is the case.

Obviously time for me to do some more homework on this.

 

I would also like to have a more centralized place to look at the experiences others have had with the South African Universities. Their price, etc makes them very attractive to me (as well as the fact that I will be moving to Europe very soon).
So far, it seems like I have only heard about them from snippets in various other threads.
BTW, I was told by a professor (can't remember her name... Karen something...) at UNISA that the merger that is being talked about will have no bearing on the status of a DL student. The quality, degree, expectations, etc will remain the same. She indicated that it would be simply a consolidation of DL resources in South Africa... for what thats worth.
clint

 

This is true for Unisa. But I believe that it will NOT be true for distance programs at other institutions -- in particular, distance programs operated by private for-profits (such as Azaliah) on behalf of public universities.

Groetjes,
Gert

 

The South African "shakeup", it seems, will affect at least some DL programs by private schools affiliated with state universities.

A SATS administrator informed me that The SA Theological Seminary now "accredited" by UNIZUL will soon be forced to give up that precise relationship .

 

Is it possible to change the name of a thread or create a new thread and copy the posts from here into the new one?

 

While I have no specific information in this regard, I would tend to believe Dr. "Karen" in her above statement. It only stands to reason that a university, despite whatever tumult is created by the merger, cannot suspend operations while waiting for the dust to settle. My biggest hope is that through some "merger miracle," the UNISA administration/bureaucracy will become easier to navigate.
Jack

 

I am paraphrasing someone from the university:

The University will be one of the 21 Tertiary educational institutions in SA to retain its identity and independence. In addition to its present academic program, all the Nursing
and Agricultural colleges in the province will be moved to the university.

In addition, all Technikon courses will be located at the university, north of the Tugela River. This will provide additional opportunities for Unizul to provide their existing Technikon courses to the community in this very large geographical area. The question of postgraduate programs on this campus will be cut back, but it appears that this will depend on a number of factors. The Theology department does not seem to be in any danger, as it is an exceptionally vibrant and viable faculty.