DUT to spend R1 billion on infrastructure at Durban and Midlands campuses

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13-03-2023
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The Citizen Online
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The vice chancellor said the address is a public demonstration of the university's values and principles.

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) has invested close to R1 billion on infrastructure to grow the Durban and Midlands campuses in the next years as part of their “envision 2030”.

This was revealed in the state of the university address delivered by the vice chancellor, Professor Thandwa Mthembu, on Friday at Indumiso campus in Imbali township.

Mthembu said the address is a public demonstration of the university’s values and principles.

He said according to the university’s strategic plan 2030, the three years between 2021 and 2023 were for the university to make positive strides compared with previous years.

He said over the last three years the university has risen in rank to fifth among other universities in the country and first among other universities of technology, which was not the case in the previous years.

Mthembu said the university has continued with implementing its long-term spatial plan for its infrastructure, which includes the construction of new buildings and deferred maintenance of existing buildings. Some of the construction is at Indumiso campus.

“Sadly, the construction of the engineering building at Indumiso campus and the student centre at Steve Biko campus in Durban experienced delays in 2020. They remain at about 90% completion and will be complete soon.

“For the foreseeable future DUT will be a construction site but, from about 2025 when we would’ve constructed all these buildings, DUT will not just be different but it will be an institution that we will all be proud of,” said the vice chancellor.

The director for the university’s Midlands campus, Dr Joe Molete, said there were a number of projects in the Midlands that the university was working on in partnership with various people, including Msunduzi Municipality and uMgungundlovu Tvet College. Molete said infrastructure developments at Indumiso, which started in 2020, were estimated to be finished this year.

He added that the campus also has state-of-the-art equipment.

Mthembu also said the university’s 2023 academic year was different from the previous years, as they enrolled 30 559 students by March 3 even though their target was 30 723.

He added that there were also minimal issues this year involving the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. One of the challenges that leads to student protests was accommodation and they were hoping to change that by 2025, Mthembu said.

He said the university made a submission to the Minister of Higher Education, Dr Blade Nzimande, in December for a unique DUT student housing project that will provide almost 11 000 student beds by 2025. This project will be in partnership with NSFAS and the private sector, he added. He said they were currently waiting for the minister’s approval.