Portrait

The University of Stellenbosch is situated in the Western Cape province of South Africa, 50km from Cape Town. It is the second oldest university in South Africa. Stellenbosch is one of the most beautiful cities in the country
(more information in the living section).

The University of Stellenbosch (US) has about 22000 students. In 2003 there were 21879 students enrolled - mainly whites and Afrikaans speaking - including 5,7 % international students.

campus

The US has four campuses: Stellenbosch, Bellville Park, Tygerberg and Saldanha. The Stellenbosch campus is the most beautiful campus (palms, flowers, etc.) I' ve ever seen - especially compared with my home university of Regensburg (Germany). The beautiful natural surroundings make it difficult to focus on academic studies.

Stellenbosch is also an internationally recognised university with 10 faculties:

• Arts
• Agricultural and Forestry Sciences
• Economic and Management Sciences
• Education
• Engineering
• Health Sciences (Tygerberg)
• Law
• Military Sciences (Saldanha)
• Science
• Theology

There exist over 150 academic departments and you can study from accountancy to zoology.

language policy

The medium of tuition for almost all undergraduate courses at the University of Stellenbosch is Afrikaans (predominantly Afrikaans university). Postgraduate courses and special courses offered for international students are contucted in English. Therefore, it is quite difficult to study at the undergraduate level without any knowledge of Afrikaans and although the language of instruction for undergraduate courses is sometimes negotiable, I would recommend doing postgraduate studies!

Most of the classes consist of fewer than 30 students. Class participation and discussion are important. Different from German universities, is the fact that you have to write several assignments, tests, case studies and do presentations and projects during the semester. Thus, it will never get boring :) In my experience, most of the professors and lecturers of the US pay attention to their students and you are invited to call at their office and ask your questions at any time - therefore it is much easier at US to talk to a "real" professor than at German universities.

academic year

The academic year in Stellenbosch is divided into 4 terms (2 semesters). The first semester starts at the end of January and ends in June. The second semester starts in the middle of July and ends at the beginning of December.

top