The Durban University of Technology (DUT) resumed lectures today (Monday, 10 February 2014) with the majority of students expressing feelings of excitement and relief as they made their way to all six of the University’s faculties.

Today, a new academic calendar was implemented to make up for lost time, and students were made aware of this.
The revision of the University’s academic calendar follows the ending of a 10-day student strike at DUT which ended after Vice-Chancellor Ahmed Bawa reached an agreement with the Student Representative Council last week.

The registration process at DUT resumed on Thursday (8 February 2014) with many students also opting to register online to avoid queues.
There were many first-year students who had arrived early on campus today to familiarise themselves with the location of lecture venues and to find their way around their respective campuses.

DUT’s Head of Department: Clothing and Textile Design-Robin Judd, said: “The bulk of the students had returned to classes today.”
First -year-Quantity Surveying student Kereen Paul, said, “I have very mixed feelings as it’s my first year at DUT and coming from a structured school environment, it is exciting as well as scary but I am really looking forward to beginning and enjoying a new chapter of my life at DUT.”
Second-year Electrical Engineering student Nonduduzo Ngomane added that she was glad to be back at DUT to resume lectures today and to kickstart the academic year without anymore interrruptions.

Second-year Analytical Chemistry students also arrived early and waited patiently to resume their lectures today. The students added that they were keen to know about test and assignment dates for the year and were eager to make up for the loss time.

It is expected that more students who live outside of the province will make their way to DUT to register before the end of this week.
Acting Registrar Dr Thiru Pillay said, “We are still in the process of registering students, we are at approximately 20 000 in total. The recent disruptions have had an effect on registrations, but we hope to reach our targets.”

Pictured from left: Second-year Analytical Chemistry students Nkosinathi Dlalisa, Mzolisi Mehlomakhulu, Wanda Ngcobo, Luyanda Hlengwa and Luvuyo Gebashe eagerly await for lectures to resume at 10am. Also pictured is first-year Building and Quantity Surveying student Duane McCulloch who says studying at DUT has always been his dream.