The need for science access

In the natural and applied sciences African learners and those from disadvantaged schooling backgrounds are severely underrepresented in South Africa's higher education system and in the University. The Centre for Science Access (CSA) is the University's key mechanism for redressing inequities among students in the natural and applied sciences. It is a direct response by the University to government calls for redress in these "scarce skills" fields and is a critical national priority.

Our approach

The mission of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) is to be a truly South African University that is academically excellent, innovative in research, critically engaged with society and demographically representative, redressing the disadvantages, inequities and imbalances of the past. In accordance with this mission, the University has embarked upon an ambitious agenda for transformation, which includes improving access for African students from disadvantaged schools in the fields of Mathematics, Science and Technology as such students are more acutely underrepresented here than in any other constellation of disciplines in the University.

The CSA itself is a new constellation arising from the merger between the former University of Natal and the former University of Durban-Westville, but its constituent programmes have a long and proud history of boosting the academic and developmental potential of learners from disadvantaged schools and preparing them for entry into mainstream study in the science and applied sciences. Two programmes are currently offered by the Centre. The first is the B.Sc4 which has two streams, the B.Sc4 (Augmented) programme and the B.Sc4 (Foundation) programme. The second is the Science Foundation Programme (SFP).