STUDY PROGRAM: Organization Studies
EXCHANGE SEMESTER: July 2016 – December 2016
ACADEMIC YEAR: 2016-2017
HOST UNIVERSITY: Stellenbosch University
COUNTRY: South Africa
I GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE SCHOOL
For the past five months I lived in Stellenbosch, South Africa and studied at Stellenbosch University.
Stellenbosch is a small university town in the Western Cape of South Africa. In 2016 30.000 students
were enrolled at the university, of which about 400 new internationals every semester. Everything in
the city is built around the main central campus, consisting of mostly all white, fancy looking
buildings and palm trees. At the campus you can find a student mall: the Neelsies, with several
options for food and even a student cinema. At the university you can find almost every sport or
hobby club you can imagine. In my semester I joined the surfing club, the wine society and the film
society. There’s also a big university sports park where most of the sport societies and also the gym
is situated.
The city of Stellenbosch was founded by the Dutch colonialists and wherever you are you are
guaranteed a nice view on the surrounding mountains. In town there are plenty of students so you’ll
find a lot of bars (Bohemia and Balboa were my favourites) and many restaurants that are very
affordable for us as international students. Another advantage of Stellenbosch is that it is in the
middle of a famous wine region. A popular thing to do during weekends (or weekdays..) is to go wine
tasting. For a small amount of money you can enjoy the best views and get a sip of a range of
different wines. In the Stellenbosch region there’s more than 120 wine farms, so one semester is not
enough to see them all.
One of the specialty areas of Stellenbosch University is, as you could have guessed, vinology and
agricultural sciences. I followed courses in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Faculty of
Economic and Management Sciences. The university also offers some courses designed especially for
international students called IPSU courses.
Stellenbosch is a 40 minute drive from Cape Town, and about 25 minutes from the nearest beach.
II PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Information before you left
I received the news I was accepted at Stellenbosch University by Tilburg University in December I
think, and in April I received the official confirmation letter of Stellenbosch University to start
applying for my study visa.
Visa procedure and arrival
Getting a visa to study in South Africa is going to cost you a lot of time so I would recommend
starting as soon as possible. There are about 20 documents you need to hand in and the description
is quite vague so if you have any questions regarding this, please email me, I hope this will save you
some trouble. The price for the visa wasn’t that high, about 50 euro’s, so that was okay.
Stellenbosch University arranges a pick up at the airport for all the international students. All you
have to do is sign up for this at the university website once you’ve booked your tickets. During the
introduction week you could hand in the final papers and (if applicable to you) the payment of
student fees. As an exchange student from Tilburg University to Stellenbosch University I had a full
bursary for my semester, which also covered the printing, internet, laundry and student club fees.
Orientation/ Introduction activities
There’s a compulsory introduction week organized by the Stellenbosch International Office. This
week is a nice opportunity to meet the other international students. They host a really cool dinner at
the town hall, but other than that, the week is mostly a lot of information about living and studying
in South Africa. The university also organizes a buddy program that you can sign up for. With this
program I was linked to a really nice South African girl that I really got a long with and showed me
around town a bit during one of the first weeks. I even met some people that ended up travelling
with their buddies so I would definitely recommend signing up for this.
Housing
You’ll probably book your accommodation in advance already because you need a proof of
accommodation for your visa application. There are several options for housing in Stellenbosch. One
of them is living on Campus. This is definitely a good option, because you’ll be living close to a lot of
other (international) students. The rooms are very simple but they’re fine. Another option is chosing
the many private residences in the town. For a bit more money you can spend your semester living in
a house with a pool (Beach house, Poolhouse, De Jordaan). Unfortunately I figured this out a bit too
late and ended up living in the Bergzicht House. The house was fine with a big garden but not in the
safest area of the city so I would not recommend it.
On the university website there are sometimes housing ads and you can also sign up for the
university housing (Academia and Concordia) there. You can also check the international students
Stellenbosch Facebook group for ads or the Stellenbosch accommodation Facebook page.
A fun thing to note is that a lot of the South African students live in student residences as well. These
are big houses that kind of reminded me of the American movies you see with two students sharing a
room and a lot of rooms in a long hall. Unfortunately it is not possible to live here as an international
student, since they expect students to live here for their whole degree.
Living Costs
I financed my period abroad by using my student grant and getting a student loan from the
government. This money covered all my expenses abroad. I think the general living expenses (rent,
groceries) are about the same price as in Tilburg. The only thing that’s way cheaper is going out for
dinner, drinks etc. I spent most of my money on doing this a little bit too often and also on travelling
after I finished my exams. I would definitely recommend to spend money on travelling while you’re
in South Africa. It’s a beautiful country and it would be a waste to only see the area of Stellenbosch
when there’s so much more to see.
My rent was €300,-, groceries for dinner in the supermarket would cost you about the same as in
Holland (€3/€4) and eating in a restaurant would cost you €6 till €15.
You can rent a bike from the university, but I actually barely used mine. Most of the things in
Stellenbosch are in walking distance and since they don’t really expect people using bikes there’s a
big lack of bicycle stands to lock your bike. During the day I walked almost everywhere and when it
gets dark you can’t use your bike anymore anyway because of safety reasons. It is strongly
recommended to never walk or bike alone during the night but to always stay in groups or take an
Uber.
Social activities
There is an organization for international students called ISOS in Stellenbosch. This organization is
responsible for organizing the first introduction week that I talked about earlier, and also organizes
some activities throughout the semester. Especially the International Food Evening that is hosted
yearly or maybe even every semester is a really nice occasion to meet some other internationals and
South Africans since almost all the international students will be there.
Most of the other student societies are also accessible for internationals so I would recommend
joining as many as you can. They are a good way to meet local students and to just do and learn stuff
you’ve never tried.
Culture and language
South Africa is home to eleven official languages, but the main languages you will hear in
Stellenbosch are English, isiXhosa and Afrikaans. The courses are taught in English and some also in
Afrikaans. Afrikaans is very similar to Dutch, so it’s going to be funny for the Dutch students to hear
and learn more about this language and culture. It is even possible to communicate with South
Africans in Dutch if everyone speaks very slow. Since everyone speaks different languages, almost
everyone in South Africa speaks English fluently and a lot of students will also just talk English to each
other. For me this was a very big advantage since this makes you blend in a little easier and it also
makes it easier to communicate with everyone.
A thing to note is that everyone will warn you about how unsafe it is to live in South Africa.
Personally I didn’t have any bad experiences with the country but I have to say I was always cautious
never to walk alone when it’s dark. During the day you can definitely just go wherever you want in
Stellenbosch so don’t worry about this.
South Africa is also called ‘the Rainbow Nation’ and that’s with a reason. There’s a very diverse mix of
people, cultures and languages wherever you go so even after living in the country for five months I
would still not be able to describe the stereotypical South African to you. The only thing I’ve noticed
that people in general are more open and welcoming than in Holland. Maybe it’s the nicer weather,
maybe it was because I’m a foreigner, I don’t know but it surely left a good impression on me.
Stellenbosch was, in my opinion, the most ‘Western’ place I’ve seen in South Africa. 60% of students
enrolled at the university are ‘white’, whereas in the total population only 9% is white. This gives you
an image of the still crooked division in the country. Stellenbosch is also one of the richest cities in
the countries, so don’t be fooled. There’s still a lot of poverty and inequality in South Africa. I think
you should be aware of this while living in the country, especially since it is easy to ‘forget’ about this
in the small Stellenbosch bubble.
III ACADEMIC INFORMATION
Description of courses
Course
Sociology of Work
and Employment in
South Africa
Exam
Continuous
assessment, mostly
writing essays
ECTS
6
Course code
19003-344
Comments
Interesting to
get a better
image of
Organisational
Psychology
Written. Final exam
70% and a semester
test 30%
12
10553-348
Afrikaans Language
and Culture for the
Dutch and Belgian
Students
Continuous
Assessment.
Presentations,
essays, class
participation
6
IPSU - 59064
South African
society but a
lot of
readings
Very similar
to the OS
bachelor
course OB
Interesting to
learn about
culture
Courses at Stellenbosch University are offered in English and/or Afrikaans. I noticed that the
academic level of my courses really differed per course, but in general the level was not much higher
or lower than in Tilburg. In Tilburg a lot of the courses I’ve had so far only require a written exam in
the end of the semester, but in Stellenbosch almost all of the courses required almost weekly
assignments. This actually made me feel like I had to do more studying in South Africa, but the final
exam period was not stressful at all anymore.
At the end of every semester there will be a 2/3 week exam period and a 2/3 week resit period.
During the semester you’ll probably have to write a semester test and/or hand in essays. The courses
I followed had a very practical approach and the lecturers really tried to interest the students by
showing videos or making the lectures interactive. Attendance was compulsory in some of my
courses so this sometimes felt kind of like being back in high school. I felt like the relationship
between the university staff and the students is quite good, our class even had dinner and went to a
wine farm with my Afrikaans teachers.
Something you should read about before going to South Africa is the Fees Must Fall movement. We
didn’t experience much trouble in Stellenbosch, but other universities were closed down because of
protests. I found this website to describe a part of the protest movement quite accurately
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/10/11/africa/south-africa-student-protests/
I really enjoyed my semester in Stellenbosch, the town felt like home after a while. I learned a lot
about the country and the culture. I would really recommend planning some time in your period
abroad to travel the country. There’s plenty to see and every part of the country is different and
stunning in its own way. I would also advise you to stay open for new experiences. The South African
culture is not easy to generalize, so when talking to people ask a lot of questions and don’t judge too
soon. Apartheid is still more present than I expected before coming to the country so this was quite
confronting at times, but you’ll also meet a lot of people that are involved and dedicated to
developing the country.
Stellenbosch
Cape Town