Nelson Mandela University Speciality : Architecture
programme: Architectural Technology

As someone who graduated with cum laude, won a national design competition, and received multiple academic prizes during the Architectural Technology prize-giving, my experience with Nelson Mandela University’s administration has been nothing short of infuriating.

Despite being recognized publicly for my achievements and awarded five separate prizes, I had to wait over six months to receive the prize money — and when it finally came, it was a laughable R1500 total. In previous years, with fewer prizes, I received significantly more. Something is clearly wrong in the system, and the lack of transparency and accountability is unacceptable.

The administrative side of NMU is painfully inefficient — emails go unanswered for weeks (if at all), communication is fragmented, and no one seems to take responsibility for resolving legitimate student concerns. It’s demotivating to see such a lack of respect for students who’ve dedicated years of hard work and brought national recognition to the university.

NMU loves to showcase student achievements publicly, but when it comes to actually rewarding or supporting those students, the university vanishes. It’s an embarrassment — not only for current students, but for the credibility of the institution itself.

Nelson Mandela University seriously needs to reevaluate how it treats its top-performing students and fix the broken administration that continues to undermine the value of its own academic excellence.