Minor Abroad at University of Limpopo – Study Report 1.

Minor Abroad at University of Limpopo – Study Report 1. Preparation

1.1 Study Abroad Application

When I was thinking about where to do my semester abroad, I decided relatively fast that I would want to go to South Africa. One of my best friends was already studying in Johannesburg for a year and told me a lot about the political struggles and dynamics in the country. It was very important for me to study in a university that is critical of current power structures in South Africa and which would not be dominated by white South Africans. I therefore asked for advice from my friends’ friends and researched in the internet. Subsequently I decided to apply for the University of Pretoria and the University of Limpopo and a few months later I received the confirmation that I got accepted in Limpopo.

1.2 Application to the host university

Once I had been selected to the host university a very stressful period started. I think we were the first students to go to the University of Limpopo and there was close to no cooperation between the two universities. In mid-March the exchange office of the RUG had told me that they received confirmation from Limpopo that we would get accepted and we just had to choose our courses. I did so, but at the end of April I still hadn’t received a letter of acceptance. I started to take things into my own hands, but they requested to communicate with the exchange office. The exchange office however only had one single contact person who was not even responsible for the School of Social Sciences which I applied for. Instead of finding out what was going on and calling various people at the university I was just told that they hadn’t received a response to the email sent. The end of May was approaching, and I got the advice to get in contact myself (once again). When I called the School, they neither knew about any exchange students nor about a partner agreement. Now I started to contact many people and put a lot of pressure, but I was not counting on the help of the exchange office anymore. Finally, I called the Director of the School of Social Sciences and told him what had happened. He helped me and I received the letter of acceptance on the last day possible to apply for a visa. So, it took me from mid-March until the end of May and many phone calls to get accepted at the University. And in the end, this only happened due to a personal correspondence between me and the director.

During that time, I was disappointed in the lack of support from the exchange office.

They would only communicate with me if I contacted them. The amount of money that I had spent for my visa kept on adding up and at one point there was quite a high possibility that it would be for nothing as I wouldn’t get the visa on time. These complications that occupied my days for two months combined with the workload of university exhausted me and brought me to a stress level that I have hardly been into in my life.

1.3Visa

I think I have already elaborated a bit on this point in the section above. The South

African embassy required quite a few documents, such as police records, bank

statements, a South African insurance and health documents. As I am not a Dutch

citizen and I live far away from my hometown I had to face bureaucratic obstacles to

receive some of them. Therefore, I started to collect the documents already in

February. However, I do not want to complain about this point as I know very well that

getting an EU visa is nearly impossible for many people in this world. Furthermore,

apart from the letter of acceptance it was quite possible to get all the documents on

time with some planning. I did not receive support from the host university however

when I finally got my letter of acceptance the international office in Limpopo did provide me with the other requested documents quite fast.

1.4 Language

The language of instruction was English, and the required level was C1. I did not need to hand in an official certificate as me studying in English was proof enough.

2. Stay abroad

2.1 Arrival and orientation

We did not have an official orientation for international students at the host university.

However, when I arrived one person from the International Office picked me up and brought me to the guest house. The next day we arranged the documents for registration with the international office in Limpopo. It still took nearly a month until I was registered because once again there was no clarity about the partner agreement.

However, that didn’t matter because I could quickly attend classes. The guidance of the international office ended in the first week, but mainly because I integrated quickly, and I didn’t need their support anymore.

2.2 Your study programme

During the whole semester I followed only two courses: “South Africa during the 20

century” and “Political Anthropology and African Political Systems”. I was completely free to choose any course and I selected those two because I wanted to learn something related to South Africa and gain some knowledge outside the Eurocentric realm of IRIO studies at the RUG. Especially the History course was a very good choice as I had an amazing professor who had a very Afrocentric perspective and applied the knowledge to current struggles of black people in South Africa. I perceived the workload to be much fairer than in Groningen which gave me free time to process what I learned and do some more research about details that interested me.

2.3 Housing

The housing arrangement was relatively uncomplicated. The housing division had organised a room for me on campus even before I arrived. Me and the other student from Groningen lived in one of the guest houses and considering that we had a lot of space the rent price was quite low (250 Euros/month).

2.4 Grant and costs

The grant we received was 230 euros per months. This would only cover for the flight and the visa costs. However, living costs in Limpopo are generally cheaper than in the cities.

2.5 Free time/ Student life

I really liked the amount of study workload in Limpopo as we were kept busy by the university, but we still had enough free time. Life on campus would never get boring and I had to learn to take time for myself despite all the events and parties going on.

We had many friends on campus and people were frequently passing by and sleeping

at our house as we had a lot of free space. I also participated in student sports, but

mainly in the first two months. I joined the Karate group and the Squash team, and I

could go there every afternoon. Furthermore, I was part of a hiking group in which I

also found some friends from outside university. Most of my life happened on and

around campus, because the University lies in a township and due to Apartheid

legacies, the town is 40 km away. However, I would still go to town occasionally as the

minibus was quite fast and the fare was only 1 euro.

2.6 Travelling

During my exchange semester I was very lucky, because we had some academic trips taking place. Most of them were only day trips but we also went to Pretoria and Johannesburg for a weekend. Like this I could explore some parts of South Africa together with my course. Sometimes I would go to Johannesburg during the weekends to visit my friend as it was only a 5 hours bus trip away. Prices are reasonable but not very cheap. During the 2 weeks spring recess I also had the chance to get to know Cape Town which is a 21 hours bus ride away. As my semester already ended in November, I also had time to travel afterwards. I stayed in South Africa for around a month longer, being on campus, in Johannesburg and travelling around with University friends. The following 1 ½ months I took the chance to get to see some East African countries. I travelled up to Kenya land way, passing through Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.

3. Return

3.1 Contact with the host university before, during and after you stay

I think I have already elaborated on the contact with the host university before my stay under section 1.2. During my stay communication was uncomplicated as I could go to the various offices with whatever issue I had. After my stay contact was not required as I received all the necessary documents when I was still there.

3.2 Your perspective on the culture of your host country

I honestly would not know how to answer that question. First, from my point of view culture does never exist in a singular and secondly it is hard to talk about a country’s culture if its borders have been artificially created by Europeans. Especially in South Africa people have very different living realities. Using the term culture (which is critical because it is socially constructed and quite a vague concept), there are so many different cultures that sometimes overlap and sometimes don’t even get in contact at any point. If at all I could write something about my perspective of the cultures at the University of Limpopo. But even this would definitively take more than a few sentences.

4. Your advice for future outgoing exchange student

South Africa is one of the most complex and inequal societies in this world. You must

keep in mind that decades of land dispossession, exploitation of black labour by white

mining companies, the complete segregation of people during apartheid and many

more complicated dynamics have marked the country. It is one of the places where

racist structures and the flaws of capitalism are most evident. So, my main advice

(especially if you are white) is don’t be blind towards power structures, try not to

reproduce them, and be aware and critical of white privilege. And before you leave

read about the history of the country…