Durban University of Technology faces overwhelming demand with 345,000 applications for 2026

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) has announced that it received 345,000 applications for the 2026 academic year but there are less than 10,000 available spaces.

Assistant Registrar Dr Ntombenhle Nombela-Mseleku has urged applicants to follow the correct channels and to manage expectations as the university works through its selection process.

“We have received 345,000 applications. And we only have 9,454 spaces,” she said. 

She emphasised that school leavers must apply through the Central Applications Office (CAO), while returning students and transfer applicants should apply directly via DUT’s online system.

“Applications for DUT are done through CAO. Those applications are exclusively for school leavers,” she said.

“All the transfers or returning applicants, if they apply through CAO, they are not going to get feedback from us because CAO is only for first-time entry applicants.”

Nombela-Mseleku also stressed the importance of relying on official information from DUT rather than social media commentary regarding applications.

She added that the selection process for 2026 is already well under way.

“We have reached about plus 80 percent of applicants who have already secured their places,” she said.

Offers include both conditional and firm offers, depending on whether the applicant has already completed Grade 12.

“The firm offer is for those who have already completed Grade 12,” she explained.

“The current ones who are still in Grade 12 will receive a conditional offer.”

Because demand far exceeds available space, many qualified applicants have been placed on standby.

“Those people (on standby) do meet the minimum entry requirement, but we can’t give them the offers now because of the limited spaces,” she said. Standby applicants may be reconsidered after matric results are released on 13 January.

A wait list is also in use for applicants who were issued offers but did not respond in time. “We give them five days to accept the offer, and if they don’t respond on time, instead of regretting them, we take them and put them on the wait list,” she said.

Late applications, which opened on October 1, have not yet been processed. However, several programmes are already full.

“We are fully booked for management programmes,” Nombela-Mseleku confirmed.

Some programmes remain open for new CAO applications these include: Ecotourism, Operations Management (part-time), Civil and Construction (Pietermaritzburg), Urban Planning, ICT Development and Business Analysis (Pietermaritzburg), ICT in Internet of Things, Visual Communication Design, and Food Technology.

She reminded the public that DUT will not accept walk-ins in January, but applicants will be able to change their programme choices after receiving their results for those programmes where there is still available space.

THE MERCURY