Welcome to the College of Law and Management Studies (which we affectionately call “CLMS”). Thank you for visiting our website. We hope that you will be inspired to join our College as a student or, that as a parent, you will be convinced to entrust your young adult(s) to our academic care.
Located on three spectacular campuses (Westville, Howard College, and Pietermaritzburg), the College is in a pristine and beautiful space, surrounded by natural beauty (and yes, not too far from the ocean). Our College prides itself on offering a supportive and student-centred learning environment. Our commitment to transformation continues, hence, it is our aim to continue to attract students from diverse backgrounds. It is also our aim to provide appropriate and relevant programmes that will enable our students to grow intellectually during their stay at this University. We shall continue to endeavour to attract academics of a high standard to add to the existing staff complement, many of whom are eminent and respected scholars in their fields of specialization.
The College consists of three Schools, namely:
As Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Head of the College, I am supported by five Deans, three from the Schools, as well as a College Dean of Teaching and Learning and a College Dean of Research, while administrative support is provided by the College Director of Professional Services, who has the function and role of a College Registrar. The College consists of about 300 dedicated academic and supportive administrative staff and approximately 11000 committed students. Our academics and professional services staff mission is to facilitate the academic and social growth of all students in our care.
Our College offers a wide spectrum of qualifications including Bachelors, Honours, Postgraduate Diplomas, Masters (coursework and full research) and Doctorates. Due to the nature of its programmes and disciplines, the College produces students who join highly specialized professions such as legal practice, accountancy, marketing, financial management, human resources and public administration. As a result, the College has influential alumni and strong professional links. Consequently, our students are highly marketable and widely sought after. The College, therefore, is an excellent choice to prepare for a successful career in business, management, leadership studies, commerce, and law.
CLMS provides exciting educational opportunities for students from all backgrounds and we offer diverse programmes of study that prepare students for success in the real world to solve real problems. Our teaching and professional support staff are dedicated professionals who excel in connecting with students and providing educational experience equal to that of any university. We have prioritised student experience as a pillar effort to support students and have demonstrated our commitment to them by encouraging them to excel in their studies.
CLMS has made a difference in our communities of practice through our award winning, record setting, and robust collection of programmes in the business administration, commerce, maritime studies, human resource management, leadership studies, and law.
We thus, provide exceptional learning opportunities in a variety of modalities (virtual, online, blended, face-to-face) for professional fields that encourage work-related learning and provide practical employment readiness experience.
Further, we have been working hard to create exciting partnerships that enhance learning through unique practicum and service-learning experiences for our students partnering with key leading organizations in both the public and private sector. Our programmes emphasize the integration of theory and practice (work-integrated learning) and experiential learning is a key component of our offerings in the programs we offer. We continually refine our programmes to keep them relevant and seek out opportunities to expand our offerings to reach students coming from historically underserved as well as affluent backgrounds. Through our exceptional teaching and learning teams and champions, research units, knowledge hubs, and community engagement strategies we stay connected to industry, communities of practice, alumni, and the community so they can help guide our decisions and map the course for our future.
As the DVC of the College, I am confident that the coming years will be an exceptional opportunity for growth. I am confident that our diverse group of professionals both in the academic and professional service sector will assist in ensuring that we achieve our collective goals. We will continue to be inclusive in the work we do, and we will continue to be inspired by an anti-oppressive transformative praxis that respects diversity and promotes inclusion.
Our team of award-winning academics, professional staff and administrators foster a culture of respect, innovation, collaboration and commitment to excellence anchored though our REACHt principles.
In recent times, we have seen a steady increase in enrolments in various programmes. Additionally, we have seen an improvement with throughputs where students exit the system to enter the world of work. We have also witnessed our staff in the academic sector being recognized by their peers in many ways (i.e. academic promotions, international and national awards, etc), which is a testament of the culture of excellence we are collectively co-creating. This is also due to intentional strategies led by head of disciplines, academic coordinators within the disciplines, our research active academics (i.e. SARChI Chair, and research project leaders), and the leadership by the School Deans, cross-cutting Deans, School Operations Managers, and Academic Managers to provide targeted support. This ensures that knowledge, resources and ideas are shared, and duplication minimized across the board. This is a very important aspect of our work as our investments to our students and staff contributes to our scholarly teaching with, and for, students.
Our mission is to prepare outstanding students who are emerging in their fields to lead locally and globally through the collaborative teaching practices of our outstanding teaching teams, selective mentorship programmes, inspired learning through community engagement opportunities, and by advancing knowledge through focused and impactful scholarship and research.
In 2021 we engaged in an exciting Project Renewal process envisaged by our Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Nana Poku. The aim of Project Renewal was to “review the performance of academic provision, including academic offerings, with the aim of creating “better structured programmes/curricula” that prepare students for the world of work. Project Renewal, therefore, afforded us an opportunity to reflect about a college we want and deserve for future generations.
In the 2026-2028 academic years we will continue the implementation of Project Renewal and prioritise what is important to us to shape the direction we would like to take as a leading college. A crucial part of our renewal strategy is nurturing relationships with our students, alumni, employers, friends in the community, and other important external and international stakeholders. Guided by the learnings we gained in our 2025 module/programme rationalization process as we “reviewed the performance of academic provision, including academic offerings, with the aim of creating ‘better structured programmes/curricula’ that aims at preparing students for the world of work”, several opportunities emerged to implement a winning agenda.
It’s truly a privilege and a pleasure for me to be leading the CLMS. I’m energized and excited about the possibilities of what our college has to offer and what we can accomplish together. I am also equally encouraged about what we have accomplished thus far and the many opportunities that await us in supporting our students for a brighter future as captains of industry, entrepreneurs, advocates, and change makers in and around the city of Durban, the province of KwaZulu-Natal, the nation of South Africa, the beloved continent of Africa, and the world at large. Stay up to date with what’s new and exciting in our collective space. Together we can co-create an unmatched educational experience. Thank you for your interest and support.
Welcome to the College of Law and Management Studies