Keep these maps on your cellphone or computer to help you find your way around.
For maps of all UCT campuses, including Hiddingh, Breakwater and health sciences, go to uct.ac.za/contact/campus.

Upper Campus

Middle Campus

Read more from the
2016 Orientation edition.

Travel at UCT starts with the Jammie Shuttle, but doesn’t end there. There is a range of public and private transport options – including ones not provided by UCT – to help you get around campus and the city.

Hop on the bus, Gus

The Jammie Shuttle is the easiest way to get from point A to point B on campus. This free shuttle service for students and staff is available on weekdays, weekends, and holidays, and includes a late-night service. You may be asked to show your card (see uct.ac.za/students/services/jammieshuttle for route maps and timetables).

Golden Arrow buses are easily accessible from Jammie Shuttle stops in Claremont and Mowbray (see gabs.co.za).

MyCiTi integrates with the Jammie Shuttle at the Gardens station in Buitenkant Street, from where you can ride into Vredehoek, Oranjezicht and the city centre (see myciti.org.za).

Listen out for the gaartjie

Minibus taxis pick up and drop off passengers along virtually every main route in the city. The Mowbray and Claremont Jammie Shuttle stops are a few steps away from minibus taxi hubs, while there are multiple stops near to some UCT residences. Make sure you have the exact change ready for your trip. (PS gaartjie is Cape Town slang for the guy who calls out the route and collects the fares.)

Share a cab

Metred taxis (using sedan cars and small vans) are a phone call or SMS away. While options abound, including Uber, it’s possible to save some money sharing a ride.

Down the line

Cape Town has a good rail service, which fans out across the city. The southern line stops at Mowbray and Rondebosch stations, which are both within walking distance of UCT’s lower, middle and upper campuses. Find timetables at a Metrorail station and online at metrorail.co.za.

Car pool

First-year students are not allowed to bring cars onto campus but can apply to park at Rhodes Memorial, just a short walk away (visit the traffic administration offices on upper campus to apply for a disc).

An alternative is to carpool. You can access the dedicated carpool P4 parking lot on upper campus if three or more student or staff cards are swiped at the boom (within 10 seconds of the first swipe). One of you must have a parking disc. Go to ridelink.findalift.co.za to find out more.

Scoot along

The good news is that as a first-year, you are allowed to bring a scooter onto campus, as long as you buy a black parking disc (also from traffic administration).

Cyclists might find the terrain a bit uphill, but there are designated cycling routes that make it easier to navigate your way around.

Skateboarding has also taken off in a big way in Cape Town. If you are an enthusiast, you can use your board to scoot between lectures, and downhill on your way home.

Your own two feet

It’s easiest to get around UCT on foot. When walking on campus after dark, it’s best to be part of a group and to stick to the blue foot route (where there are emergency bollards so you can immediately call Campus Protection if you need help). If you’re alone at night and are concerned about your safety, call 021 650 2222 for an escort.

Read more from the
2016 Orientation edition.

LAW

Where the legal eagles hang out. The law faculty, which also happens to be the oldest law faculty in the country and the smallest on campus, is located in the Wilfred and Jules Kramer Building on middle campus. It prides itself on a law library where you’ll find more than 85 000 books, journals and electronic databases.

HUMANITIES

If you’re studying languages, the performing and creative arts, social sciences or education, you’ll be spending time in one of this faculty’s buildings, spread across UCT’s campuses from Hiddingh, in the city centre to upper campus. It’s the largest of the faculties with some 5 000 undergraduate students and 10 academic departments. The faculty office can be found in the Beattie Building on upper campus.

ENGINEERING & THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

This faculty trains chemical, civil, electrical, computer, electro-mechanical and mechatronic engineers, along with architects, planners, quantity surveyors and property valuers.
This faculty office is based in the New Engineering Building, off Madiba
Circle on upper campus.

SCIENCE

Future botanists, climatologists, astronomers, marine biologists – roll up; this faculty has 12 departments, with a strong focus on all of the aforementioned disciplines. If you’re an undergraduate student, you’ll be one of around 1 500 others registered for a BSc. The faculty office is located in the PD Hahn building on upper campus.

HEALTH SCIENCES

Health sciences not only turns out doctors but also a range of health professionals, including speech and audio therapists and occupational therapists. It is organised into 11 departments, with some 2 000 undergraduates. Students in this faculty will be spending most of their time on the health sciences campus and in UCT’s hospitals, including Groote Schuur Hospital in Observatory.

COMMERCE

This is where you can study accounting, actuarial science, economics and finance, but also subjects like marketing and organisational psychology. This is the second-largest of the faculties, with over 4 500 undergraduate students. It is located in the Leslie Commerce Building on Engineering Mall, upper campus.

Read more from the
2016 Orientation edition.

As a high school student you come here with a bit of attitude, but your lecturers and tutors are here to help you.

Lisa October
Chemical engineering
(going into fourth year)

Attend all the O-Week events they organise for you. It’s a really good opportunity to make friends. You’ll never be a fresher again. Varsity is real; it’s not high school!

Seul-Gi Min
MBChB (second year)

Never fear asking any lecturer any question you may have, or any matter about the course. People here are very kind, and always willing to help.

Chuma Madadasana
Electrical engineering (final year)

Eat fruit. I regularly buy my weekly supply from the ‘fruit man’ (in the food court). It’s cheaper that way.

Raisa Moola
Social anthropology (honours)

There are lovely outside spaces on campus where you can take a break – like the rooftop at Leslie Social, and the ‘secret garden’, behind Beattie. Well, it’s not that secret at all – it’s made a name for itself.

Manya van Ryneveld
Social anthropology (honours)

Choose your vac work carefully, so you can build your CV. Start researching (online) the companies that you’d like to work with now.

Cameron Pym
Mechatronics (final year)

Study from day one. Go through your notes each and every night, and what you did in class. Don’t go to sleep before you understand what was done during the day. Don’t let the work pile up.

Bontle Mere
Mechatronics (second year)

Get a good study group together in your first year. It’s hard to study alone. Sometimes what you think you understand isn’t correct. It helps to be able to argue about things and to ask the right questions.

Leolyn Alexander
Chemical engineering
(going into fourth year)

Read more from the
2016 Orientation edition.

Dear Freshers

By now, the intrepid among you will have asked some key questions, such as: Where’s the caf? What’s RAG? What’s DPR? What’s with the acronyms?

Cast your eye over our UCT lexicon for the low-down on vital UCT lingo, which will help you settle into your new home-away-from-home.

After casting your eye, it would be great if you clicked through all of the pages, too. Think of this (online) paper as a guide to clocking campus; a lodestar to the Promised Land; a treasure map to the foot of the rainbow. At the very least, use the maps on the centrespread of the print edition to find your lecture theatres.

We hope that the nuggets of information we have gathered for you are useful for navigating your way through first year, and beyond.

Your Orientation Leader will explain the complex bits – like what a faculty is, where you sign up for tuts, who to ask for writing help, and how to find the best spots for swotting and surfing. The OLs, like colourful oracles, are invaluable and wise guides, and can make your transition to university fun – especially because they probably won’t use words like ‘transition’.

If you’re new to Cape Town, don’t be surprised if the weather makes no sense at all. It’s truly four seasons in a day.

Mountain Rescue (their number, along with those of other essential emergency services, can be found here) would recommend taking every precaution, even for those ‘little’ treks to the King’s Blockhouse. Take heed.

Of the dozens of sports clubs, societies, political groupings and leadership bodies at UCT, it’s a good idea to get involved with at least one that grabs your attention. Nailing your studies should be your default setting, of course, but university is also a unique chance to grow your ‘soft’ skills, build international networks, evolve your thinking, and play some sport. O-Week is signing-up week.

Go forth and immerse yourself in the glory of undergrad.

Campus Life

Read more from the
2016 Orientation edition.