What you need to know about university

An old book makes a comeback

Last week I received a request from Michael, a teacher at a prominent high school in Johannesburg: could I please make Let’s Talk About Varsity available for free?

Michael is initiating a career guidance programme because he noticed ‘how many kids are simply unprepared for making decisions related to tertiary education and remain unassisted till the end of high school’. His observation is precisely the reason that I, fifteen years ago, embarked on a mission to publish a book about things you need to know to make your university experience as successful as possible.

It was a bit of a crazy idea. I signed up several prominent academics, including Theuns Eloff, Wendy Luhabe and Jonathan Jansen, and asked them to each write a chapter related to an aspect of university life. Surprisingly, many agreed.

The first issue was published in Afrikaans in 2007. The second, expanded edition, co-edited with Willem Fourie, was published in English in 2009. It includes chapters about ‘What is a university?’ (by Anton van Niekerk), a range of chapters on the various academic disciplines, a chapter by Ruda Landman on finding the right balance between studying and other activities, a chapter by Willie Esterhuyse on understanding the globalised world we live in, a chapter on managing your finances, a chapter on coping with diversity, and more.

In my naivety (and perhaps reflecting the optimistic mood in South Africa at the time), I decided to self-publish the book. Sadly, this meant that there was no marketing behind it – and no way of getting it into bookshops. I ultimately sold a lot of copies to foundations that distributed them to prospective students. The extent to which they had any impact was never clear.

Although the book is now somewhat outdated, South African students still face many of the same challenges. I’ve therefore decided to accede to Michael’s request and post the entire book as a PDF, free to download. Find it here.

Please feel free to share with anyone that is considering applying for university and wondering what it is all about!