The University of Cape Town publishes contact details by office and by faculty rather than routing everything through one service centre. The details below were read from uct.ac.za on 2 September 2026.
Official contact channels
- Switchboard: 021 650 9111
- Emergencies and Campus Protection Services: 021 650 2222
- Postal: University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701
- Staff directory: whitepages.uct.ac.za
021 650 2222 is the number to save. UCT lists it for both emergencies and Campus Protection Services – it is the campus emergency line, not a switchboard option, and it is the one that matters at 2am.
Admissions and student support
- Admissions and applications: [email protected], 021 650 2128
- Fees Office: [email protected] or [email protected], 021 650 1704
- Student debtors: [email protected], 021 650 5270 or 021 650 2143
- Exam queries: [email protected], 021 650 3692 or 021 650 3694
- Graduation: [email protected]
- IT Helpdesk (ICTS): [email protected], 021 650 4500
- Libraries: [email protected], 021 650 3134
- Disability Service: [email protected], 021 650 2427
- International students (IAPO): [email protected], 021 650 2822 or 021 650 3740
- Postgraduate funding: [email protected], 021 650 3622
- Off-campus accommodation (OCSAS): [email protected], 021 650 4934
Faculty offices, which handle curriculum and admission queries for their own programmes:
- Commerce: [email protected], 021 650 4375 or 021 650 4369
- Engineering and the Built Environment: [email protected], 021 650 2699
- Health Sciences, undergraduate: [email protected], 021 650 3020 or 021 650 1114
- Health Sciences, postgraduate: [email protected] (email only)
- Humanities, undergraduate: [email protected], 021 650 2717 or 021 686 7469
- Humanities, postgraduate: [email protected], 021 650 2691 or 021 650 5751
- Law: [email protected], 021 650 3086 or 021 650 5662
- Science: [email protected], 021 650 2712 or 021 650 2710
- Centre for Higher Education Development: [email protected], 021 650 2645 or 021 650 5045
- Graduate School of Business: [email protected], 021 406 1922 or 021 421 5510
Health Sciences and Humanities split undergraduate and postgraduate admissions into separate mailboxes. Sending a postgraduate application query to the undergraduate address is the most common way to lose a week. Note too that Health Sciences postgraduate is email-only – there is no phone number for it.
The Graduate School of Business is not on the main campus – it has its own numbers in the 021 406 and 021 421 ranges and its own mailbox.
Campus and address information
UCT’s postal address is Private Bag X3, Rondebosch 7701. The university publishes directions, campus maps, route maps and a buildings, departments and offices index on its Contacts and maps section – worth checking, because faculties sit on different campuses around Rondebosch and Observatory.
UCT Online High School is a separate operation with its own contact details, listed on its own website. The university numbers above will not help with a school enquiry.
Escalation routes
Start with the office or faculty that owns the matter, keeping your student number and the dates. An academic decision is appealed through the faculty and then UCT’s formal appeal process, and those deadlines are short and published in the faculty handbook.
If a number or mailbox you need is not listed, UCT points to the A-Z lists on its main, Staff and Students sites and to the staff directory at whitepages.uct.ac.za.
Beyond the university, a complaint about a public higher education institution goes to the Department of Higher Education and Training, maladministration to the Public Protector, and an NSFAS funding decision to NSFAS rather than to UCT.
Sources
- uct.ac.za general contacts page, read 2 September 2026