At UKZN an ADO is an Academic Development Officer. Every school has one, and there is no central ADO office to phone: you contact the ADO for your own school on its own address. UKZN describes the role plainly on its own site, and it is worth quoting the intent: the ADO helps you monitor your academic progress through the year and works out a plan of action if you run into problems, and students are encouraged to speak to their ADO as soon as a problem appears rather than later.
College of Humanities ADO mailboxes
- Howard College, Arts: [email protected]
- Howard College, School of Social Sciences: [email protected]
- Edgewood, Education: [email protected]
- Pietermaritzburg, Social Sciences: [email protected]
- Pietermaritzburg, Arts: [email protected]
These are role addresses rather than personal ones, which is why they are the right thing to write down. The officers behind them are named on the UKZN page and do change; the mailbox does not.
One caution when copying from the UKZN page itself: one of the Pietermaritzburg Arts entries there is printed as ukzn.zc.za rather than ukzn.ac.za. That is a typo on the page, and mail to it will bounce. Use ac.za.
If your school is not in that list
Those addresses cover the College of Humanities. UKZN has other colleges, each with its own academic development staff listed on its own college or school site, and the naming pattern differs between them. Find your school page on the UKZN site and look under staff or student support, or phone the switchboard and ask for the Academic Development Officer for your school by name of school rather than by the abbreviation.
- Durban: +27 31 260 1111
- Pietermaritzburg: +27 33 260 5111
- Or +27 31 260 8596 and follow the voice prompts
What an ADO can and cannot do
An ADO supports you academically through one-on-one consultations and small group workshops, covering assignment preparation, test preparation and exam revision. That is real, practical help and it is free.
What an ADO is not is a route to change a mark, waive a rule or reverse an exclusion. Those go through the formal academic appeal and exclusion processes, which have deadlines. An ADO can, however, help you assemble and argue that case, which is a good reason to involve one early rather than after a decision has gone against you.
The related support UKZN publishes
- The Writing Place, for academic writing support
- The First Year Experience programme, which includes a mentor scheme
- Student Support Services and the Disability Support Unit
- Student Academic Services and Student Funding, which are separate from academic development
If your problem is money rather than study method, Student Funding is the correct door and an ADO will send you there. If it is a registration or record problem, that is Student Academic Services. Naming the actual problem gets you to the right office faster than asking generally for help.