You are required to enroll in 15-19 credits per semester. Your program offers two ways to earn academic credit: Enroll in UCT courses without an IES Abroad elective course Combine UCT courses with IES Abroad electives (courses are 3 credits) For Fall 2022, IES Abroad courses may not be offered or may be extensively changed due to health and safety policies potentially impacting community engagement requirements. IES Abroad Courses Classes are scheduled five days each week and attendance is required. You must come to class prepared, complete written assignments outside of classes, and complete...

Community Engagement Courses (3 credits) These courses are seminars which focus on local conditions of a community near Cape Town. The optional community engagement courses offered by IES Abroad have two themes and both require completion of community-engagement hours and a research project. This includes placements at local organizations, working on projects determined by and for the community. Both courses include a requirement of 40 community-engagement hours over the course of the semester in addition to a research project. Students will complete their hours at a handful of organizations...

You will be required to submit the Course Preregistration Form when it becomes available in your MyIESAbroad account. Preregistration is done on a first-come, first-served basis. Please obtain course approval from your current college or university for all courses you intend to take before your departure, especially if you intend to fulfill specific degree requirements with those courses.

UCT Courses & Preregistration Students are encouraged to take mostly 2000-level or 3000-level courses, with a maximum of one 1000-level course. We also require that one of your UCT courses be South Africa-focused. The classroom atmosphere might be entirely different from what you experience on your home campus. Please keep in mind that you will have to be able to adapt to different classroom structures and expectations. Teaching styles may vary from professors who mainly use lectures as their method of presentation to those who foster participation, debates, and practical work. Readings and...

After the IES Abroad orientation program, you will participate in a multi-day orientation at the University of Cape Town for international students, led by the International Academic Programmes Office (IAPO). This program will involve an academic orientation and an introduction to extracurricular activities and university life. Orientation culminates in course registration at UCT. The orientations are thorough and cover a lot of critical information from safety to academics, plus some fun, and you are expected to fully participate. During orientation, you will also be introduced to the various...

You have the option to get a local cell phone from a South African provider or bring an unlocked smartphone to insert a South African SIM card. Regardless of your choice, we strongly recommend that you use a smartphone, as the most convenient, reliable, and cost-effective method of transportation in Cape Town is Uber, which requires the use of a smartphone app. In the first or second day of the program, depending on your arrival time and store hours, RAs and IES Abroad staff members will assist you with adding credit to your phone (regardless of your choice) so that it is ready for use. Both...

For more location-specific tips, check out these packing tips from former IES Abroad students. We strongly recommend that you pack very lightly to South Africa and where possible, limit your luggage as follows: 20kg (44 pounds) for your checked luggage and 7kg (15 pounds) for your carry-on luggage. These are the weight limits set by the local airline which will take you from Cape Town to Johannesburg. If your checked bag weighs more than 20kg, you will need to move some belongings to a second bag. Additional checked bags cost R250 ($20) per bag, per flight. Consider South Africa's climate when...