There are 23 public higher education institutions and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) is one of them. The NMMU has 25 000 students and five campuses in PE. It is actually an incorporation of PE Technikon, University of Port Elizabeth and Vista University's PE campus and was formed as NMMU only in 2005. The different faculties are arts, business and economic sciences, education, engineering, the built environment and information technology, health sciences and science. I'm based in this last one in the Botany department. The NMMU is based in Summerstrand and attached to it is a nature reserve where springbok and zebra occur. Monkeys hang around on campus to steel whatever food they can get and if you're in an office with a window, they clime up just to distract you from working.
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| A monkey surprised some students by stealing their lunch |
Everyone I have met at the NMMU, whether in the Botany department, the Zoology department or in the Geology department was very friendly and helpful. It is generally not very easy to arrive in a place where you don't have a clue of what usual business is, but everyone here was very understanding of this. I feel lucky to have ended up in such an establishment where my integration was so rapid.
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| Strelitzia or bird of paradise |
