The University of KwaZulu-Natal has removed 2,000 students who had been studying for eight years or more for their three-year degrees.

This was revealed in a statement on Thursday in response to an auditorium going up in flames at the institution's education campus the previous evening. Police are investigating a case of arson.

“The university recently removed some 2,000 individuals who have been 'professional students' on three-year degrees for eight years or more without paying fees and routinely holding the institution to ransom through unrest for personal concessions,” read the statement.

“Various departments and functions of the university are similarly under intense fiscal scrutiny and review for their fitness for purpose and performance, key among these being the student residences and transport,” the university added.

The university’s vice-chancellor, Prof Nana Poku, said the university would not be deterred by the “cowardly” act of arson on Wednesday.

“We recognise that this cowardly attack on the infrastructure of the university is intended to intimidate us — to make us lose our resolve and to deflect us from initiating sweeping reforms that will ensure the institution’s sustainability and heighten its national and international standing,” he said.

At the height of protests at the university last month one of the students demanded that it allow academically excluded students to register, which the university said would have a negative effect.