The University of Natal Durban has acknowledged Michael Chapman, Professor of English and Dean of Human Sciences at UND as its first A-rated researcher in the arts and social sciences. He is now one of three A-ratings researchers in the university, the other two being natural scientists.

The honour places him as a world leader in his field of South African and African literature.

Michael Chapman has published A Century of South African Poetry (1981); Voices from Within: Black Poetry from Southern Africa; (1982); Soweto Poetry (1982); South African English Poetry: A Modern Perspective (1984) which was awarded the national Sanlam prize for academic literature, and Southern African Literature in English (1987).

In 2002, he compiled an anthology which viewed poetry from a post-apartheid perspective. This was titled The New Century of South African Poetry