M.A. / From the conceptualisation of burnout in the 1970’s until present day, burnout has been recognised as a significant problem for both individuals and organisations. Although originally confined to the helping professions, the notion that burnout can also occur in university students has recently emerged. University students experience a myriad of stressors on a daily basis, and may develop burnout and several of the symptoms of burnout. This in turn may have deleterious consequences for both the student and the university. With the recently developed Maslach Burnout Inventory - Student Survey, the examination of burnout in university students has received increasingly more research attention. However, the psychometric properties of this instrument has received limited research attention in South Africa. The relationship between burnout and personality has also received limited attention, both internationally and in South Africa. The role of personality in burnout is considered pertinent to a complete conceptualisation of the antecedents to burnout. Recent research suggests that Neuroticism and Extroversion tend to consistently demonstrate a relationship with burnout. The present study aimed to explore the notion of burnout in university students in the South African context, relying on the three-factor structure definition of burnout as forwarded by Maslach and Jackson (1981). These three factors, namely emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and reduced personal accomplishment were complemented with a fourth structure, namely professional inefficacy, as suggested by Bresó, Salanova and Schaufeli (2007) and Schaufeli and Salanova (2007).