Posts

Showing posts from November, 2020

University of Pretoria

Image
The University of Pretoria (Afrikaans: Universiteit van Pretoria , Northern Sotho: Yunibesithi ya Pretoria ) is a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johannesburg-based Transvaal University College and is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. The university has grown from the original 32 students in a single late Victorian house to approximately 53,000 in 2019. The University was built on 7 suburban campuses on 1,190 hectares (2,900 acres). The University is organised into nine faculties and a business school. Established in 1920, the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science is the second oldest veterinary school in Africa and the only veterinary school in South Africa. In 1949, the university launched the first MBA programme outside North America and the university's Gor...

History

Image
Foundational years: 1889–1929 edit The day might come when the Transvaal University College might mean to the Transvaal what Oxford University has meant to England. A long time might have to pass, and for a hundred years we might have to watch the grass growing on our lawns before that day arrives, but noble beginning has been made. —  Jan Smuts, at the laying of the Old Arts building's foundation stone The proposal for a university for the capital, first mooted in the Volksraad in 1889, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Anglo Boer War in 1899. In 1896, the South African School of Mines was founded in Kimberley. Eight years later, in 1904, the school was moved to Johannesburg and was renamed the Transvaal Technical Institute. The school's name changed yet again in 1906 to Transvaal University College. In 1902, after the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging, the Normal College for teacher training was established in Groenkloof, Pretoria. On 4 March 1908, when the Transvaal U...

Administration and organisation

Image
Governance edit Faculty founding Faculty Year founded Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences 1920 Faculty of Education 1902 Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology 1908 Faculty of Health Sciences 1943 Faculty of Humanities 1908 Faculty of Law 1908 Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences 1917 Faculty of Theology 1919 Faculty of Veterinary Science 1920 Gordon Institute of Business Science 2000 As set out in the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997, the university is governed by the Council with the Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Tawana Kupe, the executive head responsible for the day-to-day administration, and the Chancellor, Wiseman Nkuhlu, being the non-resident titular head of the university. The Registrar is responsible for the academic administration of the university, as well as legal matters, and is secretary to the University Council and Senate. The university's academic activities are divided into nine faculti...

Main Campus

Image
Hatfield edit The university's main campus and central administration offices are situated in the suburb of Hatfield, Pretoria and houses six of the nine faculties. The campus, bordered by the suburb of Brooklyn to the south and Hatfield to the north, was built over 24 hectares (59 acres) and has more than 60 buildings of historical value. Adjacent to the Hatfield Campus is the Hillcrest Campus, which contains the High Performance Centre and LC de Villiers Sports Grounds, which were developed on 76 hectares (190 acres). Adjacent to the sport grounds is the university's experimental farm, which is used to conduct field experiments for the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. The campus is served by the Hatfield Gautrain station connecting Pretoria and Johannesburg. A university bus shuttle service operates between the Hatfield campus and the Groenkloof and Prinshof campuses, whilst a park-and-ride shuttle service operates between the Hatfield and Hillcrest campus. Museu...

Other campuses

Image
Onderstepoort, Pretoria edit The possibility of training veterinarians in South Africa was frequently raised after the first Colonial Veterinary Surgeon in South Africa was appointed in approximately 1874, but it was not until 1920 that the Swiss-born veterinarian, Sir Arnold Theiler, was appointed as Director of Veterinary Education and Research at Onderstepoort under the supervision of the then Transvaal University College. New facilities were inaugurated at the end of 1921 and the first residence was opened in 1924. The first eight South African trained veterinarians qualified in 1924. The Faculty of Veterinary Sciences was developed on the 65 hectares (160 acres) Onderstepoort campus, with buildings covering a total of 55,000 square metres (590,000 sq ft) 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of the Hatfield campus and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of the Pretoria city center. The Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital provides clinical services rendered with full student participati...

Academics

Image
Library system edit "This country has given me so much that I am only too happy to be allowed to help it to develop and to be able to give back to it a fraction of what it has given to me". —  Dr. Hans Merensky at the opening of the Merensky Library ". In 1933, the University decided that the library collection necessitated the building of a new library building, the collection which at that time was kept in the Old Arts building. The library was designed by the South African architect Gerard Moerdijk, following a donation of £10,000 (£697,337 as of 2018) from mining geologist Dr. Hans Merensky and construction started in 1937. Drawing from his inspiration from Persia and Africa, the design of the building incorporates several architectural styles including Art Deco, Neo-Classicism, Arts and Crafts, Cape Dutch and Regency. The Old Merensky Library was proclaimed a provincial heritage site in 1991. Despite expansions to the Old Merensky Library in 1957, the library subse...

Student life

Image
Residential life edit Residence is provided to students in 24 undergraduate and postgraduate residences and 3 postgraduate-only residences spread over the University's campuses. The first students of the Transvaal University College resided in the Kya Rosa, a Victorian house in Skinner Street. In 1915, the first male residence, Kollegetehuis, was constructed on the Hatfield campus and the first female residence, Asterhof, in 1925. Students not living in a University residence can join one of four Day Houses ( Docendo, Dregeana, Luminous, and Vividus Ladies) which gives them the opportunity to partake in organised student life activities. Student organisations edit More than 100 student clubs and organisations operate on the university campus. These include numerous student government, service providers, and service organisations. The most prominent amongst these are the Student Parliament, Student Representative Council, and Constitutional Tribunal (Student Court). The Student Par...

Sport

Image
The University maintains a long tradition of student participation in sport and recreation. The University has 30 registered sport clubs and 10 academies, in which 9 000 students annually participate in on a competitive and recreational level, more than 1 000 volunteers are involved in sport in various designations and capacities. In 2007, the university produced 93 Senior Proteas and Springboks and 4 South Africa national rugby union team (Springbok) Captains. The university's sports facilities, on the Hillcrest Campus, include the LC de Villiers Sports Grounds and the High Performance Centre (HPC), situated at an altitude of approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) above sea level, were developed on an area of 760,000 square metres (8,200,000 sq ft). The HPC, which was established in 2002, has become the favoured location for the pre-departure camps of Team South Africa in addition to being chosen by several national and international federations as their preferred specialisation ce...

Alumni and people

Image
This section needs expansion . You can help by adding to it. ( June 2010 ) The university, in more than a century of academic service, has delivered more than 250 000 alumni. Alumni in commerce include several CEOs of JSE Top 50 and American Fortune 500 companies. Dr. Anton Rupert was a South African entrepreneur, businessman, conservationist and founder of the Rembrandt Group, which eventually split up into Remgro, Richemont, the second-largest luxury goods company in the world by turnover, and Reinet Investments, as of January 2008 the largest component of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. He was honoured as Tukkie of the century, former chancellor of the university, and a major benefactor of the university. Marius Kloppers is the international CEO of BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company and named by CNN Money as the world's 18th most powerful person in business. Johan De Nysschen was the former President at Audi Japan and is the current President of Audi America. R...

Notable faculty

Theo Akkermann (1907–1982), German sculptor Conrad J. Wethmar, systematic theologian Johan Heyns, systematic theologian Shudufhadzo Musida, Miss South Africa 2020

References