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University of Cape Town
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The University of Cape Town (UCT), is a public university located on the Rhodes Estate on the slopes of Devil's Peak, in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa. The University of Cape Town is the highest ranking African university in both the THES - QS World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is the only African university to make it into the top 200 of the THES-QS ranking.
main teaching campus, known as the Upper Campus, is located on the slopes of Devil's Peak.
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Encyclopedia
The University of Cape Town (UCT), is a public university located on the Rhodes Estate on the slopes of Devil's Peak, in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa. The University of Cape Town is the highest ranking African university in both the THES - QS World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is the only African university to make it into the top 200 of the THES-QS ranking.
Campus
The main teaching campus, known as the Upper Campus, is located on the slopes of Devil's Peak. This campus contains, in a relatively compact site, the faculties of Science, Engineering, Commerce, and most of the faculty of Humanities, as well as the residences Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall. Upper Campus is centered on Jameson Hall, the location for graduation and other ceremonial events, as well as many examinations. The original buildings and layout of Upper Campus were designed by JM Solomon and built between 1928 and 1930. Since that time, many more buildings have been added as the university has grown.
Contiguous with Upper Campus, but separated from it by university sports fields and the M3 freeway, are the Middle and Lower Campuses. These campuses, which are distributed through the suburbs of Rondebosch, Rosebank and Mowbray, contain the Law faculty, the South African College of Music, most of the student residences, most of the university administrative offices, and many sporting facilities. The Upper, Middle and Lower Campuses together are often referred to as the "main campus" or the "Rondebosch Campus".
The Faculty of Health Sciences is located on the Medical School campus at the Groote Schuur Hospital. The Fine Arts and Drama departments are located on the Hiddingh Campus in central Cape Town. The is located on the Breakwater Campus at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
Organisation
The organisation of the University is defined in the Statute of the University of Cape Town (gazetted in 2002) in accordance with the Higher Education Act of 1997. Before 2002, it was defined in other laws in essentially the same format.
The titular head of the University is the Chancellor; this is a ceremonial position without executive power. The primary role of the Chancellor is to confer degrees on behalf of the University, and to represent the University to the rest of the world. The current Chancellor is Ms Graça Machel, elected for a 10-year period in September 1999.
The executive head of the University is the Vice-Chancellor (or VC). The VC has the overall responsibility for the policy and administration of the University. The current VC is Dr Max Price, who replaced Professor Njabulo Ndebele on 1 July 2008.
The VC is assisted in his task by a number of Deputy Vice-Chancellors (DVCs). There are currently four DVCs - three of them Acting DVCs pending new appointments - each with specific portfolios:
- Prof. Thandabantu Nhlapo: Student Affairs
- Prof. Martin Hall: Planning & Development (until 31 August 2008)
- Prof. Danie Visser (Acting): Research & Innovation
- Prof. Cyril O'Connor (Acting): Operational matters including planning
- Prof. Daya Reddy (Acting): Academic Matters
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 current Registrar is Mr Hugh Amoore, appointed in 1987.
UCT is divided into six faculties, each led by a Dean. The faculties and deans are as follows:
The Centre for Higher Education Development, an academic unit alongside the faculties, rates as a faculty and is led by a dean, Associate Prof. Nan Yeld.
Although the is considered to be part of the Faculty of Commerce, it is run independently and has its own Dean and Director, Prof. Frank M Horwitz
Students and staff
, 21,713 students were enrolled, of which 6,174 (28%) were postgraduate students. 10,751 (49.5%) were male and 10,980 (50.5%) were female. 3,795 students (18%) were described as "Black", 2,758 (13%) were described as "Coloured", 1,440 (7%) were described as "Asian", and 9,185 (42%) were described as "White". (The remainder were described as "Other" or were foreign students.) In the December 2005 graduation ceremonies 4,354 degrees and diplomas were awarded, including 72 PhDs.
the university had 2,510 permanent members of staff.
Sports, clubs, and traditions
UCT has 36 different sports clubs, including team sports, individual sports, extreme sports and martial arts. The university's sports teams, and in particular the rugby union team, are known as the "Ikey Tigers" or the "Ikeys". The "Ikey" nickname originated in the 1910s originated as an anti-semitic epithet applied to UCT students by the students of Stellenbosch University, because of the supposed large number of Jewish students at UCT. Stellenbosch is UCT's traditional rugby opponent; an annual "Intervarsity" match is played between the two universities.
There are more than 80 student societies at UCT; these fall generally into five categories:
- Political societies, including branches of the youth wings of national political parties.
- Academic societies for those interested in a particular field of study or studying a particular topic.
- Religious societies, some of which are associated with religious denominations or local places of worship.
- National/cultural societies for students from particular countries or particular ethnic backgrounds.
- Special interest societies for those interested in various different activities or issues.
History
The roots of UCT lie in the establishment of the South African College, a boys' school, in 1829. In 1874 the tertiary education part split off into the University and the younger students into the South African College Schools.
UCT moved to the Groote Schuur Estate campus in 1928. During the apartheid era, roughly 1960-1990, UCT consistently opposed apartheid, and was a bastion of liberalism and racial integration. 1987 particularly saw frequent clashes between protesting students and police, with reporting of police presence on the campus being censored by the government. On 24 April 1987 the police entered the campus and this marked the first time since 1972 that South Africa's police services had suppressed a demonstration at a white university. The official student newspaper, Varsity, frequently had its journalists and editors come under scrutiny from the ruling apartheid National Party government.
The UCT crest was designed in 1859 by Charles Davidson Bell, Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony at the time. Bell was an accomplished artist who also designed medals and the triangular Cape stamp.
Affiliations
UCT is a member of the Association of African Universities, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Cape Higher Education Consortium, Higher Education South Africa, and the International Association of Universities.
Notable alumni
Four of the University's graduates have become Nobel Laureates:
Christiaan Barnard is famed for having performed the first successful human heart transplant.
Notable staff
- Cosmologist George Ellis, collaborator with Stephen Hawking and winner of the 2004 Templeton Prize, is Distinguished Professor of Complex Systems in the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics
- Author Andre Brink is a professor in the English Language and Literature Department.
- Author Breyten Breytenbach is from January 2000 a visiting professor in the Graduate School of Humanities.
- Professor David H.M.Brooks (1950-1996), Inspirational UCT Philosopher, author of 'On living in an Unjust Society', and 'The Unity of the Mind'
- The staff of UCT contains 27 A-rated scientists (rated by the National Research Foundation), meaning that they are world leaders in their fields of research.
- Helen Zille, current mayor of Cape Town, was formerly Director of Public Relations for the university.
- Chemist William Sage Rapson was a professor in the Chemistry Department.
Notable research
- The Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics is an international centre for research in the fields of cosmology and topology.
- The Department of Physics is home to the UCT-CERN research centre, which is partially responsible for the software design of the High Level Trigger component of the ALICE experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, as well as other activities related to ALICE.
- The Department of Electrical Engineering is involved in the development of technology for the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT). KAT is a precursor to the Square Kilometer Array, a proposed International project to build the world's largest radio telescope by 2020. Research groups in RF design and digital design contribute to the RF front-end and digital back-end of the KAT project.
- The Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine [(IIDMM)] http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/iidmm is engaged in research on candidate tuberculosis vaccines, and is developing candidate HIV vaccines matched to the South African epidemic.
External links
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