Universiteit van die Witwatersrand (Afrikaans) | |
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Former names | South African School of Mines (1896–1904), Transvaal Technical Institute (1904–1906),Transvaal University College (1906–1910), South African School of Mines and Technology (1910–1920), University College, Johannesburg (1920–1922)[1] |
|---|---|
| Motto | Scientia et Labore (Latin) |
| Type | Public university |
| Established | 1922; 104 years ago (1922)[2] |
| Affiliation | AAU,ACU,FOTIM,HESA,IAU |
| Chancellor | Judy Dlamini |
| Vice-Chancellor | Zeblon Vilakazi[3] |
| Chairman of Council | Isaac Shongwe |
Academic staff | 1,112 (Full-time, Permanent)[4] |
| Students | 40,259[4] |
| Undergraduates | 25,352[4] |
| Postgraduates | 14,025[4] |
| 2,153[4] | |
| Location | ,, 26°11′27″S28°1′49″E / 26.19083°S 28.03028°E /-26.19083; 28.03028 |
| Campus | 2urban and 3suburban campuses |
| Colours | Blue Gold |
| Nickname | Wits / Witsie |
| Mascot | Kudos Kudu |
| Website | www |
 | |
TheUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (/vətˈvɑːtəsrɑːnt/), commonly known asWits University orWits,[5] is a leading multi-campuspublicresearch university situated in the economic hub ofJohannesburg,South Africa. It is known for its academic and research excellence, commitment to social justice, and the advancement of the public good. Wits University has been recognised as the top-ranked university in sub-Saharan Africa for innovation performance in the 2025 Global Innovation Index.[6]
The university has its roots in the mining industry, as do Johannesburg and theWitwatersrand in general. Founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines inKimberley,[2] it is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation.[7]
The university has an enrollment of 41,702 students as of 2025, of which approximately 20 percent on campus in the university's 17 residences. About 61 percent (25,835) of the university's total enrollment is forundergraduate study, with 39 percent (15,867) beingpostgraduate or occasional students.[8][4] The university assists students to access higher education as far as its resources allow.[9] The university has an acceptance rate of approximately 4.5%, having received 140,000 applications but only having accepted 6,300 students.[10]
Wits is home to five faculties, 33 schools and seven campuses spread over 480 hectares in Parktown, Braamfontein and a rural campus in Mpumalanga. Wits’ footprint extends way beyond its lecture theatres and research laboratories. The university hosts South Africa’s only private teaching hospital, the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre,[11] which trains a record number of specialists every year. In the west of the Gauteng province. It also owns the WitsSterkfontein Caves in theCradle of Humankind World Heritage Site and land rich in fossils where staff and students discover, explore and conduct research. In 2016 the Tshimologong Digital Innovation Precinct[12] was opened in Braamfontein, which brings together people from across disciplines to engage in digital entrepreneurial activities that transform our world for good. An invention born in this precinct was announced as TIME’s best creations with several Witsies cited amongstTIME magazine's most influential people[13][14][15][2].
The Wits Rural Campus[16] in Mpumalanga conducts world-class longitudinal research in science, health, social and economic areas, which can for example, be compared to data in urban settings. Wits is home to two commercial companies - Wits Enterprise[17] and the Wits Health Consortium,[18] WitsPlus[19] a short course company, the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome,[20] the Wits Art Museum[21] which houses over 12 000 works of unique African art, the Origins Centre,[22] the Palaeosciences Centre and Fossil Vault[23] that houses invaluable fossils, and Historical Papers and Archives,[24] which curate national treasures like former president Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia Trial papers, on behalf of the people of the world, and more.
Nelson Mandela was one of fourNobel laureates that emanate from Wits - the others were SirSydney Brenner,Aaron Klug, andNadine Gordimer, alongside several otherprominent Witsies.
The WITS BioHub[25] conceived as Africa’s first fully integrated 'bedside-to-bench-to-breakthrough' campus will open soon in Parktown, as well the state-of-the-art Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex,[26] an integrated facility for training, research, and clinical practice.
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The university was founded inKimberley in 1896 as theSouth African School of Mines. It is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation, after theUniversity of Cape Town (founded in 1829),[27] andStellenbosch University (founded in 1866).[28] Eight years later, in 1904, the school was moved to Johannesburg and renamed theTransvaal Technical Institute. The school's name changed yet again in 1906 toTransvaal University College. In 1908, a new campus of the Transvaal University College was established inPretoria. The Johannesburg and Pretoria campuses separated on 17 May 1910, each becoming a separate institution. The Johannesburg campus was reincorporated as theSouth African School of Mines and Technology, while the Pretoria campus remained the Transvaal University College until 1930 when it became theUniversity of Pretoria.[1] In 1920, the school was renamed theUniversity College, Johannesburg.[1]
Finally, on 1 March 1922, the University College, Johannesburg, was granted full university status after being incorporated as the University of the Witwatersrand.[29] The Johannesburg municipality donated a site in Milner Park, north-west ofBraamfontein, to the new institution as itscampus and construction began the same year, on 4 October. The firstChancellor of the new university wasPrince Arthur of Connaught and the firstPrincipal (a position that would be merged with that of Vice-Chancellor in 1948)[30] was ProfessorJan Hofmeyr.[31] Hofmeyr set the tone of the university's subsequent opposition toapartheid when, during his inaugural address as Principal he declared, while discussing the nature of a university and its desired function in a democracy, that universities "should know no distinctions of class, wealth, race or creed".[32] True to Hofmeyr's words, from the outset Wits was an open university with a policy of non-discrimination on racial or any other grounds.[1]
Initially, there were six faculties - Arts, Science, Medicine, Engineering, Law and Commerce - 37 departments, 73 academic staff, and approximately 1,000 students.[33] In 1923, the university began moving into the new campus, slowly vacating its former premises on Eloff Street for the first completed building in Milner Park: the Botany and Zoology Block. In 1925, thePrince of Wales (the futureEdward VIII) officially opened Central Block (which includes the Great Hall).[1]
The university's first library, housed at the time in what was meant to be a temporary construction, was destroyed in a fire on Christmas Eve in 1931. Following this, an appeal was made to the public for £80,000 to pay for the construction of a new library, and the acquisition of books. This resulted in the fairly rapid construction of theWilliam Cullen Library; opened in 1934.[34] During this period, as theGreat Depression hit South Africa, the university was faced with severe financial restrictions. Nonetheless, it continued to grow at an impressive rate. From a total enrolment of 2,544 students in 1939, the university grew to 3,100 in 1945. This growth led to accommodation problems, which were temporarily resolved by the construction of wood and galvanised-iron huts in the centre of the campus (which remained in use until 1972).[1]
DuringWorld War II, Wits was involved in South Africa's war efforts. The Bernard Price Institute of Geophysical Research was placed under theUnion of South Africa's defence ministry and was involved in important research into the use ofradar. Additionally, an elite force of female soldiers was trained on the university's campus.[34]
In 1948 theNational Party (NP) was voted into power by South Africa's white electorate, andapartheid (Afrikaans for "separateness") policies started to become law. The racist separation policies sparked a response, in 1957, by Wits, the University of Cape Town,Rhodes University and theUniversity of Natal, who issued a joint statement entitled "The Open Universities in South Africa", committing themselves to the principles of university autonomy and academic freedom.[35]
In 1959, the apartheid government'sExtension of University Education Act forced restricted registrations of black students for most of theapartheid era; despite this, several notable black leaders graduated from the university.[1] Wits protested strongly and continued to maintain a firm and consistent stand in opposition to apartheid. This marked the beginning of a period of conflict with the apartheid regime, which also coincided with a period of massive growth for the university.[1] It was desegregated once again, prior to the abolition of apartheid, in 1990. Several of apartheid's most provocative critics and societal leaders, of either European or African descent, were one-time students and graduates of the university.
As the university continued to grow (from a mere 6,275 students in 1963, to 10,600 in 1975, to over 16,400 by 1985), the expansion of the university's campus became imperative. In 1964, the medical library and administrative offices of the Faculty of Medicine moved to Esselen Street, in theHillbrow district of Johannesburg. In 1968, the Graduate School of Business was opened inParktown. A year later, the Ernest Oppenheimer Hall of Residence and Savernake, the new residence of the vice-chancellor (replacing Hofmeyr House on the main campus) were both established, also in Parktown. That same year, the Medical School's new clinical departments were opened.[1]
During the course of the 1960s, Wits acquired a limestone cave renowned for its archaeological material located atSterkfontein. A farm next to Sterkfontein namedSwartkrans rich in archaeological material was purchased in 1968 and excavation rights were obtained for archaeological and palaeontological purposes at Makapansgat, located in theLimpopo Province.[1]
The 1960s also witnessed widespread protest against apartheid policies. This resulted in numerous police invasions of campus to break up peaceful protests, as well as the banning, deportation and detention of many students and staff. Government funding for the university was cut, with funds originally meant for Wits often being channelled to the more conservativeAfrikaans universities instead. Nonetheless, in the words of Clive Chipkin, the "university environment was filled with deep contradictions", and the university community was by no means wholly united in opposition to apartheid. This stemmed from the Wits Council being dominated by "highly conservative members representing mining and financial interests", and was compounded by the fact that the mining industry provided major financial support for the university. With a strongly entrenched "[c]olonial mentality" at Wits, along with "high capitalism, the new liberalism and communism of a South African kind, combined with entrenched white settler mores (particularly in the Engineering and Science faculties) ... the university ... was an arena of conflicting positions generally contained within polite academic conventions".[36]
The University of the Witwatersrand is dedicated to the acquisition, advancement and imparting of knowledge through the pursuit of truth in free and open debate, in the undertaking of research, in scholarly discourse and in balanced, dispassionate teaching. We reject any external interference designed to diminish our freedom to attain these ends. We record our solemn protest against the intention of the Government, through the threat of financial sanctions, to force the University to become the agent of Government policy in disciplining its members. We protest against the invasion of the legitimate authority of the University. We protest against the proposed stifling of legitimate dissent. In the interests of all in this land, and in the knowledge of the justice of our cause, we dedicate ourselves to unremitting opposition to these intended restraints and to the restoration of our autonomy.
— Plaque unveiled at the Wits General Assembly of 28 October 1987[35]
The 1970s saw the construction of Jubilee Hall and the Wartenweiler Library, as well as the opening of the Tandem Accelerator; the first, and to date only, nuclear facility at a South African university.[34] In 1976, Lawson's Corner in Braamfontein was acquired and renamed University Corner. Senate House, the university's main administrative building, was completed in 1977. The university underwent a significant expansion programme in the 1980s. The Medical School was moved to new premises on York Street in Parktown on 30 August 1982. Additionally, in 1984 the university acquired the Milner Parkshowgrounds from the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society including the Tower of Light. These became the West Campus,[37] with the original campus becoming East Campus.[1] In 1984, the Chamber of Mines building opened. A large walkway named the Amic Deck was constructed across theDe Villiers Graaff Motorway which bisects the campus, linking East Campus with West Campus.[1]
The 1980s also witnessed a period of heightened opposition to apartheid, as the university struggled to maintain its autonomy in the face of attacks from the apartheid state. Wits looked anew to the "Open Universities" statement of 1957, to which theUniversity of the Western Cape now also added its voice. As the apartheid government attempted, through the threat of financial sanctions, to bring Wits under firmer control, protest escalated culminating in the General Assembly of 28 October 1987, at which the university reiterated its commitment to the values underlying the "Open Universities" statement.[35]
University management itself came under increasing grassroots pressure to implement change within the university. A Wits-initiated research project,Perspectives of Wits (POW), published in 1986, revealed a surprising disconnect between the perceptions disadvantaged communities had of Wits and the image Wits had been attempting to convey of itself as a progressive opponent of apartheid.POW, which had involved interviews with members of organisations among disadvantaged communities in thePWV area, international academics, students and staff at Wits, and even a meeting with the then-bannedANC inLusaka, revealed that to many in the surrounding disadvantaged communities, there was a perception of Wits as an elitist institution dominated by white interests. A need was identified for further transformation of the university.[35]
Nonetheless, the university community in general continued to uphold its opposition to apartheid and its commitment to University autonomy and academic freedom. The remainder of the 1980s saw numerous protests on campus, which often ended with police invasions of the university. In 1990, whenNelson Mandela was released, the students of Men's Res, on East Campus, unofficially renamed the lawn outside their residence "Mandela Square".[citation needed] Mandela was an alumnus of Wits University.[38]
On 25 February 2000, university management began implementing a policy called "Wits 2001" under which work deemed "non-core" to the functioning of the University (such as cleaning and landscaping) was outsourced to external contractors; the university's academic departments were also restructured: the university's nine faculties were reduced to five, the university's 99 departments were merged into 40 schools, and courses that were deemed redundant following a mass review were cancelled.[39] Wits management did, however, initiate programmes to ameliorate some of the negative effects of Wits 2001. These included the implementation of early retirement and voluntary severance packages to minimise retrenchments. Additionally, many of the affected employees' children were studying at Wits at the time, and received bursaries as part of their parents' employment contracts with Wits. The university therefore continued to offer bursaries to them until the completion of the degrees for which they were then enrolled, as well as offering bursaries to the children of affected employees whomatriculated in 2000.[40][41]
Wits 2001 attracted widespread criticism from the workers and staff affected, as well as from students and other staff. The arguments behind the restructuring were criticised as badly reasoned, and the policy itself was criticised as being regressive andneoliberal.[42] The then-vice-chancellor, ProfessorColin Bundy, said in defence of Wits 2001 that "[t]his fundamental reorganisation of both academic activities and support services will equip the University for the challenges of higher education in the 21st Century".[40] Management issued a statement on 30 May 2000 responding to criticism of Wits 2001 from theNational Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (NEHAWU), the largest trade union among Wits employees, in which it defended Wits 2001 as constituting the "outsourcing [of] contracts for certain non-core functions, rather than any shift in ownership relations or governance" contra NEHAWU's claims that it constitutedprivatisation. Management further defended the changes as "improving the financial sustainability of Wits, taking pressure off management and students, and allowing for better academic and support facilities and services".[43]
In 2001, the Johannesburg College of Education was incorporated into the University as Wits Education Campus under the nationalDepartment of Education's plan to reform tertiary education in South Africa.[44] In 2003, a studentmall, called the Matrix, was opened in the Student Union Building on East Campus.[45] The Wits Origins Centre[46] was opened in 2006 by former president Thabo Mbeki and tells the story of life through its worldclass exhibitions. This is alongside the Wits Fossil Vault that houses thousands of plant, animal and hominid fossils, including theTaung Child,Little Foot andHomo naledi.
Five capital projects were also completed over the next ten years - the Wits Art Museum[47] that is home to over 12 000 works of African art, the Wits Science Stadium - an old athletics stadium converted into state-of-the-art chemistry and physics labs on the West Campus,[48] the 4th quadrant of the Chamber of Mines Building (now called the ARM Building),[49] the FNB Building (now the Margo Steele School of Accountancy),[50] and the Wits School of Public Health Building[51] in Parktown.
In 2015 to 2016, theFeesMustFall movement and protests resulted in intermittent disruptions of the academic programme for a few weeks at Wits and other leading South African universities with students protesting for free education.[52] From 2018 onwards, stability returned to Wits and the university continued to be ranked first or second on the continent for academic and research excellence.
In 2022, Wits celebrated its centenary,[53] which included saw the university raise R4.2 billion from donors and alumni as part of the Centenary Campaign.[54] This included raising funds for infrastructure, student support, research and the academic project. This included a R150 million endowment from Wits alumnus Natie Kirsh, for deserving "missing middle" students,[55] the opening of the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall,[56] the launch of the Wits Anglo American Digital Dome,[57] and the reopening of the Wits Sterkfontein Caves,[58] amongst other projects.
The current coat of arms of the university was designed by Professor G. E. Pearse, and edited by Professor W. D. Howie to correctheraldic inaccuracies, before being accepted by theState Herald of South Africa in 1972. The design of the coat of arms incorporates a gold background in the upper section of the shield to represent the Witwatersrand gold fields – on which the mining industry that gave rise to the university is based – along with an open book superimposed upon a cogwheel, representing knowledge and industry. The silver wavy bars on the lower section of the shield represent theVaal andLimpopo rivers which form the northern and southern borders of the Witwatersrand gold fields. Above the shield is the head of aKudu, an antelope typical of the Witwatersrand and the university's mascot. The university's motto, "Scientia et Labore", meaning "Through Knowledge and Work" inLatin, appears just below the shield.[59]
The university's coat of arms evolved from the badge of the South African School of Mines. This badge consisted of a diamond with a shield superimposed upon it. A prospector's pick and a sledgehammer overlaid with broken ore and a mill appeared on the shield. The South African School of Mines' motto was the same as the university's current one and surrounded the shield.[59]
As set out in theHigher Education Act (Act No. 101 of 1997)[60] and in the Statute of the University of the Witwatersrand,[61] the university is governed byCouncil. The chancellor of the university is the ceremonial head of the university who, in the name of the university, confers all degrees. The current chancellor is DrJudy Dlamini, who spearheads the female Academic Leadership Fellows Programme.[62] The positions of principal and vice-chancellor are merged, with the vice-chancellor and principal responsible for the day-to-day running of the university and accountable to Council. The current vice-chancellor and principal is Prof.Zeblon Vilakazi, a nuclear physicist who will lead Wits until 2030. Council is responsible for the selection of all vice-chancellors, deputy vice-chancellors and deans of faculty.[61][63]
The responsibility for regulating all teaching, research and academic functions of the university falls to theSenate, the highest academic decision-making body of the university. Additionally, the interests of the university's students are represented by theStudents' Representative Council, which also select representatives to serve on the university's Forum, Senate and Council.[61]
The university spans 480 hectares and is divided into five academic campuses, with the administration building on the BraamfonteinEast Campus. Across theDe Villiers Graaff Motorway lies theWest Campus. The two are joined by a brick-paved bridge across the highway called the Sibanye-Stillwater Bridge.[64] East and West Campus effectively form a single campus, bordered by Empire Road to the north, Jan Smuts Avenue to the east, Jorissen Street and Enoch Sontonga Road to the south and Annet Road to the west. The historic East Campus is primarily the home of the faculties of Science and Humanities, as well as Solomon Mahlangu House where the university's Council, Senate and management meet. West Campus houses the faculties of Engineering and the Built Environment, and Commerce, Law and Management. East Campus is home to four residences, namely Men's Res (male), Sunnyside (female), International House (mixed) and Jubilee Hall (female).[65] West Campus is home to David Webster Hall (female), Barnato Hall and West Campus Village (both mixed).[66]
Wits has three more academic campuses, all located inParktown. The Wits Education Campus houses the Wits School of Education,[67] within the Faculty of Humanities and boasts three female residences, forming the Highfield cluster, namely Girton, Medhurst and Reith Hall. To the east of the Wits Education Campus (across York Road) lies the Faculty of Health Sciences[68] that houses the Wits Medical School and thePhilip V. Tobias Building, which is the Faculty's administration building. To the West of the Wits Education Campus (across Victoria Avenue) lies the Wits Management Campus, with the triple accredited Wits Business School.[69] Within the Wits Management Campus are the Ernest Oppenheimer Hall (male residence) and the mixed Parktown Village.
Other residences include Graduate Lodge, Campus Lodge, South Court, Noswal Hall and Braamfontein Centre; all in the city district of Braamfontein and all mixed gender. Further, there is the Wits Junction (mixed) and the Knockando Halls of Residence (a male residence located on the grounds of aParktown mansion calledNorthwards) in Parktown.
The University of the Witwatersrand houses twoprovincial heritage sites and twoheritage objects. The Great Hall (technically the façade of the Robert Sobukwe Building, formerly known as Central Block, in which the Great Hall is located),[70] and theDias Cross housed in the William Cullen Library[71] are bothprovincial heritage sites. They were formerly national monuments, until 1 April 2000 when theNational Monuments Council was replaced by a new system which made former national monuments the responsibility of provincial governments following the passage of theNational Heritage Resources Act.[72] The heritage objects areJan Smuts' study, housed in Jan Smuts House,[73] and the Paul Loewenstein Collection of rock art.[74] All of the university's national heritage sites and objects are located on East Campus.
The University of the Witwatersrand is home to the Wits Institute of Social and Economic Research (WiSER), founded in 2001 byDeborah Posel.[75]
Wits acquired the Sterkfontein and Swartkrans sites in the 1960s, both of which were rich in fossil remains of earlyhominids.[1] In 1999, the area was declared aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO as theCradle of Humankind. As a World Heritage Site, responsibility for the site shifted from the university to the government ofGauteng Province, with the provincial government becoming the designated management authority responsible for developing and protecting the site. It is aided by the South African Heritage Resources Agency, which has also declared the area a national heritage site.[76] The university's Evolutionary Studies Institute within the Faculty of Science, continues to play a leading part in excavations of the site and Wits retains ownership of Sterkfontein and its intellectual rights.[77] ProfessorLee Berger discoveredAustralopithecus sediba (2010) andHomo naledi (2015) at the site.[78][79] The Wits Sterkfontein Caves reopened to the public in 2025, where Dr Ron Clarke excavated Little Foot. The fossil
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Wits University hosts nine museums, several of which are open to the public. These include the Origins Centre that tells the story of life,[80] the Wits Art Museum[81] which houses 12,000 works of African Art including the Jack Ginsberg Book Collection, the Adler Museum of Medicine[82] on the Health Sciences Campus in Parktown, the Fossil Vault which houses theTaung Child, Little Foot, Homo naledi and variousdinosaurfossils and other faunal and floral fossil collections. Wits is also home to the Geosciences Museum,[83] and the Oppenheimer Life Sciences Museum.[84] Some museums like the Hunterian Museum and the Gynaecological Museum are not open to the public and are used for teaching purposes only.
The Roberts-Pager Collection ofKhoisan rock art copies is located in the Fossil Vault in the Van Riet Lowe building on East Campus.
The Johannesburg Planetarium was the first full-sizedplanetarium in Africa and the second in thesouthern Hemisphere. It was originally bought by the Johannesburg municipality to be set up as part of the celebration of the City's seventieth anniversary. After acquiring an old projector from theHamburg Planetarium, which was modernised before being shipped to South Africa, the municipality sold the projector to the university for use as both an academic facility for the instruction of students, and as a public amenity. Plans for a new building to house the projector were first drawn up in 1958, and construction began in 1959. The planetarium finally opened on 12 October 1960.[85] The Johannesburg Planetarium was often consulted by the media, and the public, in order to explain unusual occurrences in the skies over South Africa.[86][87] In 2010, the Johannesburg Planetarium celebrated its golden jubilee.[88]
The Planetarium was closed and was transformed into a state-of-the-art Digital Dome which opened its doors to the public in February 2025. The Wits Anglo American Digital Dome[89] features 10 high-resolution projectors, surround-sound technology, and auditorium seating to create a state-of-the-art immersive environment for pioneering storytelling with breathtaking displays and interactive educational resources. It is used for research, teaching and learning, public engagement and events.
The Museum's collection started in the 1950s and has since grown substantially.[90] In 1972 the Gertrude Posel Gallery was established on the ground floor of Senate House on East Campus. It was joined in 1992 by the Studio Gallery which formed the "lower gallery" reserved for the display of African art. The galleries' collections grew steadily, with the Studio Gallery becoming renowned for having one of the best collections of Africanbeadwork in the world, and by 2002 it was decided that more space was needed. Thus, the Gertrude Posel Gallery and the Studio Gallery were closed. The ground floor of University Corner was selected as the site for the new Wits Art Museum, which now houses the collections after it was completed and launched in 2012. It is home to 12 000 works of unique African art, including the Jack Ginsberg Book Collection.[90]
The Wits Theatre is aperforming arts complex within the university, although it also caters for professional companies, dance studios and schools.[91] It is run by the Wits School of Arts. Prior to the opening of the Wits Theatre, the Wits Schools of Dramatic Art and Music had been staging productions in a building on campus called the Nunnery, a former convent. The Nunnery has been retained as a teaching venue.[91] A new building, the Wits Seabrooke Music Hall[92] has been built alongside, and was opened in 2022. The Wits Chris Seabrooke Music Hall is the only purpose-built live music hall with a modern acoustic design in Johannesburg, designed specifically for musical performances.
The Wits Centre for Diversity Studies (WiCDS) was established in 2014 at the University of Witwatersrand. It is based in the Faculty of Humanities and aims to build capacity to meet the challenges of diverse societies, especially inpost-apartheid South Africa through interdisciplinary postgraduate education and research.[93]
Wits University is renowned for its research excellence and innovation.[94] Over 90% of its research is published in high impact international journals. It is home to severalSouth African Research Chairs and six DST-NRF Centres of Excellence. There are just more than 400 NRF rated researchers, of whom about 30 are "international leading scholars" in their research fields, or A-rated[95] and many award winners.[96] The university also has a wide range of research entities including 10 national Centres of Excellence[4][97] and was named the leading institution for innovation in sub-Saharan Africa in 2025.[98]
The university consists of five faculties: Commerce, Law and Management;Engineering and the Built Environment;Health Sciences;Humanities; andScience[99] comprising 33 schools.
This Faculty currently offers various undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in accountancy,economics, management, and law.
This Faculty is made up of seven schools: Architecture & Planning,Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Construction Economics and Management, Electrical and Information Engineering, Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering and Mining Engineering. The faculty is based in the Chamber of Mines Building on West Campus, which houses the faculty office and the Engineering Library. The School of Civil andEnvironmental Engineering andChemical and Metallurgical Engineering are located in the Hillman and Richard Ward Buildings on the East Campus respectively.
The Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies is hosted by the School of Architecture & Planning.
This Faculty is based on the Wits Health Sciences Campus in Parktown. It consists of the Schools of:Anatomical Sciences;Clinical Medicine;Oral Health Sciences;Pathology;Public Health;Physiology; andTherapeutic Sciences.
It offers degrees in medicine, dentistry, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy and also runsgraduate entry medical and physiotherapy programmes, and offers masters training (science, medicine and dentistry) and a PhD programme. SeeMedical education in South Africa.
As its mainteaching hospitals, the Faculty uses theChris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, theCharlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, theHelen Joseph Hospital, theRahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital and Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital Complex. It also utilises clinics and facilities throughout Gauteng, the North-West Province, and Mpumalanga.
This Faculty is based in the South West Engineering Building on East Campus[100] and consists of the schools of Social Sciences,Literature and Language Studies, Human and Community Development, Arts, andEducation.[101]
The Faculty is based in the Mathematical Sciences Building within the Wits Science Stadium on Braamfontein Campus West and consists of the schools ofAnimal,Plant andEnvironmentalSciences;Chemistry;Physics;Molecular and Cell Biology;Geography,Archaeology and Environmental Studies;Geosciences;Mathematics;Statistics andActuarial Science and School ofComputer Science andApplied Mathematics.[102]
The University of the Witwatersrand Library Service consists of two main libraries, the Warteinweiler and William Cullen libraries on East Campus, and 12 branch libraries. TheWartenweiler Library primarily serves the Faculty of Humanities. It also contains the Library Administration, Library Computer Services and Technical Services departments as well as the Short Loan collection, the Reference collection, Inter-library Loans department, the Multimedia Library, and the Education and Training department as well as the Electronic Classroom.[103] TheWilliam Cullen Library contains the Africana collection, specialising in social, political and economic history. It also contains the Early and Fine Printed Books collection, which includes the Incunabula (books printed before 1501). Finally, it also contains a collection of Government Publications and journals in thearts,humanities andsocial sciences.[104]
The branch libraries are:
| University rankings | |
|---|---|
| Global – Overall | |
| ARWU World[115] | 301–400 (2023) |
| QS World[116] | 291 (2026) |
| THE World[117] | 301–350 (2024) |
| USNWR Global[118] | =244 (2023) |
| Regional – Overall | |
| QS BRICS[119] | 40 (2019) |
| THE Africa[120] | 2 (2021) |
| THE BRICS[121] | 11 (2020) |
| USNWR Africa[122] | 2 (2021) |
In 2019, Wits was ranked 201–300 globally and second nationally in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU), commonly known as the Shanghai Ranking. In the 2019/2020 Centre for World University Rankings (CWUR) Wits was ranked No. 254 globally (top 1.3% in the world). In the 2019 US News Best Global Universities Rankings, Wits was ranked second in Africa and No. 197 globally with a Global score of 59.9. Wits ranked No. 194 globally in the 2020 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.[4]
The University of Witwatersrand Business School was ranked sixth best among all business schools in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 according to theQS Global 200 Business Schools Report.[123] Additionally, the Business School's MBA program has been ranked as the top MBA program in South Africa by theFinancial Mail for the past six years.[when?][124]
| WITS Times Higher Education Ranking 2012 to 2024 | |
|---|---|
| Year | World Rank |
| 2024 | 301–350 |
| 2023 | 251–300 |
| 2022 | 251–300 |
| 2021 | 201–250 |
| 2020 | 194 |
| 2019 | 194 |
| 2018 | 251–300 |
| 2017 | 182 |
| 2016 | 201–250 |
| 2015 | 251–275 |
| 2014 | 226–250 |
| 2013 | 226–250 |
| 2012 | 251–275 |
| [125][126][127][128][129][130][131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138] | |
In 1905, mining magnateAlfred Beit donated a large piece of land, theFrankenwald Estate, north of Johannesburg, to theTransvaal Colony to be used for 'educational purposes' – the land was transferred to Wits in 1922 by an Act of Parliament. It is currently under development.
The university's demographics reflect those of the country – with about 75% Black African students. Admission is based on merit and academic excellence.[139]
| Ethnic group | 2017 | % | 2018 | % | 2019 | % | 2020 | % | 2021 | % | 2022 | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African | 21,663 | 56.44% | 23,519 | 58.38% | 24,128 | 59.01% | 24,653 | 60.62% | 26,103 | 61.89% | 27,409 | 64.40% |
| Chinese | 154 | 0.40% | 149 | 0.37% | 142 | 0.35% | 138 | 0.34% | 128 | 0.30% | 138 | 0.32% |
| Coloured | 1,490 | 3.88% | 1,588 | 3.94% | 1,623 | 3.97% | 1,599 | 3.93% | 1,643 | 3.90% | 1,616 | 3.80% |
| Indian | 4,655 | 12.13% | 4,703 | 11.67% | 4,740 | 11.59% | 4,604 | 11.32% | 4,745 | 11.25% | 4,676 | 10.99% |
| White | 6,719 | 17.51% | 6,580 | 16.33% | 6,362 | 15.56% | 6,025 | 14.82% | 5,872 | 13.92% | 5,372 | 12.62% |
| Undisclosed Race | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 2 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 39 | 0.09% |
| International | 3,699 | 9.64% | 3,746 | 9.30% | 3,895 | 9.53% | 3,646 | 8.97% | 3,684 | 8.74% | 3,313 | 7.78% |
| Total | 38,380 | 40,285 | 40,890 | 40,667 | 42,175 | 42,563 | ||||||
| Ethnic Group | 2017 | % | 2018 | % | 2019 | % | 2020 | % | 2021 | % | 2022 | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African | 176 | 15.80% | 184 | 16.55% | 203 | 17.70% | 216 | 18.62% | 226 | 19.25% | 263 | 20.52% |
| Chinese | 4 | 0.36% | 2 | 0.18% | 2 | 0.17% | 2 | 0.17% | 2 | 0.17% | 4 | 0.24% |
| Coloured | 54 | 4.85% | 56 | 5.04% | 56 | 4.88% | 64 | 5.52% | 69 | 5.88% | 72 | 5.67% |
| Indian | 107 | 9.61% | 106 | 9.53% | 108 | 9.42% | 112 | 9.66% | 116 | 9.88% | 133 | 10.49% |
| White | 484 | 43.45% | 478 | 42.99% | 484 | 42.20% | 476 | 41.03% | 455 | 38.76% | 471 | 37.07% |
| International | 289 | 25.94% | 286 | 25.72% | 294 | 25.63% | 290 | 25.00% | 306 | 26.06% | 318 | 25.02% |
| Total | 1,114 | 100% | 1,112 | 100% | 1,147 | 100% | 1,160 | 100% | 1,174 | 100% | 1271 | 100% |
The gender composition of the university is shown below.
| Gender composition, 2018/2019 | Percentage | Total number |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 54.63% | 21,994 |
| Male | 45.35% | 18,257 |
| Undisclosed | 0.02% | 8 |
| Total | 100% | 40,259 |
Wits Enterprise is wholly owned by the university to commercialise theintellectual property of the university. They are also responsible for short courses, technology transfer and research support.[140] The university also owns the Wits Health Consortium[141] and WitsPlus[142] Centre for Short Courses.
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