The Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute (officially known, from 1 April 2004, as the Cape Institute for Agricultural Training: Elsenburg) was established in 1898 as the first agricultural
college of its kind in
South Africa. It offers a bachelor's degree in agriculture in association with the Faculty of
Agriculture and Forestry Sciences at the
University of Stellenbosch.
Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute home page
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History
The college attracted relatively few students
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution.
In the United Kingdom and most commonwealth countries, a "student" attends a secondary school or higher (e.g., college or university); those in primary or elementary ...
in its first years: having been established in 1898, there were five graduates by June 1899. An average of 44 students per year were enrolled in the years between the turn of the century and the outbreak of World War I, when numbers crashed.
An association with the University of Stellenbosch was established in 1926, whereafter a diploma
A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...
course
Course may refer to:
Directions or navigation
* Course (navigation), the path of travel
* Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...
was offered to equip prospective farmers
A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mi ...
.
The government Department of Agriculture
An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...
accepted responsibility for agricultural training at the college from 1973. A significant addition to the academic courses given in this period was a diploma in cellar technology, making the college, since 1976, a major training institution for South African winemakers.
In the post-1994 period, under a new provincial administration in the newly established Western Cape Province, the Elsenburg and Kromme Rhee colleges of agriculture amalgamated. A Centre for Further Education and Training was established to relieve the Department of Agriculture of its responsibilities.
The renewed association with the University of the Stellenbosch was inaugurated on 1 April 2004.
Notable alumni
* William Benbow Humphreys
William Benbow Humphreys (1889-1965), City Councillor in Kimberley, Member of the Cape Provincial Council, and Member of Parliament (for Beaconsfield and afterwards for Kimberley), was the founder of the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley. ...
, Member of the Cape Provincial Council and Member of Parliament (South Africa).
References
{{coord missing, South Africa
Agricultural education
Colleges in South Africa