A technikon was a post-secondary

institute of technology An institute of technology (also referred to as: technological university, technical university, university of technology, technological educational institute, technical college, polytechnic university or just polytechnic) is an institution of te ...

(polytech) in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It focused on career-oriented vocational training. There were 15 technikons in the 1990s, but they were merged or restructured as universities (especially universities of technology) in the early 2000s.

Etymology

The word comes from the Greek , meaning ‘technical’. (cf. Some technical schools were called technikums elsewhere in the world.)

List of technikons

} , , 1920–2005
, ,

Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Peninsula University of Technology, a university in Cape Town, South Africa, is the only university of technology in the Western Cape province, and is also the largest university in the province, with over 32,000 students. It was formed by ...

, - ,

Eastern Cape Technikon The Eastern Cape Technikon was an institution of higher education in South Africa. It was first established as an engineering campus of the University of Transkei in 1985 and received autonomy in 1994. In 2004, almost 9000 students registered at ...

← Transkei Technikon , , 1991–2005 , ,

Walter Sisulu University Walter Sisulu University (WSU) is a university of technology and science located in Mthatha, East London (Buffalo City), Butterworth and Komani (Queenstown) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, which came into existence on 1 July 2005 as a result o ...

, - , Peninsula Technikon , , 1962-2005
, ,

, - , Port Elizabeth Technikon
(PE Technikon) , , 1882–2005
, ,

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

, - , Technikon Pretoria , , 1968–2004
, ,

Tshwane University of Technology Tshwane University of Technology (TUT; af, Tshwane-Universiteit vir Tegnologie) is a higher education institution in South Africa that came into being through a merger of three technikons — Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and ...

, - ,

Technikon Natal Technikon Natal is located in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and has now merged with ML Sultan Technikon to form the Durban University of Technology. History Technikon Natal was founded by Dr Samuel George Campbell in 1907. In 1912, th ...

, , 1907–2002
, ,

Durban Institute of Technology The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban Insti ...

, - , Technikon North-West
← Setlogelo Technikon, 1994–97 , , 1976–2004
, ,

, - , Technikon Northern Gauteng
← Technikon Northern Transvaal, –1997 , , 1980–2004 , ,

, - , Technikon SA
(Technikon South Africa)
← Technikon RSA, 1980–93 , , 1980–2004 , ,

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

, - , Technikon Free State
, 1994-2004
← Technikon OFS / , 1988-1994 , , 1988?–2004 , ,

Central University of Technology Central University of Technology, Free State or CUT is a University of Technology in Bloemfontein in the Free State province of South Africa. It was established in 1981 as "Technikon A technikon was a post-secondary institute of technology (poly ...

, - ,

ML Sultan Technikon ML Sultan is located in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and has now merged with Technikon Natal to form the Durban University of Technology. History The institution was named after Mohammed Lappa Sultan who donated funds in 1941 to establis ...

, , 1946–2002
, ,

, - , Mangosuthu Technikon , , 1979–2001 , ,

Mangosuthu University of Technology Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT) is a university of technology situated in Umlazi near the city of Durban, South Africa, on a site overlooking the Indian Ocean. MUT is located in the academic hub in the eThekwini metropole. It is a resid ...

, - , Vaal Triangle Technikon
, , 1966–2003
, ,

Vaal University of Technology Vaal University of Technology (VUT) is a tertiary institution in South Africa. It attracts students from all over the country. It is one of the largest residential Universities of Technology, with about 25,000 students, 300 programs, all primari ...

, - ,

Witwatersrand Technikon The Technikon Witwatersrand was a technikon located in Johannesburg, South Africa. On 1 January 2005, it merged with Rand Afrikaans University and the Soweto and East Rand campuses of Vista University to form the University of Johannesburg. The fo ...

, , 1923–2005
, ,

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

In some sources, certain school names were reversed, e.g., Technikon Pretoria or Pretoria Technikon. Likewise, Witwatersrand Technikon or Technikon Witwatersrand; Natal Technikon or Technikon Natal; Free State Technikon or Technikon Free State.

History

Some technical colleges were founded in the early to mid-20th century in the country. In 1967, four technical colleges (Cape, Pretoria, Witwatersrand and Natal) became "colleges of advanced technical education". Two more such colleges (Vaal and

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

) were added by 1969. These six colleges became the first technikons in 1979. In the 1980s and 1990s, 9 more technikons were constituted, bringing up the total to 15. Compared to universities, technikons were not seen as prestigious. The Committee of Technikon Principals felt that "the name ''technikon'' had become a stumbling block", as their graduates were not recognized by professional associations, especially internationally. Tshwane University of Technology

Mergers and reorganisations were announced in 2002, drastically reducing the number of technikons. By 2006, after a process to transform the nation’s "higher education landscape", there were no technikons left.

Student compositions

During

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, the schools were divided into historically white technikons (HWTs) and historically black technikons (HBTs). The seven white technikons include the 'big four' (Cape, Pretoria, Witwatersrand and Natal), which had the most students (6000–11000 in 1991). The other white technikons were Free State, Port Elizabeth, and Vaal Triangle. SA was for

distance learning Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

, with a slight majority of whites. Northern Gauteng and Mangosuthu were black technikons. Peninsula was classified as a , but it was mostly attended by

Coloured Coloureds ( af, Kleurlinge or , ) refers to members of multiracial ethnic communities in Southern Africa who may have ancestry from more than one of the various populations inhabiting the region, including African, European, and Asian. South ...

s. ML Sultan was also nominally a HBT, but was mostly attended by Indians. Three technikons were created in

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

s; these had the lowest enrollments: Border (

Ciskei Ciskei (, or ) was a Bantustan for the Xhosa people-located in the southeast of South Africa. It covered an area of , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian O ...

), Eastern Cape (

Transkei Transkei (, meaning ''the area beyond he riverKei''), officially the Republic of Transkei ( xh, iRiphabliki yeTranskei), was an unrecognised state in the southeastern region of South Africa from 1976 to 1994. It was, along with Ciskei, a Ban ...

), and North-West (initially named ''Setlogelo''; in

Bophuthatswana Bophuthatswana (, meaning "gathering of the Tswana people"), officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana ( tn, Riphaboliki ya Bophuthatswana; af, Republiek van Bophuthatswana), was a Bantustan (also known as "Homeland"; an area set aside for mem ...

Degrees

In 1993, the ''Technikon Act'' (No. 125) enabled technikons to provide degree studies and confer degrees. Several technikon programmes were possible: * national higher certificate (2 years) * (3 years): 75% of technikon enrollments were in this diploma. ** 2 years of theoretical training, plus ** 1 year of experiential training with an industrial employer * national higher diploma (4 years) * bachelor’s degree in technology (B-Tech: 4 years) * in some schools: master’s degree (M-Tech: 1 year minimum) * in some schools: doctoral degree (D-Tech: 2 years minimum). White technikons and ML Sultan Technikon offered degrees at all three levels (bachelor’s, master’s and doctorates), but others did not.

References

The years for some older school names are from: * * {{cite web , title=South Africa - Technical and Vocational Qualifications , url= https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/66898.htm , website=Operation Manual , location=New Zealand , date=2015, archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190124192919/https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/66898.htm , archive-date= 2019-01-24 School types Vocational education in South Africa Higher education in South Africa