The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

research university A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

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 ...

. Established in 1829 as the

South African College The South African College was an educational institution in Cape Town, South Africa, which developed into the University of Cape Town (UCT) and the South African College Schools (SACS). History The process that would lead to the formation of t ...

, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest university in Sub-Saharan Africa in continuous operation. UCT is organised in 57 departments across six faculties offering bachelor's ( NQF 7) to doctoral degrees ( NQF 10) solely in the English language. Home to 30 000 students, it encompasses six campuses in the Capetonian suburbs of

Rondebosch Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. History Four years after the first Dutch s ...

, Hiddingh,

Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

, Mowbray, and the Waterfront. Although UCT was founded by a private act of Parliament in 1918, the Statute of the University of Cape Town (issued in 2002 in terms of the Higher Education Act) sets out its structure and roles and places the Chancellor - currently, Dr Precious Moloi Motsepe - as the ceremonial figurehead and invests real leadership authority in the Vice Chancellor, currently Prof

Mamokgethi Phakeng Rosina Mamokgethi Phakeng (née Mmutlana, born 1 November 1966) is a South African professor of mathematics education who in 2018 became a vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town (UCT), She has been the vice principal of research and in ...

, who is accountable to the University Council. A vibrant student community consisting of over 100 societies and clubs caters to diverse interests such as religion, politics, culture, community outreach and sport. UCT prominently appears in national leagues such as, but not limited to, the Varsity Cup. The historic academic, sporting, and political rivalry between UCT and Stellenbosch University brought about the nickname 'Ikeys', originally an anti-Semitic epithet for students of the university. UCT is consistently the highest-ranked African university in the

QS World University Rankings ''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...

, the

Times Higher Education World University Rankings The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...

, and the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

. Its Commerce, Law, and Medicine Faculties are consistently placed among the hundred best internationally. It is the only African member of the

Global University Leaders Forum The Global University Leaders Forum (GULF), a group of presidents from the world's top 29 universities, was established in 2006. It acts as a community to address educational, scientific and research agendas. The current GULF Chair is Suzanne Fort ...

(GULF) within the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, which is made up of 26 of the world's top universities. Five alumni, staff members, and researchers associated with UCT have won the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

. As of March 2020, 35 UCT staff members are A-rated researchers according to the

National Research Foundation of South Africa South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) is the intermediary agency between the policies and strategies of the Government of South Africa and South Africa's research institutions. It was established on 1 April 1999 as an autonomous ...

(almost 30% of the national total), which is the most prestigious ranking possible in the NRF rating classification scheme, a recognition of researchers who are unequivocally recognised by their peers as leading international scholars in their field for the high quality and impact of their recent research outputs. 88 staff members are part of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa.

History

Early history

The University of Cape Town was founded at a meeting in the Groote Kerk in 1829 as the

, a high school for young men. The college had a small tertiary-education facility, introduced in 1874 that grew substantially after 1880, when the discovery of gold and diamonds in the north - and the resulting demand for skills in mining - gave it the financial boost it needed to grow. The college developed into a fully fledged university during the period 1880 to 1900, thanks to increased funding from private sources and the government. During these years, the college built its first dedicated science laboratories, and started the departments of mineralogy and geology to meet the need for skilled personnel in the country's emerging diamond and gold-mining industries. The UCT crest was designed in 1859 by

Charles Davidson Bell Charles Davidson Bell FRSE (22 October 1813 – 7 April 1882) was the Surveyor-General in the Cape Colony, an artist, heraldist, and designer of Cape medals and stamps. Life history Born on 22 October 1813 at Newhall, Crail, Fife, Scotla ...

, Surveyor-General of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

at the time. Bell was an accomplished artist who also designed medals and the triangular Cape stamp. Another key development during this period was the admission of women. In 1886 the Professor of Chemistry, Paul Daniel Hahn, convinced the council to admit four women into his chemistry class on a trial basis. Owing to the exceptional standard of work by the women students, the college decided to admit women students permanently in honour of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1887. The years 1902 to 1918 saw the establishment of the Medical School, the introduction of engineering courses and a Department of Education. UCT was formally established as a university in 1918, on the basis of the

Alfred Beit Alfred Beit (15 February 1853 – 16 July 1906) was a Anglo-German gold and diamond magnate in South Africa, and a major donor and profiteer of infrastructure development on the African continent. He also donated much money to university edu ...

bequest and additional substantial gifts from mining magnates

Julius Wernher Sir Julius Charles Wernher, 1st Baronet (9 April 1850 – 21 May 1912) was a German-born Randlord and art collector who became part of the English establishment. Life history Born in Darmstadt, Hesse, Wernher was the son of Elisabeth (Weidenbusc ...

and Otto Beit. The new university also attracted substantial support from well-wishers in the Cape Town area and, for the first time, a significant state grant. UCT_Upper_Campus_landscape_view

In 1928, the university was able to move the bulk of its facilities to

Groote Schuur Groote Schuur (, Dutch for "big shed") is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Sc ...

on the slopes of Devil's Peak, on land bequeathed to the nation by

Cecil John Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Brit ...

as the site for a national university. UCT celebrated its centenary the following year.

Apartheid era

Apart from establishing itself as a leading research and teaching university in the decades that followed, UCT earned itself the nickname "Moscow on the Hill" during the period 1960 to 1990 for its sustained opposition to apartheid, particularly in higher education. The university admitted its first small group of black students in the 1920s. The number of black students remained relatively low until the 1980s and 90s, when the institution, reading and welcoming the signs of change in the country, committed itself to a deliberate and planned process of internal transformation. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, the number of black students admitted to the university rose by 35 percent. By 2004, nearly half of UCT's 20,000 students were black and just under half of the student body was female. Today the university boasts having one of the most diverse campuses in South Africa.

Post-Apartheid era

Rhodes Must Fall Rhodes Must Fall was a protest movement that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates Cecil Rhodes. The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention and ...

(stylised as #RhodesMustFall) was a protest

movement Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

that began on 9 March 2015, originally directed against a statue at the University of Cape Town (UCT) that commemorates

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

. The campaign for the statue's removal received global attention and led to a wider movement to " decolonise" education across South Africa. On 9 April 2015, following a UCT Council vote the previous night, the statue was removed. #

FeesMustFall #FeesMustFall was a student-led protest movement that began in mid-October 2015 in South Africa. The goals of the movement were to stop increases in student fees as well as to increase government funding of universities. Protests started at the ...

was a student protest movement which was arguably indirectly inspired by the RhodesMustFall. It formally began at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

and spread to UCT and

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

and then the rest of the South African universities. It called for the abolition of tuition fee increases for the 2016 academic year. Diverse demands arose such as the abolition of fees and decolonisation of higher education which led to substantial changes at South African public universities. At UCT, the Senate began a widespread curriculum reform process and the university began the process of the renaming of buildings on campus (the most notable example was when Jameson Hall was renamed to

Sarah Baartman Sarah Baartman (; 1789– 29 December 1815), also spelt Sara, sometimes in the diminutive form Saartje (), or Saartjie, and Bartman, Bartmann, was a Khoikhoi woman who was exhibited as a freak show attraction in 19th-century Europe under the n ...

Hall in 2019). In September 2019, Film and Media studies student Uyinene Mrwetyana went missing. After the community and police began searching, her body was discovered in the Cape Flats area of Cape Town and Luyanda Botha was arrested and convicted for her rape and murder. Her death and the rape and death of other women precipitated widespread public outcry that led to a campus shutdown and protests on campus, at the Parliament precinct in Cape Town CBD and at campuses around South Africa. Subsequently, President Ramaphosa announced reforms such as harsher punishments for sex offenders and the public disclosure of the

National Register for Sex Offenders The National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) is a sex offender registry in South Africa which contains the details of people convicted of sexual offences against children or mentally disabled people. Those listed on the register are prohibited fro ...

to stem sexual and physical violence against women and children. Moreover, the Uyinene Mrwetyana Foundation was established and a special fund in her name was created to provide scholarships to female students in the Humanities Faculty. In March 2020, UCT opened the Neuroscience Institute at the

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

in collaboration with the Western Cape Provincial Government, the first dedicated cross- and interdisciplinary centre for the study of and development of treatments for neurological and mental disorders in Africa.

Campus

Uct-rag-concert-at-kirstenbosch-gardens-001

The main teaching campus, known as Upper Campus, is located on the

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

Estate on the slopes of Devil's Peak. This campus contains, in a relatively compact site, the faculties of

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

, and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

(except for the arts departments), as well as Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall

residences A residence is a place (normally a building) used as a home or dwelling, where people reside. Residence may more specifically refer to: * Domicile (law), a legal term for residence * Habitual residence, a civil law term dealing with the status ...

. Upper Campus is centered on Sarah Baartman 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 Joseph Michael Solomon (11 December 1883 – 26 August 1920) was a South African architect. He was educated at Bishops (Diocesan College) in Rondebosch, Cape Town. He married Jean Elizabeth Emily Cox (née Hamilton), actress, in 1914. Their chil ...

and built between 1928 and 1930. Since that time, many more buildings have been added as the university has grown. Upper Campus is also home to the main library, The Chancellor Oppenheimer Library, which holds the majority of the university's 1.3 million volume collection. Contiguous with Upper Campus, but separated from it by university sports fields and the M3 expressway, are the Middle and Lower Campuses. These campuses, which are spread through the suburbs of

, Rosebank and Mowbray, contain the

Law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

faculty, the

South African College of Music The South African College of Music, abbreviated as SACM, is a department of the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Cape Town. It is located on the University's Lower Campus in Rondebosch, Cape Town. Study opportunities The South African ...

, the School of Economics, most of the student residences, most of the university administrative offices, and various sporting facilities. The state of the art artificial grass

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

field has been approved by FIFA for training for

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

teams. The Upper, Middle and Lower Campuses together are often referred to as the "main campus". The Faculty of

Health Sciences The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to health sciences: Health sciences are those sciences which focus on health, or health care, as core parts of their subject matter. Health sciences relate to multiple acad ...

is located on the

Medical School A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

campus next to the

. The

Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

and

Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

departments are located on the Hiddingh Campus in central

. The university's original building, now known as the ''

Egyptian Building The Egyptian Building is a historic college building in Richmond, Virginia, completed in 1845. It was the first permanent home of the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College (later renamed the Medical College of Virginia, MCV) and now is a pa ...

'', on the Hiddingh campus, was built in the

Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

style. The only other campus built in this style was the

Medical College of Virginia The VCU Medical Center is Virginia Commonwealth University's medical campus located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, in the Court End neighborhood. VCU Medical Center used to be known as the Medical College of Virginia (MCV), which merged with the ...

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

in the United States. The

UCT Graduate School of Business The Graduate School of Business (GSB) is the business school of the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa's oldest university. The School's programme includes the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), the Executive MBA, and the Postg ...

is located on the

Breakwater Lodge The Breakwater Lodge in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa was built as a prison in 1859. It is now part of the University of Cape Town and a hotel. The original prison was built in 1859 for convicts from Britain at the s ...

Campus at the

Victoria & Alfred Waterfront The Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront in Cape Town is situated on the Atlantic shore, Table Bay Harbour, the City of Cape Town and Table Mountain. Adrian van der Vyver designed the complex. Situated in South Africa's oldest working harbour, ...

. The

Baxter Theatre Centre The Baxter Theatre Centre is a performing arts complex in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The Baxter, as it is often known, is part of the University of Cape Town; it is also the second largest performing arts complex in Cape ...

, located on the Lower Campus, is part of the University of Cape Town; it is also the second largest performing arts complex in Cape Town, after the

Artscape Theatre Centre Artscape Theatre Centre (formerly Nico Malan Theatre Centre) is the main performing arts centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It was opened in 1971 and is located on reclaimed land in the Foreshore area. The inaugural performance was scheduled to ...

. It has three venues: *the 665-seat Main Theatre *the 638-seat Concert Hall, with a

Von Beckerath The term ''von'' () is used in German language surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means ''of'' or ''from''. Nobility directories like the ''Almanach de Go ...

organ *the 172-seat Golden Arrow Studio For his contribution of the tract of land which the campus was founded on, a bronze statue of Cecil Rhodes was erected in 1934 on the Upper Campus, overlooking the university's rugby fields. The statue was removed in April 2015 following pressure from student groups due to its representation of South Africa's colonialist apartheid past and the university's inadequate representation of black students, faculty, and staff. The upper campus was affected by the Table Mountain fire in April 2021; the

Jagger Library The Jagger Library (also known as the Jagger Reading Room, previously known as the J. W. Jagger Linear Library) was the main reading room of the University of Cape Town Libraries. The building was constructed in the 1930s, named after John Will ...

building, which housed rare books and documents including a large African Studies collection, was gutted. UCT cropped panorama

Residential halls

The university has 19 student residences (or "res" as known colloquially), offering both single-gender and mixed-gender housing. The Department of Student Housing oversees the residence system College House is the oldest university residence in Africa, being established in 1887. UCT's residence system is composed of three tiers. Students living in residence are placed in a tier according to the length of time that they have been in the residence system, studying in the university and service or part-time employment in a residence. As a student progresses through their academic journey they are moved into a higher tier. Postgraduate students are usually housed in the third-tier residences unless employed in lower-tier residences. First-tier residences: * Avenue Road Residence * Baxter Hall * Clarinus Village * College House * Dullah Omar Hall * Fuller Hall * Glendover Residence * Graça Machel Hall * Kilindini * Kopano Residence * Leo Marquard Hall * Rochester House * Smuts Hall * Tugwell Hall * University House * Varietas Second-tier residences: * Forest Hill * Groote Schuur Flats * Groote Schuur Residence * Liesbeeck Gardens * Medical Residence * Obz Square * The Woolsack Third-tier residences: * 1 Woodbine Road * 8 Avenue Road * Amalinda * Dullah Omar Hall * Edwin Hart Annex * F Block (Forest Hill) * Harold Cressy Hall * Inglewood * JP Duminy Court * Linkoping * North Grange * Rondeberg * TB Davie Court File:UCT Cape Town.jpg, Smuts Hall, built in 1928 on the Upper Campus File:Tugwell Hall, Cape Town (South Africa).jpg, Tugwell Hall, built in 1974 on the Lower Campus

Organisation

Administration and governance

The University of Cape Town was originally incorporated as a public university by a

private act of Parliament Proposed bills are often categorized into public bills and private bills. A public bill is a proposed law which would apply to everyone within its jurisdiction. This is unlike a private bill which is a proposal for a law affecting only a single p ...

in 1918. At present it is incorporated and structured by an institutional statute issued under the provisions of the

Higher Education Act, 1997 Higher may refer to: Music * The Higher, a 2002–2012 American pop rock band Albums * ''Higher'' (Ala Boratyn album) or the title song, 2007 * ''Higher'' (Ezio album) or the title song, 2000 * ''Higher'' (Harem Scarem album) or the title song ...

. The titular head of the university is the

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

; 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 fashion entrepreneur and philanthropist Dr

Precious Moloi-Motsepe Precious Moloi-Motsepe (born 2 August 1964) is a South African philanthropist and fashion entrepreneur. One of the richest women in South Africa she started her career as a medical practitioner, specializing in children and women’s health. In S ...

who was elected in November 2019 and assumed the role on 1 January 2020 after the expiration of Ms

Graça Machel Graça Machel (; née Simbine; , born 17 October 1945) is a Mozambican politician and humanitarian. She is the widow of former President of Mozambique Samora Machel (1975–1986) and former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1998– ...

's second consecutive 10-year term. The University Council is the highest ranked decision-making and appointative structure in the university. With wide-ranging powers of governance over areas such as the strategy, well-being and mission of the university, it is directly accountable to the Government of the Republic through the

Minister of Higher Education {{Unreferenced, date=March 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A Ministry of Higher Education is a government department that focuses on the provision or regulation of institutions of higher education. In some countries these exist as ministries compounde ...

, currently Dr

Blade Nzimande Bonginkosi Emmanuel "Blade" Nzimande (born 14 April 1958 in Edendale near Pietermaritzburg) is a South African politician, sociologist, philosopher, educator, anti-apartheid activist and Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology. H ...

for matters relating to the university. It is composed of 30 broad stakeholder representatives such as students, academics, staff and appointees of the

City of Cape Town The City of Cape Town ( af, Stad Kaapstad; xh, IsiXeko saseKapa) is the metropolitan municipality which governs the city of Cape Town, South Africa and its suburbs and exurbs. As of the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,740,026. The remo ...

, Convocation,

Premier of the Western Cape The Premier of the Western Cape is the head of government of the Western Cape province of South Africa. The current Premier of the Western Cape is Alan Winde, a member of the Democratic Alliance, who was elected in the 2019 election. He took o ...

and the Minister of Higher Education among others, and the presiding officer of the council, the chair, is currently Sipho Pityana. The Registrar, who acts as the secretary of the Council and Senate, oversees academic registration and legal matters, and administers the Convocation, is currently Royston Pillay. The Convocation, composed of alumni, the Vice Chancellor, Deputy Vice Chancellors, academic staff, emeritus professors and emeritus associate professors, is a statutory body administered by the Office of the Registrar, which provides a platform for former members of the university to participate and engage with matters affecting the university. Helmed by the President of the Convocation, currently Prof Eddy Maloka, it can make recommendations and pass non-binding resolutions in its Annual General Meetings. The Leadership Lekgotla is a coordinating and decision-making structure composed of senior executives of the university who oversee the day-to-day running of the university. It contrasts with the University Council which arises from the University Statute and exercises supreme governance over the university. The Leadership Lekgotla's members are senior executives who oversee different areas of the university's operations and policies. The most senior executive is the

Vice Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor is ...

(ranked below the Chancellor in the ceremonial protocol and order of precedence of the university) is the de facto head and chief executive of the university, currently Prof

appointed in July 2018, who is accountable to the council. Below her are the Deputy Vice Chancellors of Transformation (currently Prof Loretta Feris), of Research and Internationalisation (currently Prof Susanne Harris) and of Teaching and Learning (currently Prof Lis Lange). The Chief Operations Officer, currently Dr Reno Morar, brings together and oversees the functional, support and technical areas of the university's operations.

Academic divisions

The university is composed of six Faculties (Commerce, Engineering and the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Law, Sciences and Humanities) which together comprise 57 departments. Faculties are helmed by a Dean and their administrative and operational matters are administered by a Director. The Senate has delegated substantial powers to the faculties in academic matters over their internal protocol and management such as on matters concerning class timetables, admission requirements, academic exclusion, examinations, research projects and so on. Faculties vary substantially in student size and in buildings occupied, with the Commerce faculty having the highest student population and the Law faculty having the lowest while the Humanities faculty spans the most buildings followed by the Faculty of Health Sciences with the Commerce and Law faculties having (by far) the lowest physical footprint. Notwithstanding interdisciplinary research units and centers, additional academic structures exist that eschew the faculty-based organisational structure. The multidisciplinary Center for Higher Education Development ranks on an equal level as the faculties and the UCT Graduate School of Business maintains substantial latitude over its internal affairs despite being nominally part of the Faculty of Commerce. The interdisciplinary School of Information Technology, comprising the Departments of Information Systems and of Computer Science in the Commerce and Science faculties is neither a faculty nor a department but a coordinating mechanism to promote IT education and research. The departments of the faculties are listed as follows: Department-of-Botany door

Faculty of Commerce * College of Accounting * School of Economics (jointly established with Faculty of Humanities) * Department of Finance and Tax * Department of Information Systems * School of Management Studies * Graduate School of Business Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment * Department of Architecture, Planning and Geomatics * Department of Chemical Engineering * Department of Civil Engineering * Department of Construction Economics and Management * Department of Electrical Engineering * Department of Mechanical Engineering Faculty of Health Sciences * Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine * Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences * Department of Health Sciences Education * Department of Human Biology * Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences * Department of Medicine * Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology * Department of Paediatrics and Child Health * Department of Pathology * Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health * Department of Public Health and Family Medicine * Department of Radiation Medicine * Department of Surgery SA College of Music

Faculty of Humanities * School of African and Gender Studies, Anthropology and Linguistics * School of Dance * Department of Drama * School of Economics (jointly established with Faculty of Commerce) * School of Education * Department of English Language and Literature * Center for Film and Media Studies *

Michaelis School of Fine Art The Michaelis School of Fine Art was founded in 1925, and is the Fine Arts department of the University of Cape Town. The school's current director is Associate Professor Kurt Campbell. There are three research institutions associated with the sch ...

* Department of Historical Studies * School of Languages and Literatures *

* Department of Philosophy * Department of Political Studies * Department of Psychology * Department of Religious Studies * Department of Social Development * Department of Sociology UCT Middle Campus - The Japonica Walk 01

UCT Middle Campus - The Japonica Walk 01

Faculty of Law * Department of Commercial Law * Department of Private Law * Department of Public Law Faculty of Science * Department of Archaeology * Department of Astronomy * Department of Biological Sciences * Department of Chemistry * Department of Computer Science * Department of Environmental and Geographical Science * Department of Geological Sciences * Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics * Department of Molecular and Cell Biology * Department of Oceanography * Department of Physics * Department of Statistical Sciences

Funding

The university's endowment (the financial capital and investment funds on which it can draw to carry out its work) is deposited with the UCT Foundation (a legally independent nonprofit organisation) and it is managed by the Investment Office. Through the Distinguishing UCT fundraising campaign, the university is trying to raise its endowment. As of 2019, its designated endowment stands at R2.5 billion and its undesignated endowment stands at R676 million with R133 million raised for infrastructure projects (bringing the total undesignated endowment to R809 million which the university aims to increase to R1 billion). There have been several campaigns at the university to divest its endowment. Fossil Free UCT was formally established in 2015 as a campaign by environmental activism lobbying groups and student organisations, most notably the Green Campus Initiative compel UCT to divest from fossil fuel companies which resulted in a non-binding resolution passed by UCT's Convocation in 2017 to support the divestment. Student lobby groups, most notably the Palestinian Solidarity Front and the SRC called on the university's management to divest from Israeli companies and organisations working in the

Palestinian Occupied Territories The Palestinian territories are the two regions of the former British Mandate for Palestine that have been militarily occupied by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967, namely: the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip. The In ...

(among other demands), which, in the end, the university refused to do. The university's income comes from a combination of government grants, tuition fees, donations, investment and research income. In the 2017–2018 financial year, the university received R1.415 billion in state subsidies, R1.428 billion in tuition fees and R539 million in other income. R1.2 billion was committed to student financial aid for both undergraduate and postgraduate students from the university, the government through the NSFAS scheme and the university's partners and donors.

Students and staff

, there were 27,907 students; 25% of whom were black South African, 22% were white South African, 18% identified as another race, 15% were international students. In 2016 there were 29,074 students enrolled (18,421 undergraduates and 10,653 postgraduates) and 4,542 staff were employed (1,179 academic and 3,363 professional, administrative, support and service staff). The UCT Employment Equity Plan April (2010 to 2015) indicated moderate but consistent changes in the demographic makeup of the staff body. The five-year plan specified specific targets ranging from between about 5% to 10% adjustments in the representation of SA black staff. According to the plan the staff makeup would have changed by 2015 by achieving either parity or more SA black staff than SA white in all categories other than senior lecturer and professor positions. UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola noted that, in 2017, UCT employed 45 white professors, 38 black African,

Cape Coloured Cape Coloureds () are a South African ethnic group consisted primarily of persons of mixed race and Khoisan descent. Although Coloureds form a minority group within South Africa, they are the predominant population group in the Western Cape. ...

Indian South African Indian South Africans are South Africans who descend from indentured labourers and free migrants who arrived from British India during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The majority live in and around the city of Durban, making it one of the l ...

professors, 67 foreign national professors and 7 who did not disclose their race.

Student enrolment 2009-2013

Student enrolment by population group 2009–2013, showing percentage growth on base:

Student life

UCT had 36 different sports clubs in 2003, including

team sport A team sport includes any sport where individuals are organized into opposing sports team, teams which compete to win or cooperate to entertain their audience. Team members act together towards a shared objective. This can be done in a numb ...

individual sport An individual sport is a sport in which participants compete as individuals. However, team competitions in individual sports also occur, such as the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup. Overview Examples *Athletics *Badminton *Billiards *Bodybuildin ...

extreme sport Action sports, adventure sports or extreme sports are activities perceived as involving a high degree of risk. These activities often involve speed, height, a high level of physical exertion and highly specialized gear. Extreme tourism overl ...

s and

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; a ...

. The university's sports teams, in particular the

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

team, are known as the "

Ikey Tigers The Ikey Tigers are a South African rugby union team from the University of Cape Town in the Western Cape who compete in the FNB Varsity Cup. History The "Ikey" nickname originated in the 1910s as an anti-semitic epithet applied to UCT studen ...

" or the "Ikeys". The "Ikey" nickname originated in the 1910s as an

anti-semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

epithet applied to UCT students by the students of

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, 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. The University of Cape Town Football Club also known as the "Ikeys Warriors" is the main team for association football (soccer), representing the university at tournaments such as Varsity Football. Uct-rag-concert-at-kirstenbosch-gardens-032

Uct-rag-concert-at-kirstenbosch-gardens-032

As of 2007 there were more than 80 student societies at UCT, falling into five categories: * Academic societies for those interested in a particular field of study or studying a particular topic: The most prominent of these include the History and Current Affairs Society (HCA), the Space and Astronomy Society (SpaceSoc, also a

SEDS Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is a non-profit international student organization whose purpose is to drive space advocacy of space exploration and development through educational and engineering projects. Histo ...

South Africa chapter), the United Nations Association of South Africa (UNASA), and the Students for Law and Social Justice (SLSJ). * Political societies, including branches of the youth wings of national political parties such as the

South African Students Congress The South African Students Congress (SASCO) is a South African student organisation currently led by Bamanye Matiwane as the organization's President. SASCO was founded in September 1991 at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, through ...

(SASCO), the Democratic Alliance Students Organisation (DASO), and the

African National Congress Youth League The African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) is the youth wing of the African National Congress (ANC). As set out in its constitution, the ANC Youth League is led by a National Executive Committee (NEC) and a National Working Committee (NW ...

. * 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 (such as RainbowUCT, the university's

LGBTI Intersex people are born with sex characteristics (such as genitals, gonads, and chromosome patterns) that "do not fit the typical definitions for male or female bodies". They are substantially more likely to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, ...

society, UCT Mountain & Ski Club, UCT Ballroom and Latin dancing) for those interested in various activities or issues. In addition to the plethora of student societies, there are several student organisations dedicated to the development of communities surrounding the university in the Cape Metropolitan Area. Some of the biggest include:

SHAWCO SHAWCO, the Students' Health and Welfare Centres Organisation, is a student-run non-governmental organization, NGO based at the University of Cape Town that seeks to improve the quality of life for individuals in developing communities within th ...

, Ubunye and RAG. Recently, several students movements have developed, such as the Green Campus Initiative.

Rankings

The University of Cape Town is the most prestigious African university according to several rankings. It achieved a rank of 198 in the 2019

, a rank of 156 in the 2019

, and a rank of 201–300 in the Shanghai

, making it the highest-ranked African university in these rankings. The faculty of Commerce as well as the faculty of Law and Medicine have appeared in the top 100 faculties internationally. The Law Faculty achieved a global rank of 40 in the 2014 QS World University Rankings by Subject. Although the university remains the highest ranking in Africa as of 2022 its ranking has been declining since 2015.

Affiliations

UCT is a member of the

Worldwide Universities Network The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is a non-profit consortium of 24 research-intensive universities founded in 2000. It provides financial and infrastructural support to member universities to support international research collaboration a ...

(WUN), the

Association of African Universities The Association of African Universities (AAU) ( ar, اتحاد الجامعات الأفريقية, french: Association des universités africaines) is a university association of African universities based in Accra, Ghana. With member institutio ...

, the

Association of Commonwealth Universities The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) was established in 1913, and has over 500 member institutions in over 50 countries across the Commonwealth. The ACU is the world's oldest international network of universities. Its mission is ...

, the

Cape Higher Education Consortium The Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) is an association whose members are the four universities in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It describes itself as "A Network of Learning for the Western Cape". It was originally registered ...

Higher Education South Africa Universities South Africa (formerly Higher Education South Africa or HESA) is an association of the 23 public universities in South Africa. Its function is to form a unified voice for the interests of its members, to form common policy for its memb ...

, the

International Alliance of Research Universities The International Alliance of Research Universities (IARU) was launched on 14 January 2006 as a co-operative network of 10 leading, international research-intensive universities who share similar visions for higher education, in particular the edu ...

(IARU), the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) and the

International Association of Universities The International Association of Universities (IAU) is a membership-led non-governmental organization working in the field of higher education. It comprises more than 600 higher education institutions and organizations in over 130 countries. IAU ...

. The Faculty of Law is a member of the

Law Schools Global League The Law Schools Global League or LSGL was instituted in 2012 by a selected number of globally leading law schools. It has the primary aim of globally promoting and fostering scholastic research on law and legal education as well as encouraging col ...

(LSGL).

Notable alumni and staff

Five alumni of the University of Cape Town have been awarded Nobel Prizes:

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

, American political scientist and diplomat awarded the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

in 1950 for his role in the

1949 Armistice Agreements The 1949 Armistice Agreements were signed between Israel and Egypt,Allan McLeod Cormack Allan MacLeod Cormack (February 23, 1924 – May 7, 1998) was a South African American physicist who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (along with Godfrey Hounsfield) for his work on X-ray computed tomography (CT). Early life an ...

, physicist awarded the

Nobel Prize in Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...

(1979) for his work on X-ray computed tomography,

Max Theiler Max Theiler (30 January 1899 – 11 August 1972) was a South African-American virologist and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1951 for developing a vaccine against yellow fever in 1937, becoming the first ...

, virologist awarded the

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, accord ...

in 1951 for developing a vaccine against

yellow fever Yellow fever is a viral disease of typically short duration. In most cases, symptoms include fever, chills, loss of appetite, nausea, muscle pains – particularly in the back – and headaches. Symptoms typically improve within five days. In ...

, Sir

Aaron Klug Sir Aaron Klug (11 August 1926 – 20 November 2018) was a British biophysicist and chemist. He was a winner of the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of bio ...

, chemist and biophysicist awarded the

Nobel Prize in Chemistry ) , image = Nobel Prize.png , alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...

(1982) for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes and Professor Emeritus

J. M. Coetzee John Maxwell Coetzee OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in ...

(

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, 2003). UCT alumni have gone on to achieve positions in academica, politics and other fields as follows. According to a non-peer reviewed study conducted by the

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

in 2018, 6% of members of the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

obtained a degree from UCT (the study had a sample of 247 out of 449 MPs). Ministers of the

Cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the President, the Deputy President, and the Ministers. Overview The President appoints the Deputy President and m ...

, Naledi Pandor and

Ebrahim Patel Ebrahim Patel (born 1962 in District Six in Cape Town) is a South African cabinet minister, who holds the position of Minister of Trade and Industry (South Africa), Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition. He previously served as Minister ...

, former Vice President of the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

and former Vice Chancellor of UCT,

Mamphela Ramphele Mamphela Aletta Ramphele (; born 28 December 1947) is a South African politician, an activist against apartheid, a medical doctor, an academic and businesswoman. She was a partner of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, with whom she had two chil ...

, South African surgeon

Christiaan Barnard Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident-v ...

, South African writer

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; born 16 September 1939) is a South African writer, poet and painter known for his opposition to apartheid, and consequent imprisonment by the South African government. He is informally considered as the national poet lau ...

, South African entrepreneur and inventor behind

Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed mostly of free and open-source software. Ubuntu is officially released in three editions: ''Desktop'', ''Server'', and ''Core'' for Internet of things devices and robots. All the ...

Mark Shuttleworth Mark Richard Shuttleworth (born 18 September 1973) is a South African and British entrepreneur who is the founder and CEO of Canonical, the company behind the development of the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system. In 2002, Shuttleworth became ...

, South African activist and judge

Albie Sachs Albert "Albie" Louis Sachs (born 30 January 1935) is a South African lawyer, activist, writer, and former judge appointed to the first Constitutional Court of South Africa by Nelson Mandela. Early life and education Albie Sachs was born on ...

, former member of the South African music band

Freshlyground Freshlyground are a South African Afro-fusion band that formed in Cape Town in 2002. The band members have different backgrounds, including South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. Freshlyground's musical style blends elements of traditional Sout ...

Zolani Mahola Zolani Mahola (born 19 July 1981) is a South African singer, actress, storyteller and world-renowned inspiration speaker, now also known under the stage name The One Who Sings. She is most famously known as lead singer of the internationally-ac ...

, South African cartoonist

Zapiro Jonathan Shapiro (born 27 October 1958) is a South African cartoonist, known as Zapiro, whose work appears in numerous South African publications and has been exhibited internationally on many occasions. He is the nephew of British magician ...

and former Speaker of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation syste ...

Baleka Mbete Baleka Mbete (born 24 September 1949) is a South African politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2014 to May 2019. She was previously Speaker of the National Assembly from 2004 to 2008, and Deputy P ...

are among the alumni of the university. Kindly refer to List of Notable Alumni of the University of Cape Town for further information on notable UCT alumni. The

rates researchers and academics according to the quality of their research output in four categories. , 35 staff are A-rated, that being they are internationally recognised leaders in their fields. These are 30% of the A-rated researchers recognised by the NRF, making UCT, by far, the university with the highest number of such researchers. 6 researchers are recognised as P-rated, that being they have potential to become leaders in their fields. , 15% of South Africa's total NRF-rated researchers (about 524) are employed or associated with UCT. For a comprehensive and up-to-date list of B, Y and C-rated researchers, se
this site
, 19% of South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) research chairs (about 42 academics) are held by UCT employed or associated researchers. 88 members of faculty are members of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa. Notable staff members include

Minister of Trade and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation is the foreign minister of the Government of South Africa, South African government, with political responsibility for South Africa's Foreign relations of South Africa, foreign relations an ...

Naledi Pandor Grace Naledi Mandisa Pandor (née Matthews; born 7 December 1953) is a South African politician, educator and academic serving as the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation since 2019. She has served as a Member of Parliament (MP) ...

, former

Helen Zille Otta Helene Maree (''née'' Zille ; born 9 March 1951), known as Helen Zille, is a South African politician. She has served as the Chairperson of the Federal Council of the Democratic Alliance since 20 October 2019. From 2009 until 2019, she w ...

and George Ellis, collaborator with Stephen Hawking and winner of the 2004

Templeton Prize The Templeton Prize is an annual award granted to a living person, in the estimation of the judges, "whose exemplary achievements advance Sir John Templeton's philanthropic vision: harnessing the power of the sciences to explore the deepest quest ...

, was a professor of

applied mathematics Applied mathematics is the application of mathematical methods by different fields such as physics, engineering, medicine, biology, finance, business, computer science, and industry. Thus, applied mathematics is a combination of mathematical s ...

in the Faculty of Sciences. For a larger albeit inexhaustive list of former and current notable UCT faculty and staff, see the

List of University of Cape Town faculty This list of University of Cape Town faculty includes current, emeritus, former, and deceased professors, lecturers, and researchers. Faculty members who have become Institute Professors, or have earned other significant awards and made signific ...

Notable research

* The Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics is an international centre for research in the fields of

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...

and

topology In mathematics, topology (from the Greek language, Greek words , and ) is concerned with the properties of a mathematical object, geometric object that are preserved under Continuous function, continuous Deformation theory, deformations, such ...

. * The Centre for Rhetoric Studies, the only one of its kind on the African Continent (director:

Philippe-Joseph Salazar Philippe-Joseph Salazar (), a French rhetorician and philosopher, was born on 10 February 1955 in Casablanca, then part of French Morocco. Salazar attended the Lycée Louis-le-Grand a prestigious secondary-school in Paris (founded 1563) before s ...

). * The Department of

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

is home to the UCT-

CERN The European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN (; ; ), is an intergovernmental organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Established in 1954, it is based in a northwestern suburb of Gene ...

research centre, which is partially responsible for the software design of the High Level Trigger component of the

ALICE Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

experiment at the

Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-energy particle collider. It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000 scientists and hundred ...

, 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 MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Ki ...

(KAT). KAT is a precursor to the

Square Kilometer Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKA ...

, a proposed International project to build the world's largest radio telescope by 2020. Research groups in RF design and

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

design contribute to the RF front-end and digital back-end of the KAT project. * The Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine (IIDMM) is engaged in research on candidate

tuberculosis vaccines Tuberculosis (TB) vaccines are vaccinations intended for the prevention of tuberculosis. Immunotherapy as a defence against TB was first proposed in 1890 by Robert Koch.Prabowo, S. et al. "Targeting multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) by ...

, and is developing candidate HIV vaccines matched to the South African epidemic. * The OpenUCT Initiative is funded by the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

and works to make UCT's research, teaching and learning materials openly available online. Major research projects include th
African Climate Development Initiative
(ACDI) pilot curation project
Digital Scholarship in Emerging Knowledge Domains
an
Open Data in the Governance of South African Higher Education
an
Scholarly Communication in Africa
(SCAP) * The Department of Archaeology has found some of the oldest evidence of art and abstract thought in the world. Specifically, engrained ostrich eggshell water containers dated to 60,000 years ago *The African Centre for Cities is one of the few research organisations focusing on

urbanism Urbanism is the study of how inhabitants of urban areas, such as towns and cities, interact with the built environment. It is a direct component of disciplines such as urban planning, which is the profession focusing on the physical design and m ...

in Africa. *On 21 September 2020 the new Khoi and San Centre was launched, with an undergraduate degree programme planned to be rolled out in coming years. The centre will support and consolidate this collaborative work on research commissions on

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of met ...

(including

Khoekhoegowab The Khoekhoe language (), also known by the ethnic terms Nama (''Namagowab'') , Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy use o ...

), sacred human remains, land and gender.

Controversies

A debate at UCT over the removal of a statue of

spawned

movement. The

movement, which began at Wits and spread to UCT, was inspired by the Rhodes Must Fall protests.

Destruction and censorship of art

Since the removal of the Rhodes statue, other art has been removed or destroyed. FeesMustFall students burned 23 of the university's historical paintings in February 2016. According to GroundUp, art experts connected to the university are concerned about intolerance towards art at the institution, as UCT has removed and censored 75 further "vulnerable" art which it claims are offensive to students."Human Rights investigates the removal of artworks from UCT"
,

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

Digital News, 5 May 2017 An Artworks Task Team was set up in September 2015 to assess art at the university "with a view to transformation and inclusivity", and went about finding "artworks on campus that may be seen to recognize or celebrate colonial oppressors and/or which may be offensive or controversial", and specifically artworks deemed to be "offensive" in their depiction of black people. Both

Stanley Pinker Stanley Pinker (1924 – 16 June 2012) was a Namibian-born painter and printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Tradi ...

’s ''Decline and Fall'', which makes ironic use of colonial iconology, and

's ''Hovering Dog'', which shows a black person wearing a white mask and a white person wearing a black mask, were removed; and

Diane Victor Diane Victor, (born 1964, Witbank, South Africa) is a South African artist and print maker, known for her satirical and social commentary of contemporary South African politics. Biography Victor was born in Witbank, South Africa. She received ...

’s ''Pasiphaë'', which depicts black farmers with allusions to Greek mythology, was covered by a wooden panel. In response, Breyten Breytenbach remarked that UCT were making fools of themselves, while Diane Victor thought UCT's actions were "slightly comical" and her artwork was being understood on a "simplistic level". Jacques Rousseau, then chair of the Academic Freedom Committee, told GroundUp: "There are a number of artworks in UCT's collection that could legitimately be regarded as problematic. Even so, any piece of art is potentially offensive to someone, and the very point of art is to provoke reflection and sometimes discomfort." The Academic Freedom Committee noted with "grave concern recent instances of threats to

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

". The

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissioner ...

was investigating the matter as of May 2017, in order to determine whether the university was infringing on the constitutional right to freedom of expression, in particular the right to artistic creativity.

Popular culture

The university was the shooting location of the 2019 film ''

Critters Attack! ''Critters Attack!'' is a 2019 horror comedy film. It is a reboot of the 1986 film '' Critters'', and the fifth entry in the '' Critters'' film franchise. Although returning actress Dee Wallace was assumed to be portraying a new heroine distinct ...

'' where it was called Leroy College and the 2008 film ''

Disgrace ''Disgrace'' is a novel by J. M. Coetzee, published in 1999. It won the Booker Prize. The writer was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature four years after its publication. Plot David Lurie is a white South African professor of English who ...

''. The university was the shooting location of

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

movies ''

The Kissing Booth ''The Kissing Booth'' is a 2018 American teen romantic comedy film written and directed by Vince Marcello, based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Beth Reekles. It stars Joey King, Jacob Elordi, and Joel Courtney. The film follows Elle (Ki ...

'' and ''

The Kissing Booth 2 ''The Kissing Booth 2'' is a 2020 American teen romantic comedy film directed by Vince Marcello and written by Marcello and Jay Arnold. As a direct sequel to the 2018 film ''The Kissing Booth'' and the second installment in the ''Kissing Booth ...

'' and the 2020 Netflix series '' Blood & Water''. The Upper Campus residence served as the grounds and building for the show's fictional Parkhurst College.

Gallery

File:University of Cape Town - panoramio.jpg, Memorial Plaza on Upper Campus viewed from the columns of the Sarah Baartman Hall File:University of Cape Town - panoramio (3).jpg, The Oracle Fountain next to the Department of Mathematics Building; inspired by the I Ching trigrams on the

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...

sun disc File:Fuller Hall, University of Cape Town.jpg, Fuller Hall, a student residence on Upper Campus built in 1928 File:UCT rugby fields.jpg, The rugby fields that separate the Upper Campus and Middle Campus File:Cape Town M3 passing UCT.jpg, The M3 highway that separates the Upper Campus and Middle Campus; a tunnel beneath the highway connects the two campuses. File:UCT Middle Campus - The Japonica Walk 02.JPG, The Japonica Walk, a footpath connecting the Upper, Middle and Lower Campuses; it is lined with various flora, including japonica flowers and oak trees. File:Devil's Peak seen up Japonica Walk.jpg, The Japonica Walk, looking towards the Summer House Pavilion File:The Summer House, UCT Middle Campus.jpg, The Summer House Pavilion, built c. 1760, is one of the oldest buildings in South Africa. File:Woolsack.jpg, The Woolsack Building; it was a refuge for writers and artists, and also where

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

spent his summers between 1900 and 1908. File:UCT_Jammie_steps.jpg, The famous steps on Upper Campus leading up to the Sarah Baartman Hall, nicknamed the "Jammie steps" File:Kaapstad27.JPG, The Jagger Library, housing rare books and special collections File:Kaapstad33.JPG, View from the Chancellor Oppenheimer Library File:FitzPatrick Institute 1.jpg, Entrance to the FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology File:Mowbray 3 Avenue Road.JPG, Student Housing and Residence Life Building File:Breakwater Prison.jpg, The

, which houses the

File:UCT Leslie Social Science classroom.JPG, A lecture theatre in the Leslie Social Science Building (Faculty of Humanities)

References

External links

*
Statute of the University of Cape Town
Government Notice No. 1199, 20 September 2002.
Southern African University

UCT OpenContent - Open Educational Resource website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cape Town, University of 1829 establishments in the Cape Colony 2021 fires in Africa

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

Educational institutions established in 1829 Institutes associated with CERN Public universities in South Africa Rondebosch Universities in the Western Cape

History

Early history

Apartheid era

Post-Apartheid era

Campus

Residential halls

Organisation

Administration and governance

Academic divisions

Funding

Students and staff

Student enrolment 2009-2013

Student life

Rankings

Affiliations

Notable alumni and staff

Notable research

Controversies

Destruction and censorship of art

Popular culture

Gallery

See also

References

External links