The University of Port Elizabeth (UPE) was a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in owned by the state or receives significant public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private university. Whether a national universit ...

located in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

province of South Africa. UPE was founded on 31 January 1964, by an act of parliament, and held its first academic year in 1965. It offered bachelor's degrees, as well as masters and doctoral degrees. The university closed down in 2004, with its campuses forming part of the

Nelson Mandela 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 ...

, which opened in 2005.

History

The university was founded as a dual medium institution, offering courses in both English and

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, catering for white students. Prior to UPE being established,

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, ...

offered courses in Port Elizabeth. The governing National Party, wanted a new university, as it attempted to limit the influence of Rhodes, which was seen as too liberal. From 1994 until 2004 the Chaplain of the university was Diana Nkesiga, a female, Anglican priest who had been ordained in Uganda. In 2001, the University of Port Elizabeth gained control of Dower College of Education. This was in line with a plan for education colleges to become divisions of universities and technikons. As part of the government's plan for higher education,

Vista University Vista University, South Africa was established in 1981 by the apartheid government to ensure that urban black South Africans seeking tertiary education would be accommodated within the townships rather than on campuses reserved for other populatio ...

's Port Elizabeth campus was merged into UPE in 2004. In 2003, the merger proposal for

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 ...

(NMMU) was announced. UPE effectively shut down after the 2004 academic year, and was merged with

Port Elizabeth Technikon 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 ...

on 1 January 2005.

Campus

The initial campus of the university was located in Bird Street, in Central,

, which had previously been used by

. In January 1974, the university moved to a newly built campus on in

Summerstrand Summerstrand is a seaside suburb of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is located south-east of the Port Elizabeth city centre. It is primarily a residential suburb along with shopping and business facilities. It is also home to three Nelson Mandel ...

. The Bird Street campus was sold off during the 1990s. The Dower campus would later become part of

Bethelsdorp Technical College Bethelsdorp is a town in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, 20 km north-west of Port Elizabeth. History Established in 1803 by Rev. Johannes van der Kemp, J.T. van der Kemp on the farm ...

, which was ultimately merged into

Port Elizabeth College A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

in 2002. The Vista campus was gained through the merger with

's Port Elizabeth campus. Following the NMMU merger, the main UPE campus became the South Campus of the new university. Vista campus became Missionvale campus, after initially being named Uitenhage Road campus. The Bird Street campus was reacquired, and became the Business School. The University of Port Elizabeth campus was the largest university campus in the Southern Hemisphere.

Faculties

UPE operated six faculties. These were, the faculties of arts, education, economic sciences, science, law and health sciences.

Sport

UPE offered many sports, including football, rugby and cricket. The main campus housed the University of Port Elizabeth Stadium, which was equipped with an all weather running track and flood lights. The university also ran a professional football club, FCK-UPE, in collaboration with

F.C. Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

References

{{Coord, -34.008416, 25.670586, type:landmark, display=inline,title Universities in the Eastern Cape Public universities in South Africa Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in South Africa Defunct universities and colleges in South Africa History of Port Elizabeth