The University of Venda (Univen; ve, Yunivesithi ya Venḓa, af, Universiteit van Venda) is a South African comprehensive rural-based institution, located in

Thohoyandou Thohoyandou ( ve, Ṱhohoyanḓou) is a town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Vhembe District Municipality and Thulamela Local Municipality. It is also known for being the former capital of the bantustan ...

Limpopo province Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while th ...

. It was established in 1982 under the then Republic of Venda government.

History

The university was established in 1982 to serve the inhabitants of the

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...

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 ...

; however, the student body at Univen never consisted of Venda students only as students from all over the

Northern Transvaal Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

attended the institution. After the end of

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 ...

and the re-integration of the bantustans into South Africa, Univen student body were drawn from all over South Africa. With the South African government's programme of

tertiary education Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

reform in the new millennium, Univen became a "

comprehensive university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

", offering both theoretically oriented and practically oriented courses.

Campus

The University of Venda has one main Campus in

. The Campus houses all eight schools of the institution namely *The School of Agriculture, *The School of Education, *The School of Environmental Science, *The School of Health Sciences, *The School of Human and Social Sciences, *The School of Management Sciences, *The School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences, *The School of Law. The campus also houses the Art Gallery, which has a display of carvings, paintings and clay pots made by both students and the local community members. Furthermore, the campus has a full-time Sport Center that is used for indoor sports as well as other recreational activities such as drama and dance. The main campus houses 11 of the twelve official residences, namely Bernard Ncube, Carousel, F3, F4, F5, Lost City Boys, Lost City Girls, Mango Groove, Riverside , New Male res, New female res and prefab.

Student Representative Assembly

The representative student body of the University of Venda is made up an 84-member

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

styled structure. It is led by a 14-member cabinet also known as the SRC executive. The assembly can be further divided into three: the first sub-division is the cabinet that is led by the president, then the deputy president, the secretary-general, the deputy secretary general, there are nine ministerial portfolios as follows; Ministry of Campus and off Campus Housing, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance, Bursaries and Projects, Ministry of Gender and people with Disabilities, Ministry of Health, Safety and Security, Ministry of Information, External Affairs and International Relations, Ministry of Legal, Policies, and Constitutional Affairs, Ministry of Religion, Culture, Arts and Heritage, Ministry of Sports and Recreation, and with the equivalence of a ministry there is the Chairperson of the Post Graduate Council. The second sub-division of the SRC is the Structures. These are made up of four-person executives of the Disabled Student Council (DSC), the Housing Representative Council (HRC), the Sports, Recreation and Cultural Committee (SRCC) and the School Councils from all eight schools of the University. The third sub-division is the parliament, which is composed of committees under each ministerial position. Each member of the SRC is forwarded to parliament by a student formation they belong to except the third sub-division of the Student Representative Council who campaign independently. The

Speaker of Parliament The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...

is voted in on the first sitting of Parliament by the house. The student parliament sits four times a year, once each quarter of the year. The Univen SRC is composed of members from different formations, the recognized student formations on campus are:

AZAPO The Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) is a South African liberation movement and political party. The organisation's two student wings are the Azanian Students' Movement (AZASM) for high school learners and the other being for university leve ...

Student Convention (AZASCO), Democratic Alliance Student Organization (DASO),

Economic Freedom Fighters The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is a South African left-wing to far-left pan-Africanist and Marxist–Leninist political party. It was founded by expelled former African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) President Julius Malema, and hi ...

Student Command (EFFSC),

Pan-Africanist Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous and diaspora peoples of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement exte ...

Student Movement of Azania (PASMA),

South African Student 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 Student Christian Organization (SCO) and the newly formed ABSC (ABANTU BATHO STUDENT CONGRESS). Each organization contests in the general elections to deploy members to the SRC, the term of office is one year, and the period begins after annual elections that are held during late September or early October. The ruling party for 2022-2023 is the Economic Freedom Fighters Students Command (EFFSC) univen branch, of which Gudani Lyoid Tshamano is the elected president.

Ranking

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venda, University of Universities in Limpopo Public universities in South Africa Thohoyandou Educational institutions established in 1982 Forestry education Forestry in South Africa 1982 establishments in South Africa