University of Pretoria

The University of Pretoria (Afrikaans: Universiteit van Pretoria; Northern Sotho: Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of the Johannesburg-based Transvaal University College and is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. The university has grown from the original 32 students in a single late Victorian house to approximately 53,000 in 2019. The university was built on seven suburban campuses on 1,190 hectares (2,900 acres).

The university is organised into nine faculties and a business school. Established in 1920, the University of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science is the second oldest veterinary school in Africa and the only veterinary school in South Africa. In 1949, the university launched the first MBA programme outside North America, and the university's Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) has consistently been ranked the top business school in Africa for executive education, as well as being placed in the top 50 in the world. In 2012, the Financial Times ranked the GIBS Executive MBA 1st in Africa and 60th in the world.

Since 1997, the university has produced more research outputs every year than any other institution of higher learning in South Africa, as measured by the Department of Education's accreditation benchmark. In 2008, the university awarded 15.8% of all masters and doctorate degrees in South Africa, the highest percentage in the country. The DHET report, released in March 2019, shows that UP achieved the highest percentage (10,93%) of the total research output units of all South African universities for 2017. Fifty-three UP researchers are in the top 1% according to the Web of Science Index of 2019.

The university is commonly referred to as UP, Tuks, or Tukkies and in post-nominals the university is typically abbreviated as Pret or UP, although Pretoria is also used in official publications.

History

Foundational years: 1889–1929

The proposal for a university for the capital, first mooted in the Volksraad in 1889, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Anglo–Boer War in 1899. In 1896, the South African School of Mines was founded in Kimberley. Eight years later, in 1904, the school was moved to Johannesburg and was renamed the Transvaal Technical Institute. The school's name changed yet again in 1906 to Transvaal University College. In 1902, after the signing of the Peace of Vereeniging, the Normal College for teacher training was established in Groenkloof, Pretoria. On 4 March 1908, when the Transvaal University College (TUC) transferred its arts and science courses to its newly established Pretoria campus, the precursor to the university was established, initially offering courses in languages, sciences, and law.

Instruction commenced with 32 students, 4 professors and 3 lecturers in the Kya Rosa, 270 Skinner Street a late Victorian residence purchased from Leo Weinthal the then owner of The Press (forerunner to the Pretoria News newspaper). The first four professors were H. Th. Reinink (Dutch), J. Purves (Scottish), D.F. du Toit Malherbe (South African) and A.C. Paterson (Scottish), who would also become the first vice-chancellor.

In 1910, the colonial secretary, General Jan Smuts tabled the act constituting the university as a separate entity before the Transvaal Parliament, the "Transvaalse and Universiteits-Inlijvingswet" Law 1 of 1910. On 17 May 1910, the Johannesburg and Pretoria campuses separated, each becoming an independent institution. The Johannesburg campus being reincorporated as the South African School of Mines and Technology, while the Pretoria campus retained the name of Transvaal University College until 1930. The South African School of Mines and Technology would later go on to become the University of the Witwatersrand in 1922. In 1910, the TUC acquired its own campus in the east of Pretoria, what is now the western part of the university's main campus in Hatfield. On 3 August 1910, Governor-General Herbert John Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone laid the cornerstone of the Old Arts Building, the first building to be built on the newly established Hatfield campus. The building's striking Cape Dutch and Neo-Romanesque architectural style was recognised in 1968 when it was declared a provincial heritage site. During this time the colloquial name for the university, Tukkies or Tuks, was derived from the Afrikaans acronym for the college, i.e. Transvaalse Universiteitskollege (TUK).

Administration and organisation

Governance

As set out in the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997 Archived 21 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine, the university is governed by the council with the vice-chancellor and principal, Professor Francis Petersen, the executive head responsible for the day-to-day administration, and the chancellor, Justice Sisi Khampempe, being the non-resident titular head of the university. The registrar is responsible for the academic administration of the university, as well as legal matters, and is secretary to the University Council and Senate.

The university's academic activities are divided into nine faculties and one business school. Whilst the faculties comprise 140 departments and 85 institutes, bureaus and centres.

Main campus

Hatfield

The university's main campus and central administration offices are situated in the suburb of Hatfield, Pretoria and houses six of the nine faculties. The campus, bordered by the suburb of Brooklyn to the south and Hatfield to the north, was built over 24 hectares (59 acres) and has more than 60 buildings of historical value.

Adjacent to the Hatfield campus is the Hillcrest campus, which contains the High Performance Centre and LC de Villiers Sports Grounds, which were developed on 76 hectares (190 acres). Adjacent to the sport grounds is the university's experimental farm, which is used to conduct field experiments for the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. The campus is served by the Hatfield Gautrain station connecting Pretoria and Johannesburg. A university bus shuttle service operates between the Hatfield campus and the Groenkloof and Prinshof campuses, whilst a park-and-ride shuttle service operates between the Hatfield and Hillcrest campus.

Museums

The university's art collection consists primarily of paintings, sculptures and graphic works by South African artists including the likes of Jacobus Hendrik Pierneef, Gregoire Boonzaier, William Kentridge and Sam Nhlengethwa. The collection also incorporates artworks by renowned international artists such as Max Pechstein, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Liebermann, George Grosz, Otto Mueller, Thomas Benton and Marc Chagall. The university's sculpture collection, the largest such collection in South Africa, contains sculptures by Sidney Kumalo, Maureen Quinn, Michael Teffo, Anton Smit, Anton van Wouw, Edoardo Villa and others.

The Old Arts Building was proclaimed a provincial heritage site in 1968 and houses the Van Tilburg Collection, Van Gybland-Oosterhoff Collection and Mapungubwe Collection. The university is the custodian of the collection of artefacts found at the Mapungubwe National Park and World Heritage Site and such display these artefacts in the Javett Art Centre. Gold ornaments, ivory, bone, ceramic-ware, clay figurines, trade beads, iron and copper artefacts are on permanent public display. The Van Gybland-Oosterhoff Collection is a ceramic collection, donated by Dr Horace Hugo Alexander van Gybland Oosterhoff and accepted by the university on 14 March 1939, is the largest collection of objects, publications, memorabilia and photographs of historical interest, relating to Dutch culture outside the Netherlands.

The Old Merensky Library houses the Edoardo Villa Museum, the home of the largest collection of sculptures by the Italian artist Edoardo Villa and one South Africa's most renowned sculptors, as well as sculptures by Anton van Wouw and the largest work by the artist Alexis Preller (3m x 13m) titled The Discovery.

Other campuses

Onderstepoort, Pretoria

The possibility of training veterinarians in South Africa was frequently raised after the first Colonial Veterinary Surgeon in South Africa was appointed in approximately 1874, but it was not until 1920 that the Swiss-born veterinarian, Sir Arnold Theiler, was appointed as Director of Veterinary Education and Research at Onderstepoort under the supervision of the then Transvaal University College. New facilities were inaugurated at the end of 1921 and the first residence was opened in 1924. The first eight South African trained veterinarians qualified in 1924.

The Faculty of Veterinary Sciences was developed on the 65 hectares (160 acres) Onderstepoort campus, with buildings covering a total of 55,000 square metres (590,000 sq ft) 30 kilometres (19 mi) north-west of the Hatfield campus and 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of the Pretoria city center. The Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital provides clinical services rendered with full student participation as part of the primary teaching mission of the Faculty of Veterinary Science. It is the only faculty in South Africa educating veterinarians and veterinary nurses.

Groenkloof, Pretoria

During the Conference of Teachers in Town and Refugee Camp Schools of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony of 1–10 July 1902, a resolution was passed to establish "Normal Schools" for the education of teachers in Johannesburg and Pretoria. The Pretoria Normal School, was first established in a house in 126 Rissik Street. In 1903 the Johannesburg Normal School's 40 students were transferred to Pretoria when it was closed and the Pretoria and Johannesburg institutions were merged to form the Transvaal Normal College. When the Transvaal University College was established in 1908 the first students include students from the Transvaal Normal College. In 1909 the school was renamed the Pretoria Normal College when new teacher training facilities were established in Heidelberg and Johannesburg. In 1954 the school was again renamed to the Onderwyskollege van Pretoria (English: Teachers College Pretoria). In 1974 the University of Pretoria took over the sole responsibility for training secondary teacher from the Teachers College Pretoria.

Although the Teachers College Pretoria purchased new college grounds in Groenkloof during 1975, the college only occupied the new grounds in 1988 and was inaugurated in 1989. The Johannesburg Goudstadse Onderwyskollege, 'Gold-city Teachers College', Transvaal College of Education, Laudium and the Transvaal Education College Soshanguve amalgamated and moved their operations to the Teachers College Pretoria in 1993 and the latter two in 1998 respectively. In 2000 the Teachers Training College Pretoria was incorporated into the university's Faculty of Education, which saw the faculty moving from the main Hatfield campus to the self-sufficient Groenkloof campus.

Academics

Library system

In 1933, the university decided that the library collection necessitated the building of a new library building, the collection which at that time was kept in the Old Arts building. The library was designed by the South African architect Gerard Moerdijk, following a donation of £10,000 (£592,201 as of 2023) from mining geologist Hans Merensky and construction started in 1937. Drawing from his inspiration from Persia and Africa, the design of the building incorporates several architectural styles including Art Deco, Neo-Classicism, Arts and Crafts, Cape Dutch and Regency. The Old Merensky Library was proclaimed a provincial heritage site in 1991.

Despite expansions to the Old Merensky Library in 1957, the library subsequently became insufficient to meet the growing needs of the institution and in 1975 the Merensky Library II was completed, currently housing 7 of 9 the faculty libraries. Besides the main Merensky Library complex, the university library system also includes the separately administered Jotello F Soga Library (Veterinary Science), Oliver R Tambo Law Library, Education Library, Mamelodi Library, Dentistry Library and Health Sciences Library.

The Oliver R Tambo Law Library houses the Faculty of Law's collection of legal materials and the Law of Africa collection in the library is the single most comprehensive and current collection of primary legal materials of African countries.

In 1974 the Jotello F Soga Library of the Faculty of Veterinary Science at the Onderstepoort campus was established and is named in honour of the first South African to qualify as a veterinary surgeon, Dr Jotello Festiri Soga.

In 2006 the university established UPSpace, its own open access digital research repository. and the university's library has since become one of 27 partners in the World Digital Library project.

Archives

In 1978 the first task group responsible for the investigation in creating an archive system for the University of Pretoria was chaired by Prof. Adriaan Nicolaas Petrus Pelzer (Vice-rector). Due to the death of Prof. Pelzer in 1981 the project stalled, but by 1994 the need for a central archive system was again recognised by the acting Registrar, Prof. C.R. de Beer. The archives were finally established by 13 September 1994 by the Management of the university and this date is considered as the founding date of the archives of the University of Pretoria.

Research

The university's achievements and performance in research locally and internationally, including its collaboration and cooperation with the private sector, industry, science councils, foundations and NGOs, the large number of graduates that it produces (particularly doctoral and other postgraduate students) as well as scientists and engineers and its focus on innovation, contribute directly towards enhancing the South Africa's competitiveness. A 2010 report by Centre for Higher Education Transformation identified the university as a top research-intensive university in South Africa. The university is member of the CDIO Initiative, an international engineering education collaboration.

Student life

Residential life

Residence is provided to students in 24 undergraduate and postgraduate residences and 3 postgraduate-only residences spread over the university's campuses. The first students of the Transvaal University College resided in the Kya Rosa, a Victorian house in Skinner Street. In 1915, the first male residence, Kollegetehuis, was constructed on the Hatfield campus and the first female residence, Asterhof, in 1925. Students not living in a university residence can join one of four Day Houses ( Docendo, Dregeana, Luminous, and Vividus Ladies) which gives them the opportunity to partake in organised student life activities.

Student organisations

More than 100 student clubs and organisations operate on the university campus. These include numerous student government, service providers, and service organisations. The most prominent amongst these are the Student Parliament, Student Representative Council, and Constitutional Tribunal (Student Court). The Student Parliament is the plenary body of student governance and determines the wider mandate for student governance. The Student Representative Council (SRC) is the executive body of student governance and subsequently charters and provides most of the funding for other student groups, and represents students' interests when dealing with the administration. The SRC is the residential student government, specialising in programming, policy, and facilities and services. Societies are registered in the following categories as catering for religious, political, social, cultural, academic and other. The Constitutional Tribunal is the judicial body of student governance and adjudicates disputes primarily between student organisations. Its judges sit on the panel of student disciplinary hearings. The various service providers are the university's primary programming organisations, serving as a centre of social, cultural, intellectual and recreational life.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)