University of the Witwatersrand
The history of the University of the Witwatersrand, one of South Africa’s premier tertiary academic institutions, dates back to 1896 when the South African School of Mines was established in Kimberly. In 1904, the school was transferred to Johannesburg and became the Transvaal Technical Institute. It was officially recognised as a university in 1922 and construction began at Milner Park on a site donated to the university by the Johannesburg Municipality.
At that stage the university had six faculties and little more than 1 000 students. By the late 1980s student numbers had increased to about 16 500 tertiary learners, and the site had grown to include additional property in adjacent areas.
In the 1960s, the university acquired Sterkfontein, which has world-famous limestone caves, rich in archaeological material, and has subsequently been declared a World Heritage Site.
University of the Witwatersrand. Photo courtesy Gauteng Tourism Authority
In 1968 the neighbouring farm, Swartkrans, was purchased. In the same year, the university acquired excavation rights in caves of archaeological and palaeontological importance at Makapansgat in the area now known as the Limpopo province.
Since 2000, Wits has been implementing expansion and modernisation plans across different areas of the campus. Today the university spans five campuses that are all relatively close to each other. The Braamfontein campus is divided by the M1 (De Villiers-Graaff Highway) and Yale Road into the East and West campuses, linked now by an impressive walkway, the Amic Deck. The East Campus is home to the faculties of science and humanities, as well as the University Senate and administration. The commerce, engineering and law faculties are situated on the West Campus.
There are three academic campuses in the suburb of Parktown: the medical school and the management campus, with the Wits Business School. In 2004, the Johannesburg College of Education was merged with the university under the national department of education to form the Wits Education Campus, a school of the humanities faculty. There are numerous residences on the campuses and in surrounding suburbs such as Braamfontein and Hillbrow.
The university draws students from around South Africa and the world to pursue their studies at this world-class institution. The Origins Centre is a museum on the East Campus that houses an extensive collection of rock art from the Wits Art Research Institute, and is worth a visit as you can see the earliest images set down by man. The Johannesburg Planetarium is also situated on the East Campus.