UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN
Education in Cape Town

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is South Africa's oldest university, and is one of Africa's leading teaching and research institutions. The University of Cape Town was founded in 1829 as the South African College, a high school for boys. 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. 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. UCT was formally established as a university in 1918, on the basis of the Alfred Beit bequest and additional substantial gifts from mining magnates Julius Wernher 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. Apart from establishing itself as a leading research and teaching university in the decades that followed, UCT earned itself this nickname 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. Today, against the backdrop of a rapidly changing and diversifying democratic society, UCT is implementing an action guide on transformation looking at issues such as staff diversity, student equity and access, the curriculum, leadership and governance, and attitudes and behaviour. The university views transformation as a multifaceted and integrated process by which it continuously renews itself in an ongoing effort to represent in all aspects of its life and functions the vision and ideals of its mission and values. In this effort, UCT strives to redress past injustices, promote equal opportunity for all, reflect in the profile of its students and staff the demographics of South Africa, safeguard human rights and ensure that its system of governance, its teaching and learning, and its research and service uphold the inherent dignity of all and meet the development needs of South Africa's emerging democracy. For further information on UCT's transformation process view the transformation pages. UCT's success can be can be measured by the scope of study it offers and the calibre of its graduates. UCT continues to work towards its goal to be Africa's leading research university.