The University of 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 39,000 in 2010. The University was built on 7 suburban campuses on 1120ha (2767acre).
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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 of 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 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.
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 Prof 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 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 Universiteits-Kollege (TUK).
The late 1910s and early 1920s saw the establishment of several faculties as the academic activities were expanded. Courses in agriculture (1917), theology (1918), economics and political science (1919), veterinary science (1920), and music (1923) were established as the institution grew.
Establishment and expansion years 1929–1982
A newspaper article celebrating the name change
On 10 October 1930 the University of Pretoria Private Act, No. 13 of 1930 changed the name of the TUC to the University of Pretoria. The TUC originally established as an English medium institution had evolved into the only fully bilingual university in South Africa and remained as such until the early 1930s. The rapid increase of Afrikaans speaking students brought about an imbalance between the demographics of students and the languages of instruction. By 1931, although 65% of students were Afrikaans speaking, 68% of the classes were conducted in English. In 1932 the University Council addressed the imbalance, deciding that Afrikaans would become the only medium of instruction. An increase in student numbers necessitated the building of new facilities such as the Club Hall and Administration Building (colloquially known as the ship) when the 7th faculty, the Medical Faculty, was established in 1943. This period further saw the establishment of numerous student activities such as the annual Spring Day event and intervarsity. Student publications established include the Trek in 1931, the first Rag Mag in 1936 and the weekly student newspaper, Die Perdeby in 1939.The period of 1948–1982 is characterised by the substantial increase in student numbers and physical growth of the university. The nearly doubling of student numbers demanded the physical expansion of the Hatfield campus and new buildings were built in quick succession as the campus grew eastward. In the mid-1960s, the university urgently required additional land and acquired the adjacent property of Christian Brothers' College, Saint Gabriel's.This property now forms the eastern section of the Hatfield campus.
In 1949 the university founded the Graduate School of Management (GSM),
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.
Transformation years: 1982 & beyond
University of Pretoria Faculty of Law building
During the period of 1982 to 2008 the university transformed into a bilingual, multiracial and inclusive institution. The comparatively smooth introduction of students from all races formed the initial impetus for transformation and in 1989 the University was declared officially desegregated and opened for all races. In 1993 a policy document was introduced, aiming to position the university in a newly democratic South Africa. In 1994 the university regained its status as a bilingual university when a new language policy was adopted.
In 1999 the only two veterinary science faculties in the country, those of the University of Pretoria and Medunsa were amalgamated. The university's Onderstepoort campus once again housed the only veterinary faculty in South Africa. In 2000 the Teachers Training College Pretoria, formerly the Normal College Pretoria founded in 1902, was incorporated into the university’s Faculty of Education, which saw the faculty moving to the self-sufficient Groenkloof campus.
The university’s business school in Illovo Johannesburg, the Gordon Institute of Business Science, was established in January 2000 following a substantial contribution by Sir Donald Gordon, the founder of Liberty Life and Liberty International, and a major investment by the University of Pretoria following discussions started in 1998. The now defunct Vista University's Mamelodi campus was incorporated on 2 January 2004, as part of the restructuring of South African tertiary institutions. In 2011 GIBS opened a satellite campus on Pritchard Street in the inner city of Johannesburg. The Business school follows on the university's now defunct Graduate School of Management's long tradition of MBA tuition as the first business school outside of North America and replaced it in January 2008.
Administration and organisation
Governance
Further information: List of Vice-Chancellors and Chancellors of the University of Pretoria
Faculty founding
Faculty Year founded
Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences 1920
Faculty of Education 1902
Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology 1908
Faculty of Health Sciences 1943
Faculty of Humanities 1908
Faculty of Law 1908
Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences 1917
Faculty of Theology 1919
Faculty of Veterinary Science 1920
Gordon Institute of Business Science 2000
As set out in the Higher Education Act No 101 of 1997, the university is governed by the Council with the Vice-Chancellor & Principal the executive head responsible for the day-to-day administration and the Chancellor 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 of 140 departments and 85 institutes, bureaus and centres.
Campus
The Old Arts building now houses several museums
Main Hatfield Campus
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 and has more than 60 buildings of historical value.
Adjacent to the Hatfield campus is the LC de Villiers Sport Grounds & High Performance Centre which were developed on an area of 76 ha. 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 served is by the Hatfield Gautrain station connecting Pretoria and Johannesburg. A university bus shuttle services operates between the Hatfield campus and the Groenkloof and Prinshof campuses, whilst a park and ride shuttle service operates between the Hatfield campus and the LC de Villiers Sport Grounds.
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 Ngethwa. The collection also incorporates artworks by renowned international artists among others such as Max Pechstein, Käthe Kollwitz, Max Lieberman, George Grosz, Otto Mueller, Rembrandt van Rijn, 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 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 Museum. The Van Tilburg Collection is a permanent museum that comprises 17th & 18th century furniture,paintings, Delft ceramics and other works of art, and includes the largest South African collection of Chinese ceramic objects, from the Chin (221-206 B.C.), Han (202 B.C. – A.D. 220), Tang (A.D. 618–906), Song (A.D. 960–1279), Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1912) dynasties.
“ What survives are the almost untouched remains of the palace sites and also the entire settlement area dependent upon them, as well as two earlier capital sites, the whole presenting an unrivalled picture of the development of social and political structures over some 400 years. ”
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 Mapungubwe Museum. 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 of the Netherlands.
The Old Merensky Library houses the Edoardo Villa Museum. The Edoardo Villa Museum currently houses the largest collection of sculptures by the Italian artist Edoardo Villa and one South Africa's most renowned sculptors, who was mentored by Minotti at the Scuola D’Arte Andrea Fontoniby.
The Van Wouw Museum is the largest collection of bronze, marble and plaster sculptures by the famous pioneer South African sculptor, Anton van Wouw (1862–1945). Van Wouw, who is widely regarded as the founder of traditional sculpture in South Africa, created masterful artworks portraying Boer figures and the indigenous peoples of South Africa. Besides documents, photos, paintings and tools the exhibits are mainly bronze maquettes and casts of Van Wouw's sculptural work. The Van Wouw Museum is housed in Anton Van Wouw's last residence, a Dutch national monument.
Other minor art collections include the Christo Coetzee collection which was bequeathed to the university by the artist in 2001 and consists of more than 3000 objects, NPK Ceramics Collection, Hilgard Muller Collection, Mike Edwards Collection, Kruger Collection, Frans Esterhuizen Cartoon Collection, Hansie Visagie Puppet Collection, Friends of the Pretoria Art Association Art Collection, Baldinelli Trust Collection and Mimi Coertse Collection.
The University's Science, Engineering and Technology (SET) Discovery Centre, Sci-Enza, was officially launched in 1977. The Discovery Centre is an umbrella complex where young children, students and adults can explore the world of science, engineering and technology in a "play-as-you-learn" way. Activities at the Centre museum include: a Digital planetarium; Exploratorium; Camera Obscura; Biological science exhibit; Botanical garden; Indigenous technology exhibit
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