Institutions

University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)

Johannesburg, Gauteng

The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) traces its origins to the South African School of Mines, established in Kimberley in 1896, which relocated to Johannesburg and evolved through several names before being proclaimed a full university on 1 March 1922. It is one of South Africa’s oldest and most research-intensive universities and a member of the international Worldwide Universities Network.

University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN)

Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

The University of KwaZulu-Natal was formed on 1 January 2004 through the merger of the University of Natal (founded 1910 as Natal University College) and the University of Durban-Westville (established in the 1960s, granted university status in 1971). It is a large public research university with roughly 46,000-47,000 students.

Varsity College (The IIE)

Now: Emeris

Johannesburg, Gauteng

Varsity College was established in 1991 as a private higher education brand and grew to operate 8 campuses across South Africa (including Cape Town, Durban North, Durban Westville, Pretoria, Waterfall-Midrand, Sandton, Pietermaritzburg and Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth). It operated as an educational brand of The Independent Institute of Education (Pty) Ltd (The IIE), which is registered with South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) as a private higher education institution under the Higher Education Act, 1997 (registration number 2007/HE07/002; company registration 1987/004754/07).

University of Pretoria

Pretoria, Gauteng

The University of Pretoria (UP) traces its origins to 1908, when the Pretoria campus of the Transvaal University College opened with 32 students in a house called Kya Rosa; it became a fully independent university in 1930. UP has grown into one of South Africa’s largest research universities, with over 56,000 total students (around 53,000 contact and 3,000 distance students), roughly 36,000 undergraduates and 12,500 postgraduates.