University of Cape Town

The Ranking of University of Cape Town

www.uct.ac.za

The University of Cape Town (UCT) is South Africa's oldest university and the top university in all of Africa. Set on the slopes of Devil's Peak Mountain, the university has a renowned English Literature and Creative Writing department which educated Nobel prize winner, J.M. Coetzee himself. According to the University’s website, their English department focuses on teaching the canon of English literature, but not exclusively. They also explore post-colonial literature and theory as well as South African literature written in English. In addition, classes explore the significance of the English language in South Africa in light of apartheid. Interestingly, Roger Ebert, the world-famous film critic and Pulitzer Prize winner, received his graduate education from the University of Cape Town.

History

The roots of UCT lie in the establishment of the South African College, a boys' school, in 1829. In 1874 the tertiary education part split off into the University and the younger students into the South African College Schools.

UCT moved to the Groote Schuur Estate campus in 1928. During the apartheid era, roughly 1960-1990, UCT consistently opposed apartheid, and was a bastion of liberalism and racial integration. 1987 particularly saw frequent clashes between protesting students and police, with reporting of police presence on the campus being censored by the government. On 24 April 1987 the police entered the campus and this marked the first time since 1972 that South Africa's police services had suppressed a demonstration at a white university.[8] The official student newspaper, Varsity, frequently had its journalists and editors come under scrutiny from the ruling apartheid National Party government.

The UCT crest was designed in 1859 by Charles Davidson Bell, Surveyor-General of the Cape Colony at the time. Bell was an accomplished artist who also designed medals and the triangular Cape stamp.

Campus

The main teaching campus, known as the Upper Campus, is located on the slopes of Devil's Peak. This campus contains, in a relatively compact site, the faculties of Science, Engineering, Commerce, and most of the faculty of Humanities, as well as the residences Smuts Hall and Fuller Hall. Upper Campus is centered on Jameson Hall, the location for graduation and other ceremonial events, as well as many examinations. The original buildings and layout of Upper Campus were designed by JM Solomon and built between 1928 and 1930. Since that time, many more buildings have been added as the university has grown.

Contiguous with Upper Campus, but separated from it by university sports fields and the M3 freeway, are the Middle and Lower Campuses. These campuses, which are distributed through the suburbs of Rondebosch, Rosebank and Mowbray, contain the Law faculty, the South African College of Music, most of the student residences, most of the university administrative offices, and various sporting facilities. The state of the art artificial grass Soccer field has been approved by FIFA for training for world cup teams. The Upper, Middle and Lower Campuses together are often referred to as the "main campus" or the "Rondebosch Campus".

The Faculty of Health Sciences is located on the Medical School campus at the Groote Schuur Hospital. The Fine Arts and Drama departments are located on the Hiddingh Campus in central Cape Town. The UCT Graduate School of Business is located on the Breakwater Campus at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.

Library

The University of Cape Town Libraries, comprising a main library and nine branch libraries, house a rich and diverse array of research materials and undergraduate resources.

The Libraries' print collections contain more than 1,1 million volumes, and include over 27 000 journal titles (of which 6 094 are current), while over 30 000 electronic journals and 175 electronic research databases are available to UCT scholars via the website.

Academic Reputation

The University of Cape Town is the highest ranking African university in both the THES - QS World University Rankings and the Academic Ranking of World Universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It is the only African university to make it into the top 200 of the THES-QS ranking.

Research

Since 2003 UCT has maintained its position as the highest ranked South African and African university in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) conducted annually by the Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. In 2007 UCT was the only African university to make it into the top 200 of the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) World University Rankings conducted each year by the London-based newspaper The Times Higher Education Supplement and study-abroad specialists Quacquarelli Symonds. UCT is one of only four universities from the developing world in the list of top 200 universities.

The university continually strives to improve its global competitiveness whilst remaining locally relevant and engaged. To give substance to this aspiration and consolidate its standing as a research-intensive university, a number of structures or "instruments" have been established to promote collaborative interdisciplinary research. These instruments in no way detract from the academic freedom to practice curiosity-driven research across the full spectrum of disciplines. However, in line with international good practice, the value of interdisciplinary, multi-faceted collaboration is recognized as being instrumental to increasing global competitiveness; giving expression to our leadership role in Africa; effectively addressing the increasing complexity of research questions; leveraging more and better funding; increasing the mobility of researchers and creating exchange opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students. Moreover, the impact of research that results from meaningfully focused agendas demonstrates high responsive engagement with society. At UCT, the four instruments for driving such collaboration are National Centres of Excellence, National Research Chairs, Institutional "signature themes" and Peer-accredited Research Groupings.

Faculties

UCT is divided into six faculties, each led by a Dean. The faculties and deans are as follows:
Faculty of Commerce: Prof. Melvin Ayogu
Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment: Prof. Francis Peitersen
Faculty of Health Sciences: Prof. Marian Jacobs
Faculty of Humanities: Prof. Paula Ensor
Faculty of Law: Prof. Pamela Jane "PJ" Schwikkard
Faculty of Science: Prof. Kathy Driver

The Centre for Higher Education Development, an academic unit alongside the faculties, rates as a faculty and is led by a dean, Associate Prof. Nan Yeld.

Although the UCT Graduate School of Business is considered to be part of the Faculty of Commerce , it is run independently and has its own Dean and Director, Prof. Frank M Horwitz.

University of Cape Town (UCT) was ranked 179th in the 2008 THES-QS World University Ranking.