Stellenbosch University (SU), Stellenbosch

With our African roots and global reach, Stellenbosch University (SU) has grown into a true asset to South Africa, our continent and beyond over more than a century. We combine world-class knowledge production and cutting-edge technological innova e production and cutting-edge technological innovation to be a thriving, transformative and systemically sustainable university. Our relevant, impactful research makes us ever more agile and responsive to the needs of society, enabling us to confront the complex challenges of our country, region and the globe. Future-fit, inclusive and collaborative, we are moving forward, together. ​ Stellenbosch University (SU) (Afrikaans: Universiteit Stellenbosch, Xhosa: iYunivesithi yaseStellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Saharan Africa, which received full university status in 1918. Stellenbosch University designed and manufactured Africa's first microsatellite, SUNSAT, launched in 1999. Stellenbosch is organised in 139 departments across 10 faculties offering bachelor's (NQF 7) to doctoral degrees (NQF 10) in the English and Afrikaans language. Across five campuses in the Western Cape, the university is home to 32,000 students. The students of Stellenbosch University are nicknamed "Maties". The term probably arises from the Afrikaans word "tamatie" (meaning tomato, and referring to the maroon sports uniforms and blazer colour). An alternative theory is that the term comes from the Afrikaans colloquialism maat (meaning "buddy" or "mate"), originally used diminutively ("maatjie") by the students of the University of Cape Town's precursor, the South African College. History The Ou Hoofgebou (Former Main Administration building, now the Law Faculty) on Stellenbosch University campus Stellenbosch University Museum Old emblem, used until 2021, incorporating the coat of arms granted in 1918. The origin of the university can be traced back to the Stellenbosch Gymnasium, which was founded in 1864 and opened on 1 March 1866. The first five students matriculated in 1870, but capacity did not initially exist for any tertiary education. However, in the 1870s, the Cape Colony's first locally elected government took office and prioritised education. In 1873, four of the five 1870 matriculates became the institution's first graduates by attaining the "Second Class Certificate" through distance learning, and the gymnasium's student numbers rose to over a hundred. In 1874, a series of government acts provided for colleges and universities, with generous subsidies and staff. A personal intervention by the Prime Minister in the same year ensured that Stellenbosch qualified, after initially being allocated to be purely a secondary school. Later in 1874, the institution acquired its first Professor and, in the coming few years, its capacity and staff grew rapidly. Its first academic senate was constituted at the beginning of 1876, when several new premises were also acquired. The first MA degree (in Stellenbosch and in South Africa) was completed in 1878, and also in that year, the Gymnasium's first four female students were enrolled. The institution became the Stellenbosch College in 1881, and was located at the current Arts Department. In 1887, this college was renamed Victoria College; when it acquired university status on 2 April 1918 it was renamed once again, to Stellenbosch University. Initially only one university was planned for the Cape but after the government was visited by a delegation from the Victoria College, it was decided to allow the college to be a university if it could raise £100,000. Jannie Marais, a wealthy Stellenbosch farmer, bequeathed the money required before his death in 1915. There were certain conditions to his gift which included Dutch/Afrikaans having equal status to English and that the lecturers teach at least half their lectures in Dutch/Afrikaans. By 1930, very little, if any, instruction was delivered in English. In December 2014, specialists at the university performed the first successful penis transplantation on a 21-year-old man. Stellenbosch University was the first African university to sign the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. ...view more