South Africa

Partners situated in South Africa

None. On the Advisory Committe we have Herman van der Merwe.

South Africa in a nutshell

(adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Africa)

The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. South Africa's coast borders both the Atlantic and Indian oceans. To the north of South Africa lie Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland, while the Kingdom of Lesotho is an independent enclave surrounded by South African territory.

South Africa is known for its diversity, and eleven official languages are recognised in its constitution.[6] English is the most commonly spoken language in official and commercial public life, however it is only the fifth most spoken home language.

South Africa is ethnically diverse, with the largest Caucasian, Indian, and racially mixed communities in Africa. Although 79.6% of South Africa's population is Black, this category is neither culturally nor linguistically homogenous, as they speak a number of different Bantu languages, nine of which have official status.

Midyear 2007, South Africa's population was estimated at 47.9 million. This makes it quite large compared with the typical European country.

South Africa education policy

To follow.

South Africa education system

To follow.

Higher education

The Wikipedia List of universities in South Africa is informative at a general level as well as for details.

In 2004 South Africa started reforming its higher education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all higher education institutions "university" (previously there had been several types of higher education institution).

There are also a large number of other educational institutions in South Africa - some are local campuses of foreign universities, some conduct classes for students who write their exams at the distance-education University of South Africa and some offer unaccredited or non-accredited diplomas.

Public universities in South Africa are divided into three types: traditional universities, which offer theoretically-oriented university degrees; universities of technology, which offer practically-oriented diplomas and degrees in technical fields; and comprehensive universities, which offer a combination of both types of qualification.

Universities in South Africa

In this section we discuss the traditional universities and the comprehensive universities only.

Traditional universities

There are 11 of these:

1. University of Cape Town, (Cape Town)
2. University of Fort Hare, (Alice), (East London)
3. University of the Free State, (Bloemfontein)
4. University of KwaZulu-Natal, (Durban, Pietermaritzburg, Pinetown, Westville)
5. University of Limpopo, (Polokwane, Ga-Rankuwa)
6. North-West University, (Mafikeng, Mankwe, Potchefstroom, Vanderbijlpark)
7. University of Pretoria, (Pretoria)
8. Rhodes University, (Grahamstown)
9. University of Stellenbosch, (Stellenbosch)
10. University of the Western Cape, (Cape Town)
11. University of the Witwatersrand, (Johannesburg)

Comprehensive universities

There are 5 of these:

1. University of Johannesburg, (Johannesburg)
2. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, (Port Elizabeth)
3. University of South Africa, (Pretoria - Distance Education)
4. University of Venda, (Thohoyandou)
5. Walter Sisulu University for Technology and Science, (Buffalo City, Butterworth, Mthatha, Queenstown)
6. University of Zululand, (Empangeni)

Polytechnics in South Africa

There are 6 universities of technology

1. Cape Peninsula University of Technology, (Bellville, Cape Town)
2. Central University of Technology, (Bloemfontein, Welkom)
3. Durban University of Technology, (Durban, Pietermaritzburg)
4. Mangosuthu Technikon, (Durban)
5. Tshwane University of Technology (Pretoria)
6. Vaal University of Technology, (Vanderbijlpark)

Other providers

The Wikipedia List of universities in South Africa provides comprehensive listings of the many other providers both domestic and foreign.

Higher education reform

Other reforms

In 2004 South Africa started reforming its higher education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all higher education institutions "university" (previously there had been several types of higher education institution). The country's universities and technikons which were incorporated with others and thus no longer exist are listed at the end of the article List of universities in South Africa.

References

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