Historical Milestones - University of the Western Cape 1959–2023

1959: UWC is established as the University College of the Western Cape, a constituent college of UNISA.

1960: UWC opens its doors to its first cohort of 166 students.

1970: The university gains independent status and begins awarding its own degrees and diplomas.

1975: Professor Richard van der Ross is appointed as UWC’s first black Rector.

1978: UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserve is declared a National Monument (now known as a provincial heritage site).

1987: Professor Jakes Gerwel is appointed Rector and Vice-Chancellor.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is inaugurated as UWC Chancellor, a role he would fulfil for 25 years.

1990: UWC is the first university to award Nelson Mandela an honorary doctorate after his release from prison.

1993: UWC students help launch Bush Radio as a pirate radio station. It was the first community radio station to be licensed in democratic South Africa.

1994: Prof Gerwel is appointed as Director-General in the Office of the Presidency by President Nelson Mandela.

The South African interim Constitution and final Constitution are drafted at UWC.

1995: Prof Cecil Abrahams succeeds Jakes Gerwel as Vice-Chancellor.

UWC launches its website – joining the internet age before other universities in the Mother City.

UWC launches the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) to engage in research, training, policy development and advocacy in relation to land reform, rural governance and natural resource management.

2001: Prof Brian O’Connell is appointed UWC Vice-Chancellor.

2002: UWC averts government attempts to merge it with Peninsula Technikon and retains its autonomy.

UWC hosts the only Dentistry Faculty in the Western Cape after merging with Stellenbosch University’s School of Oral Health.

2003: In a major boost to research capacity in biotechnology, UWC acquires the first protein X-ray crystallography facility in South Africa.

2005: The UWC Statute is published in the Government Gazette.

2008: The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship is introduced to UWC, promoting an international postgraduate education experience. The first cohort of Fellows is accepted in 2009.

2009: UWC academic and writer Meg Vandermerwe initiates UWC Creates, the only South African creative writing programme operating across English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

2010: Ten SARChI chairs are awarded to UWC, the highest number awarded to any university in SA that year (UWC hosts 18 SARChI Chairs).

2012: UWC launches its Technology Transfer Office to promote the development and protection of the intellectual property of its research community, staff and students.

UWC is declared Africa’s Greenest Campus in the inaugural African Green Campus Initiative Challenge.

2014: UWC student enrolment exceeds 20 000.

2015: Prof Tyrone Pretorius succeeds Prof O’Connell as Vice-Chancellor. Prof Pretorius is the third alumnus (after O’Connell and Gerwel) to take the reins.

2016: UWC’s Centre for Humanities Research is awarded the Flagship on Critical Thought in African Humanities by the NRF.

UWC is ranked first for Physical Science in Africa in the 2016 Nature Index.

2017: A group of UWC students, led by Prof Nico Orce, conduct the second major African-led experiment at the CERN laboratory in Switzerland.

Former UWC Vice-Chancellor, Prof Brian O’Connell, receives the National Research Foundation’s highest honour, the NRF Lifetime Achievement Award.

2018: The UWC Science Learning Centre for Africa (UWC SLCA) installs nine new science learning centres (SLCs) at Western Cape public schools, bringing the total SLCs installed in the Western and Eastern Cape to 71.

UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry launches a state-of-the-art video conferencing system that allows students on or off-campus to observe live surgeries – a first in South Africa.

2019: UWC Rugby makes its debut in the Varsity Cup, the premier national university rugby competition.

2020: UWC celebrates its 60th anniversary

UWC’s South African National Bioinformatics Institute and researchers from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases sequence the first SARS-COV-2 genome (COVID-19) in South Africa

2022: Prof Russell Kaschula is appointed Research Chair in Forensic Linguistics and Multilingualism – a first in Africa.

The UWC Main Hall is renamed the Jakes Gerwel Hall to honour the iconic leader.

UWC launches the first football league for young girls called She-Bobo.

2023: The new Education Precinct is opened at UWC.

UWC opens its Unibell Residence. The 2 720-bed residence brings the total number of UWC students that can be accommodated in UWC-owned residences to 5 800.

UWC is crowned as 2023 Women’s Varsity Football champions