Illustrious Witsies and rankings

Wits today

University Rankings 2018/2019

Times Higher Education - 2nd in South Africa

204th globally

Times Higher Education Alma Mater Index - 1st in South Africa

54th globally

Centre for World University Rankings - 2nd in South Africa

230th globally

Academic Ranking of World Universities - 1st in South Africa

201-300 band globally

QS World University Rankings - 2nd in South Africa

382nd globally

University Ranking by Academic Performance - 2nd in South Africa

321st globally

Best Global Universities - 2nd in South Africa

197th globally

Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities (National Taiwan Ranking) - 2nd in South Africa

318th globally

Illustrious Witsies

Wits has produced a vast number of illustrious alumni who have excelled in every field of endeavour. Almost 100 Rhodes Scholars are Wits alumni and four alumni are...

Nobel Prize Laureates

Sydney Brenner (BSc, BSc Hons, honorary DSc) 2002 Nobel Prize in Medicine

Nadine Gordimer (honorary DLitt) 1991 Nobel Prize in Literature

Aaron Klug (BSc, honorary DSc) 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Nelson Mandela

Illustrious Witsies

Humanities:

Benedict Wallet Vilakazi (DLitt 1946): poet, author, educator

Cecil Skotnes (BA 1951, DLitt honoris causa 1996): artist

Johnny Clegg (BA 1976, BA Hons 1977, DMus honoris causa 2007): musician

Kevin Volans (BMus 1972): composer

Mzilikazi Khumalo (PhD 1988, DMus honoris causa): linguist and musician

William Kentridge, artist (BA 1977, DLitt honoris causa 2004)

David Goldblatt, photographer (BCom 1957, DLitt honoris causa 2008)

Pancho Guedes, architect, sculptor and painter (BArch 1953, DArch honoris causa 2003)

Patrick Deane, education leader (BA 1978, BA Hons 1979)

Ruth First, journalist (BA 1946)

Joe Slovo, politician (BA 1948, LLB 1951)

Helen Zille, politician (BA 1974, PDipEd 1974)

Helen Suzman, politician (BCom 1942, LLD honoris causa 1976)

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (BA 2005), social worker and activist

Thabo Makgoba, archbishop (BSc 1989, BA Hons 1991, MEd 1993, PDipEd 1997, LLD honoris causa 2016)

Jack Ginsberg, art collector (BAcc 1979, CTA 1972)

Janet Suzman, actress (BA 1959)

Tony Traill, linguist (BA Hons 1962, PhD 1981)

Elisabeth Eybers, poet (BA Hons 1937, LLD honoris causa 1972)

Natalie Knight, art collector (BA 1975)

Harry Schwarz, politician and ambassador (BA 1947, LLB 1949)

Shirley Eskapa, writer (BA Hons 1967)

Commerce and law:

Wendy Appelbaum, investment executive and philanthropist (BA 1982)

Steven Collis, business executive (BCom 1982, BCom Hons 1983)

Dr Judy Dlamini, doctor, business executive and education leader (MBBCh 1985, MBA 1999)

Des de Beer, business executive (BProc 1983)

Barry Swartzberg, business executive (BSc 1987)

Johnny Copelyn, investment executive (BA 1973)

Sifiso Dabengwa, business executive (MBA 1993)

Arnold Fourie, business executive (MSc Eng Chem 1987)

Jeffrey Wapnick, business executive (BCom 1985)

Sharon Wapnick, lawyer (BA 1984, LLB 1986)

Christopher Seabrooke, investment executive (MBA 1985)

Stephen Koseff, business executive (BCom 1973, CTA 1975, MBA 1984)

John Robertson, business executive (BCom 1971, HDip Tax 1981)

Andrew Teixeira, business executive (BSc QS 1991)

Sean Melnick, business executive (BCom 1990, BCom Hons 1991)

Dalikhaya Rain Zihlangu, business executive (BSc Eng Mining 1989, MBA 2002)

Brian Joffe, business executive (CTA 1972)

Gail Kelly, business executive (MBA 1986)

Gary Barber (BCom 1979, CTA 1980): former CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

George Bizos, human rights lawyer (BA 1951, LLB 1954, LLD honoris causa 1999)

Arthur Chaskalson, former Judge President (BCom 1952, LLB 1954, LLD honoris causa 1990)

Adrian Gore, health insurance business leader (BSc 1985, BSc Hons 1987, DCom honoris causa 2017)

Bridget van Kralingen, business executive (BCom 1985)

Derek Keys, former finance minister (BCom 1951, DSc honoris causa 1995)

Mike Rosholt, business leader and Chancellor (LLD honoris causa 1996)

Graham Mackay, business executive (BSc Eng 1973)

Ivan Glasenberg, business executive (BAcc 1982)

Koos Bekker, business executive (LLB 1978)

Maria Ramos, business executive (BA 1983, PDipEd 1983)

Natie Kirsh, business executive (BCom 1953)

Patrice Motsepe, business executive and philanthropist (LLB 1988, DCom honoris causa 2017)

Mark Weinberg, business executive (BCom 1952, LLB 1954, DSc honoris causa 1990)

Tony Trahar, business executive (BCom 1971, CTA 1973)

Win Bischoff, business executive (BCom 1962)

Garth Saloner, economist (BCom 1976, MBA 1977)

Azhar Cachalia, judge (BA 1981, LLB 1984, HDipTax 1995)

Ismail Mahomed, judge (BA 1954, BA Hons 1954, LLB 1957, LLD honoris causa 1997)

Anthony Gubbay, judge (BA 1953, LLD honoris causa 2005)

Margaret Marshall, US judge (BA 1967, LLD honoris causa 2000)

Mervyn King, judge and corporate governance leader (BA 1958, LLB 1960, BCom 1969, HDipTax 1975, LLD honoris causa 2008)

Bob Hepple, lawyer and academic (BA 1955, LLB 1957, LLD honoris causa 1996)

Richard Goldstone, judge (BA 1960, LLB 1962, LLD honoris causa 1994)

Meyer Feldberg, former Dean of Columbia Business School (BA 1963)

Joel Joffe, lawyer and businessman (BCom 1952, LLB 1955, LLD honoris causa 2001)

Thuli Madonsela, public protector (LLB 1991, LLD honoris causa 2017)

Ann Pettifor, economist (BA 1971)

Carole Lewis, judge (BA 1974, MML 1985)

Leslie Boyd, businessman (BSc Eng 1957)

Mahomed Jajbhay, judge (LM 1997)

Ivan May, philanthropist (MSc 1970, PhD 1974, MBA 1977)

Percy Tucker, entertainment industry entrepreneur (BCom 1950)

Science, engineering, architecture, medicine:

Lewis Wolpert, developmental biologist (BSc Eng 1951)

Phillip Tobias, palaeoanthropologist (BSc 1946, BSc Hons 1947, MBBCh 1950, PhD 1953, DSc 1967, DSc honoris causa 1994)

Tom Bothwell, former Dean of Medicine, iron metabolism expert (MBBCh 1948, DSc Med 1994)

Denise Scott Brown, architect (Dip Arch 1952, DArch honoris causa 2011)

Rory Byrne, racing car designer (BSc 1965, DSc honoris causa 2005)

Nthato Motlana, doctor, activist and businessman (MBBCh 1954, LLD honoris causa 1999)

Patrick Soon-Shiong, doctor, research leader and business executive (MBBCh 1975)

Ronnie Apteker, internet pioneer and film producer (BSc 1991, BSc Hons 1992, MSc 1994)

Arthur Rubenstein, endocrinologist (MBBCh 1960, DSc Med honoris cause 2001)

Max Price, former Dean of Medical Faculty and former UCT Vice- Chancellor (MBBCh 1979, DOH 1993)

Loyiso Nongxa, mathematician and former Vice-Chancellor (BSc Hons 1976, MSc 1978, PhD 1982)

Peter Sarnak, mathematician (BSc 1975, BSc Hons 1976, DSc honoris causa 2014)

Mamokgethi Phakeng, education leader (BEd 1993, MEd 1996, PhD 2002)

Jack Zunz, civil engineer (BSc Eng 1949, DSc Eng honoris causa 2015)

John Burland, civil engineer (BSc Eng 1958, MSc Eng 1962, DSc Eng honoris causa 2007)

Michael Bear, civil engineer and former Lord Mayor of London (BSc Eng 1975)

Rob Pullen, civil engineer and business leader (BSc Eng 1961, MSc Eng 1970)

John Barlow, cardiologist (MBBCh 1951, MMed 1968, DSc Med honoris causa 1991)

Jack Penn, plastic surgeon (MBBCh 1932)

Glenda Gray, physician (MBBCh 1986)

Terence English, cardiothoracic surgeon (BSc Eng 1954, DSc Eng honoris causa 2008)

Percy Amoils, ophthalmologist and biomedical engineering inventor (MBBCh 1956)

Priscilla Kincaid-Smith, physician (BSc 1946, MBBCh 1951, DSc Med honoris causa 1982)

Danie Krige, statistician and mining engineer (BSc Eng 1939, MSc Eng 1951, DSc Eng 1963, DSc Eng honoris causa)

David Pettifor, metallurgist (BSc 1966, BSc Hons 1967)

Aaron Klug, scientist (BSc 1946, DSc honoris causa 1984)

John Pettifor, paediatric bone health specialist (MBBCh 1968, PhD 1980, DSc Med honoris causa 2017)

Bernie Fanaroff, astronomer (BSc 1968, BSc Hons 1970, DSc honoris causa 2013)

Friedel Sellschop, physicist (BSc 1949, MSc 1952, PhD 1957, DSc honoris causa 1997)

Stanley Mandelstam, physicist (BSc 1952)

Himla Soodyall, geneticist (MSc 1987, PhD 1993)

Seymour Papert, mathematician, computer scientist, and educator (BA 1950, PhD 1953, DEng honoris causa 2016)

Sydney Brenner, molecular biologist (BSc 1945, BSc Hons 1946, BSc Lab Med 1951, DSc honoris causa 1972)

James Kitching, palaeontologist (PhD 1973, DSc honoris causa 1997)

Lee Berger, palaeontologist (PhD 1994, DSc 2014)

Beric Skews, engineer (BSc Eng 1958, MSc Eng 1961, PhD 1967, DSc Eng honoris causa 2016)

Tingye Li, optical communications pioneer (BSc Eng 1953, DSc Eng honoris causa 2011)

Patricia Berjak, botanist (BSc Hons 1962)

Claire Penn, audiologist (BASp&HT 1973, PhD 1983)

Barry Schoub virologist (MBBCh 1967, DSc Med 1992)

Arthur Bensusan, doctor and photographer (MBBCh 1950)

Emily Kark, community health leader (MBBCh 1938)

Harry Seftel, medical educator (BSc 1949, MBBCh 1952, LLD honoris causa 1995)

Bert Myburgh, surgeon (MMed 1966, DSc Med honoris causa 1996)

Joel Mandelstam, microbiologist (BSc 1940, BSc Hons 1941)

John Barlow, cardiologist (MMed 1968, DSc Med honoris causa 1991)

Lucy Wagstaff, paediatrician (MBBCh 1952, DSc Med honoris causa 1999)

TW Kambule, maths educator (DSc honoris causa 1997)

Colin Caro, bioengineer (BSc Hons 1950, DSc Eng honoris causa 2010)

Sport

Ali Bacher, doctor, cricket player and administrator (MBBCh 1967, LLD honoris causa 2001)

Bruce Fordyce, marathon athlete (BA Hons 1979, LLD honoris causa 2007)

Chick Henderson, rugby player and commentator (BCom 1951)

Mark Plaatjes, marathon athlete (BSc Physio 1987)

Alan Menter, dermatologist and rugby player (MBBCh 1966)

Frith van der Merwe, marathon athlete (BA 1985)

Graduate Success - Wits in the global rankings

80th

Center for World University Rankings 2018 Alumni Employability by number of alumni CEOs

54th

Times Higher Education Alma Mater Index 2017 (degrees awarded to Fortune Global 500 CEOs) (the only African university in the top 100)

56th

Spear’s Top 100 universities with millionaire alumni (2013)

133rd

Center for World University Rankings 2018 Quality of Education by number of international prize-winning alumni