The University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) is a leading university in Johannesburg, South Africa, renowned for its academic and research excellence, innovation, commitment to social justice, and the advancement of the public good.
It ranks in the top 1.5% of universities in the world.
Ranked 21st in the world in the QS World University Rankings 2024 for Employment Outcomes.
Wits is the home of change makers who impact on our world, for good. Our students walk in the footsteps of luminaries like Donald Gordon, Johnny Clegg, Gail Kelly, Thuli Madonsela, Sibongile Khumalo, Patrice Motsepe, Robert Sobukwe, Ruth First, Maria Ramos, William Kentridge, Robbie Brozin, Adrian Gore, and generations of others who have left a legacy in society.
Did you know?
Wits is the home of four Nobel Prize winners: Nelson Mandela (Peace), Sydney Brenner (Medicine), Nadine Gordimer (Literature) and Aaron Klug (Chemistry). www.wits.ac.za/alumni
Wits conducts discovery research that changes disciplinary thinking; translational or applied research that influences policy and practice; and innovative research that can be taken to the market to generate economic activity.
434
National Research Foundation (NRF)-rated researchers of whom 26 are A-rated (recognised by peers internationally as global leaders in their fields)
6
Department of Science and Technology-NRF Centres of Excellence
Wits trains the highest number of medical specialists and sub-specialists in South-Africa
Wits’ research output has increased by 17% over the past five years and 72% over the last ten years
97% of Wits authored publications are in international journals
19
South African Research Chairs
64 specialised research entities are active in Wits
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Wits alumni, Pelonomi Moiloa and Shakir Mohamed, were named amongst TIME magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People in AI for 2023.
The Wits Innovation Centre plays a key role in encouraging, facilitating, and supporting the connection between research and innovation. It actively engages in strengthening research impact, external engagement, commercialisation, and entrepreneurship.
Wits is a leader in digital business and governance, big data, artificial intelligence, robotics, supercomputing, and quantum computing.
It is also home to WitsQ - the Wits Quantum Initiative, an African first, which seeks to advance quantum technologies through research, innovation, business, education, outreach, and ethics.
The Wits DigiMine is a ‘mock mine’ that tests the latest digital technologies underground.
The Machine Intelligence and Neural Discovery Institute is a world-leading interdisciplinary research and training institute with a focus on innovation in data science and machine intelligence.
Wits’ Tshimologong Digital Innovation
Precinct facilitates the incubation of start-ups, the commercialisation of research, and the development of high-level digital skills for students, working professionals, entrepreneurs, and youth.
Did you know?
Wits health sciences students receive top-notch training in first-class facilities like the new Phantom Heads Laboratory, the Zola Wits Dental Clinic, the Surgical Skills Lab, and the Wits McAlpine Burns Unit.
Wits researchers in the Structured Light Laboratory have transmitted data and images securely through light.
Students interact with top researchers and specialists across multiple clinical training platforms in public hospitals and clinics, and at the unique Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre, a private teaching hospital which trains the most sub-specialists in the country. A new health sciences research campus will soon be opened in Parktown, as well as a new Wits research and training centre at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto.
Neo Hutiri, a Wits graduate, developed “Pelebox”, a smart locker that cuts down queueing times for patients collecting chronic medication, which was named one of TIME magazine’s best inventions in 2019.
Wits is known for its academic excellence and agility to adapt to blended and online teaching and learning, using the latest pedagogies and technologies. Smart classrooms, future libraries, knowledge hubs, simulation laboratories, innovation precincts, and e-zones are available to students.
Wits’ new short course offerings via WitsPlus Pty (Ltd) enables access to education and empowers working professionals. WitsPlus Pty (Ltd) provides for a wide variety of programmes and courses that enable learning for good.
Multinational teaching, learning and research programmes
• Afretec is a pan-African network of engineering and technology-focused universities that drives inclusive digital transformation in Africa.
• The Wits-Edinburgh Sustainable African Futures Programme is an interdisciplinary programme that seeks to advance research capacity amongst African academics and higher educational institutions whilst grappling with the critical issues of sustainable development.
Wits is a catalyst for change that creates hope in society. We celebrate the diversity of people, ideas, disciplines, and place, and empower our people to be active social citizens. Wits develops innovative solutions to real-world problems from the perspective of the Global South.
Climate and Sustainability
“Wits commits to playing a transformative leadership role in South Africa's response to the climate emergency. Through research, teaching, policy engagement and its own practice, using its location in the economic hub of the country, and understanding its history in mining and industry, Wits will play a pivotal role in a just and equitable transition to a net zero-carbon economy for the city, region, country, continent and the world, by 2050.”
At the centre of this commitment will be ongoing analyses of our own carbon footprint, with a view to transforming the University into a living laboratory for just practices of sustainability. Info: www.wits.ac.za/csi
Diversity, Inclusion and Equity
The Wits Disability Rights Unit caters for students with disabilities and is a model centre for higher education institutions in South Africa.
The Centre for Deaf Studies offers support and education to caregivers and families of the Deaf. It is a world leader in Deaf research and education.
Read more at www.wits.ac.za/teaching-and-learning
The Emthonjeni Centre offers speech and hearing therapy, counselling, and psychotherapy to Witsies and the public, and serves as a training laboratory for students in these fields.
Wits’ arts and culture spaces depict the richness of our history, academic endeavours, diversity of disciplines and social interaction. The Wits Art Museum has about 10 000 works of African art.
Science enthusiasts interested in the story of life can explore the Sterkfontein Caves in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, the Origins Centre, the Fossil Vault, and the James Kitching Gallery in the Palaeosciences Centre. The Bleloch Geological Museum and the Life Sciences Museum and Biodiversity Centre are open to the public. The worldclass Wits Anglo
Wits students can choose from over 30 sporting codes including soccer, rugby, and hockey. Students have participated in national teams and have represented South Africa at the Olympic Games and elsewhere. In 2026, the new R250 million Brian and Dorothy Zylstra Sports Complex will open.
This integrated facility for training, research, and clinical practice promises worldclass therapeutic facilities, an aquatics centre, and a residence for elite athletes.
Health sciences students may find the Adler Museum of Medicine compelling, or may fancy a visit to the Brebner Museum, the Hunterian Museum of Anatomy or the Museum of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.
New, experimental work is always explored at the Wits Theatre Complex, a stone’s throw away from the Chris Seabrooke Music Hall, which is flanked by the Wits Art Museum. The Fassler Gallery and the Anthropology Museum are also important spaces to visit.
For the advancement of our society For you and for me Wits occupies a special place in the hearts and minds of Africans. For Good
For the public good For the good of all people generations
For the good of our country For the good of our economy
For our collective futures Wits. For Good
