Stellenbosch University (SU) is among South Africa’s leading tertiary institutions based on research output, student pass rates and rated scientists, and is recognised internationally as an academic institution of excellence. This is confirmed by two world university rankings after SU was included in the Times Higher Education and QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) world rankings in 2012, for the second consecutive year. In 2011 the University was also listed on the Leiden rankings, and in 2012 SU was named the leading African University by the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities which ranks universities according to their web presence.
SU also boasts the second-highest number of scientists in South Africa who have been ranked by the National Research Foundation (NRF) – 306 in 2012. With 18 research chairs under the NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChi), the University is regarded as a leader in the fields of biomedical tuberculosis research and management, wine biotechnology, animal sciences and mathematical biosciences. Another SARChi chair, in the field of invasion biology, is shared between SU and the University of Venda. This constitutes but one of SU’s many partnerships, both local and international. As preferred research partner, SU also participates in various international academic networks.
Great white sharks in South Africa have extremely low genetic diversity compared with shark populations elsewhere in the world.
Sara Andreotti/www.sharkdivingunlimited.com
Conservationists are increasingly looking to translocating rhinos. This not only ensures their safety but also enables improvements to their genetic health.
What sets brilliant university lecturers apart from their more average peers?
Omar Faruk/Reuters
Africa’s pharmaceutical industry has mushroomed in the last ten years. But its ability to keep pace with demand is being held back by a number of factors, including a shortage of specialists.
Supporters of the Economic Freedom Fighters protesting outside the Johannesburg stock exchange.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Since the 1940s, it’s been common for political moderates to move to the fore in South Africa – then, intermittently, to the background. They are replaced by radicals or exclusivist nationalists.
Frog chytrid may have been spread by humans. It is a fungus that has decimated amphibian species.
Reuters
As much as animals may pass on viruses to humans, humans pass on viruses which are sometimes lethal to the animal world as well.
Students at Rhodes University in Grahamstown protest against the institution’s minimum initial payment, a one-off fee to secure an academic place.
Madeleine Chaput/Activate
Fee protests have shut down a number of South African university campuses. The question is, how should universities balance fee increases with their other obligations?
Nanotechnology that can detect illnesses will become available next year.
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One South African student’s experience with live captioning technology may be the start of an exciting change for deaf university students who do not use sign language.
Locust sits on a wheat stalk.
Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters
Insects have been in a feature in agriculture since the end of the 19th century. Using a combination of new and old control methods is the best way to deal with our food competitors.
Nematodes play an important role in all biological systems.
Shutterstock
It seems that different races listen to different music, but it is actually culture and value that determines this, not skin colour.
The Western Cape’s fynbos is one of South Africa’s biodiversity hotspots. Local traditional healers use its leaf material for medicines.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings