The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, also known as Wits University, is a leading, internationally-ranked, research-intensive university located in Johannesburg, South Africa, the economic heartland of Africa. Committed to academic and research excellence and social justice, Wits generates high level scarce skills for a globally competitive world, while addressing local social and economic development. At the forefront of a changing society, Wits is a social leader, dedicated to advancing the public good.
Wits is known for its work in deep level mining, science, health sciences, accountancy, law, governance, and the humanities, amongst others. It houses five faculties which comprise 34 schools. Wits offers approximately 3 600 courses to about 32 500 full-time students, of whom about a third are postgraduate and 55% are female. Almost 65% of all doctoral candidates and about half of all enrolments are in the Science, Engineering and Technology fields. Wits has developed about 130 000 graduates in its 93 years of existence. It has a proud record in that about 87% of all publications are in accredited international journals.
Frais de scolarité élevés, baisse significative des financements publics … les universités sud-africaines sont en crise, alors que les étudiants sont descendus dans la rue.
Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara at an election campaign rally.
Reuters/Luc Gnago
The next step in South African students’ fight against high university fees could be taken beyond campuses. The final battle will be fought at the country’s National Treasury and Reserve Bank.
A student at Johannesburg’s University of the Witwatersrand sums up the motive for ongoing campus protests.
Pontsho Pilane/The Daily Vox
South Africa’s higher education sector is dramatically underfunded. Polite conversations between vice-chancellors and the government have failed. It’s time the voices of student activists was heard.
Journalists Thami Mazwai, left, and Jon Qwelane before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s special hearing on the media. They accused the white-owned press of colluding with apartheid.
Reuters
South Africa seems more divided than ever on the media, as the governing ANC revives plans for a dreaded tribunal many fear would muzzle the press.
Neutrinos, we’re looking for you! Japan’s Super-Kamiokande detector.
Kamioka Observatory, ICRR (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research), The University of Tokyo
Citizen science will ensure that the skies have no limit when it comes to research, as ordinary people are encouraged to take part in simple acts of exploration.
A billboard campaigning against crude oil theft. Nigeria is under pressure from falling oil prices and China’s economic slowdown.
Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye
How should Nigeria weather yet another episode of oil price shock? This time it’s likely to be worsened by two events of significant global effect.
Initiates undergoing the traditional passage to manhood in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. Many either die or get maimed during the winter practice.
Reuters/Siegfried Modola
The practices around the traditional passage to manhood in South Africa are changing and beginning to encompass women as family patterns change. But, there are mixed feelings about the changes.
The tainted VW Group may drag the rest of the car manufacturing industry into the mud.
Shutterstock
The VW emissions scandal gives governments every right to increase their supervisory role beyond regulation and to involve themselves to a much larger degree in economic activity.
Girls walk to school in South Africa’s poor Eastern Cape province.
Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters
A lot has changed for the better in South Africa’s education system - but inequality remains a thorn in the country’s side. How can we disrupt educational inequality?
University deans must wear many hats while they try to act as a pivot between academics and management.
Shutterstock
In Africa, only four countries record more than 75% of their births and deaths. This creates an unequal system and impacts on how governments plan for these citizens.
A painting from Botha’s Shelter in the Ndedema Gorge in the Drakensburg, said to be home to a rich tapestry of San art and life.
Wits University Press
Formlings are representations of flying termites and their underground nests. They are associated with botantical subjects considered by the San to have great spiritual significance.
Women wait in line to fill buckets from a communal clean tap in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, South Africa. The country has extremely high levels of inequality.
Nic Bothma/Reuters
Thomas Piketty’s visit reminds us of the need to reconsider South African inequality-fibbery. His inequality critique is vital, but only if it can withstand the neoliberal embrace.
The health workforce crisis is one of the faultlines in the provision of health care in South Africa.
Reuters/Antony Kaminju
To turn around the performance of South Africa’s health system and make it more equal, there are three challenges that need to be addressed.
A view of Alexandra township, a slum overlooking the Sandton skyscrapers in Johannesburg. Addressing inequality has been a major challenge for South Africa.
Reuters/Juda Ngwenya
Will Thomas Piketty’s visit to South Africa trigger the rewriting of the country’s recent economic history? His analysis and ideas on how to address inequality are hard to ignore.
The Global South is engineering new anti-poverty strategies, leaving traditional left analysts in a quandry.
Reuters/Nacho Doce
Could the surge of worker and popular resistance worldwide provide the global trade union movement with an opportunity to take the lead in developing a broad coalition of social forces?
Amendments to South Africa’s competition law provides more scrutiny of pricing practices in oligopolistic markets.
Shutterstock
South Africa’s tightening up of its competition law enables it to punish collusive conduct by firms, but there are major obstacles to implementing the changes.
The Economic Freedom Fighters’ entry into parliament is the most dramatic example of political realignment in South Africa.
Reuters/Skyler Reid
The Marikana massacre of 2012 triggered strikes across South Africa and political realignment. But could this, and the formation of the United Front to rival the ANC, have long-term significance?