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.
El futuro de África se presenta catastrófico si no actuamos ahora contra el cambio climático.
Alexandra township is situated next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton, laying bare post-apartheid South Africa’s vast gulf between wealth and poverty.
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Efforts have been made to change the patterns of inequality in South Africa. But not enough has been done. Race-based inequality is still a real problem.
South Africa play Scotland during the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
NICOLAS TUCAT/AFP via Getty Images)
Rugby players risk serious injury due to the game’s sheer physicality. Sports scientists have worked with international rugby bodies to improve safety.
The aftermath of a 2021 fire disaster in an abandoned building in central Johannesburg.
Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Inner city occupations and shack settlements alike are the inevitable consequence of the fact that huge populations of people have to get by without a living wage.
Women’s Day is used to draw attention to the issues women still face in South Africa.
Three 3D views of Bradysaurus baini specimen (FMNH UC 1533). Scale bar equals 50 cm. Published in Van den Brandt et al. 2023Credit: Fabio Manucci and Marco Romano
Large pareiasaurs are among the earliest huge plant-eating tetrapods to appear in the history of the development of life on Earth.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi (left), Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the 2019 Russia-Africa summit in Sochi.
by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images
The increased availability and consumption of unhealthy food has contributed to poor health outcomes.
Nelson Mandela, the late first president of democratic South Africa, is credited with the relatively peaceful transition from apartheid rule.
Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images
There is never going to be a final assessment of Mandela’s legacy. How it is regarded will continue to change, depending on the destination South Africa travels to.
Proposed solutions to malnutrition included providing school breakfast.
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Africa contributes less than 1% of research worldwide on movement behaviours in children. This means that research on movement behaviours has largely excluded over 16% of the world’s population.
Images of one-horned rain-animals have been found in the northern parts of the Eastern Cape province.
Courtesy David M. Witelson
Centennial Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Architecture and Planning, Centre for Urbanism and Built Environment Studies, University of the Witwatersrand