RHODES UNIVERSITY
by Claire Roy (updated by Paul Page)

As much a part of Grahamstown as its defining architecture and festival buzz is the campus of Rhodes University. This renowned educational institute has its roots in St Andrews College, which, in the late 1800s, began preparing students for university. Realizing that the Eastern Cape was in need of a centre for higher education, four St Andrew’s professors founded Rhodes University College with a grant from the De Beers mining company.
  This was part of Cecil John Rhode’s will. In 1904, Rhodes moved from St Andrew’s to the Drostdy building and employed seven professors. Student numbers grew steadily despite the economic upheavals of the early 1900s. In 1947, Rhodes opted to become an independent university and on 10 March 1951, Rhodes University was inaugurated. Today this acclaimed academic centre educates students from all over Africa and enjoys a superb reputation for teaching and research.
  The University has ties with various institutes, including the National English Literary Museum (NELM), the dictionary unit for South Africa and is home to the Cory Libary which specializes in material to support South African historical research. The Psychology department has established the MTN centre for crime prevention studies. The Public Service Accountablity Monitor(PSAM) investigates cases of corruption in the public sector in the Eastern Cape. The Investec Business School is attached to the commerece department. In 1999 the Reuters newsroom was launched and became part of the journalism and media studes department connecting Rhodes University to the rest of the world. In 2003,through the David Rabkin company, set up by the Journalism and Media Studies department, the University indirectly owns South Africa’s oldest independent newspaper and students will increasingly gain experience in its publication. The Hamilton building was opened in 2002 and is one of the most tecnologically advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) buildings in Africa. (See list of research institutes in the classified directory).
  Rhodes University is also actively involved in several school projects such as the Centre for Social Development, which has a project in over sixty local pre-schools. The mobile science lab that operates from the botany department takes the teachers and a science laboratory to schools. The English Department has facilities such as the Molteno Project, which educates second language speakers in English.
  In 2004 the University will celebrate its centenary and a number of events are planned to commemorate this milestone. The celebrations will be launched in February 2004 with a special graduation and open air music festival and thereafter there will be events throughout the year - for updated information go to
www.goRhodes.co.za.