Day Nine: University of Stellenbosch

Our final visit of the tour was to the University of Stellenbosch, located about an hour outside Cape Town. Stellenbosch is quite different from the other institutions that we visited; most notably because of its dual language policy which means that some of the teaching at undergraduate level is done in Afrikaans, leading to a lower percentage of black, coloured and indian students than at other universities.

The majority of our meetings at Stellenbosch were separated out by theme and the individual groups all had highly informative mornings. Theme one was particularly interested in the substantial outreach programmes that the university runs and their attempts to attract black, coloured and indian students to apply, often in spite of the language policy.

A brief tour of the campus concluded the morning before we were hosted to a South African Braai for lunch.

Day Eight: University of the Western Cape and the University of Cape Town

Monday morning was spent at the University of the Western Cape where we all gained an insight into the three themes. At this stage in the tour we were all consolidating the information gained from other institutions and fine tuning the areas we wanted to examine. The discussions ranged from the outreach work being done to improve school leavers' grades in mathematics to the political history of the institution, and from the need to positively manage the political energy of the students to the performance and leadership development programmes offered to staff. Unfortunately we did not have time to tour the beautiful campus but we caught a glimpse of some of it:

The afternoon saw the team visiting the University of Cape Town where we again engaged in wide ranging discussions touching on all of our chosen themes. As with all of our visits there simply wasn't enough time to answer all of our questions and we continued to gain new insights into the Higher Education sector in South Africa.

Days Six and Seven: weekend off in Cape Town

We were lucky enough to have the weekend to enjoy Cape Town. The members of the team covered quite a lot of ground between us: from Table Mountain to the Botanical Gardens, Robben Island to some retail therapy, various museums to exploring the V&A Waterfront. The conclusion that we all came to is that one weekend is simply not enough time to explore everything that this beautiful city has to offer!

Day Five: Cape Peninsula University of Technology

On Friday our stay in the Pretoria area ended as we flew down to Cape Town for the remainder of the study tour. On our arrival in Cape Town we were welcomed to Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and explored our themes from the perspective of a university of technology.

CPUT was formed in 2005 from a merger between two technikons: Cape Technikon and Peninsula Technikon. Our discussions touched on the challenges faced by merged institutions, the future of applications to universities with the planned introduction of a central application system, the educational opportunities available to staff, as well as many other issues. Our visit concluded with a tour of the open campus which enabled us to understand the challenges of providing a secure environment for students whilst welcoming the general public to the area.

Day Four: Pilanesberg Game Reserve

Today saw the team make an early start on our day off as we headed to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve which is north west of Pretoria. We spent the morning on a game drive and were lucky enough to see plenty of animals, including some of the big five!! Highlights included seeing a leopard (very hard to see), a rhino, giraffe, zebra, elephants and the heads of some hippo!

Day Three: Varsity College, University of Pretoria, and Higher Education South Africa

On Wednesday 14th the team started the day by splitting into two: seven of us went to Varsity College, a private higher education provider, while the other three went back to the University of Pretoria for a tour of their sports facilities. Both groups had very interesting experiences with the group at Varsity College gaining an understanding of the place of private providers in higher education in South Africa and the group at the University of Pretoria having the opportunity to see their extensive and impressive sports facilities.

The whole group reconvened at the Client Services Centre at the University of Pretoria where we spoke to members of the Student Administration team about the challenges they have faced since creating the centre in 2002. This was an area of great interest to members of the team due to the discussions in many UK institutions about the creation of a 'one stop shop' for student inquiries.

We spent the afternoon at Higher Education South Africa (HESA) which is the South African equivalent of UUK and aims to promote the interests of the higher education sector. It was interesting to speak to an organisation that could provide an overview of higher education in the country and a wider context for our visits to universities. Our discussions touched on the challenges faced by the sector, changes in the pipeline for the future such as the development of a central application service, as well as the role of HESA in representing a diverse group of universities.

Day Two: University of Johannesburg

Tuesday saw the team heading to the Kingsway Campus of the University of Johannesburg where we were welcomed very warmly. After a brief introduction to the university we split into our theme groups and had two one hour meetings with relevant staff. All the meetings were thoroughly informative and we were able to gain a feel for the nature of this institution and the challenges it has faced and currently faces.

After a lovely lunch which was hosted by the Registrar we drove to the Soweto Campus of the university. Our tour of the campus was rather interrupted by some torrential rain but we were able to see the investment that had been made recently and the potential for future development before returning to the Kingsway Campus for a tour.

In the evening we were hosted by the Division for Internationalisation and learnt about the university's plans for increasing international exchanges and collaborations. After our meeting we were entertained by the Internationalisation team (pictured below) and enjoyed a delicious dinner and engaging conversation.

Our second day in South Africa was a joy. All the people we have met have been so welcoming and enthusiastic, and have gone out of their way to make our visit a success!