Background

UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, a high school for boys.

The College had a small tertiary-education facility that grew substantially after 1880 when the discovery of gold and diamonds in the north – and the resulting demand for skills in mining – gave it the financial boost it needed to grow.

The College developed into a fully-fledged university during the period 1880 to 1900, thanks to increased funding from private sources and the government.

During these years, the College built its first dedicated science laboratories and started the departments of mineralogy and geology to meet the need for skilled personnel in the country's emerging diamond and gold-mining industries.

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Vision
UCT is an inclusive and engaged research-intensive African university that inspires creativity through outstanding achievements in learning, discovery and citizenship; enhancing the lives of its students and staff; advancing a more equitable and sustainable social order and influencing the global higher education landscape.

Mission
UCT is committed to engaging with the key issues of our natural and social worlds through outstanding teaching, research and scholarship. We seek to advance the status and distinctiveness of scholarship in Africa through building strategic partnerships across the continent, the global south and the rest of the world.

UCT provides a vibrant and supportive intellectual environment that attracts and connects people from all over the world.

We aim to produce graduates and future leaders who are influential locally and globally. Our qualifications are locally applicable and internationally acclaimed, underpinned by values of engaged citizenship and social justice. Our scholarship and research have a positive impact on our society and our environment.

We will actively advance the pace of transformation within our university and beyond, nurturing an inclusive institutional culture that embraces diversity.