University of Fort Hare

University of Fort Hare

File:UFH logo.png
Motto	In lumine tuo videbimus lumen (In Thy light we shall see the light)
Type	Public university
Established	1916
Vice-Chancellor	Dr Mvuyo Tom
Students	9500
Location	Alice , Eastern Cape , South Africa
Website	http://www.ufh.ac.za/

The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution in higher education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959. It offered a Western-style, academically excellent education to students from across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a black African elite. Fort Hare alumni were part of many subsequent independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries.

In 1959, the university was subsumed by the apartheid system, but it is now part of South Africa's post-apartheid education system. The University's main campus is located on the Tyhume river, in a town known as Alice in English and eDikeni in Xhosa language. It is in the Eastern Cape Province about 50 km west of King Williams Town (or eQonce) in a region that for a while was known as the "independent" Bantustan of Ciskei. In 2008, the Alice campus had some 5500 students. A second campus at the Eastern Cape provincial capital of Bhisho was built in 1990 and hosts a few hundred students, while the campus in East London, acquired through incorporation in 2004 has some 3300 students.

The Fort

Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between British and the Xhosa of the 19th century. Some of the ruins of the fort are still visible today. Missionary activity (James Stewart) led to the creation of a school for missionaries from which at the beginning of the 20th century the university resulted. In accord with its Christian principles, fees are minimal and heavily subsidised. Several scholarships were also available for indigent students.

University

Traditionally recognised as one of the prestigious universities on the continent of Africa, the University of Fort Hare stemmed from the initiatives of the black elite and early twentieth-century white liberals, many of them clergy, and supported by many traditional Southern African leaders.

Fort Hare came into existence in 1916 and is the oldest historically black university in Southern Africa. Throughout its existence, Fort Hare graduates have come from as far North as Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria, and all knew they were as good as the best. Many enjoyed prominent careers in fields as diverse as politics, medicine, literature and art. Some alumni, like Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo Govan Mbeki, Chris Hani, Robert Sobukwe, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Dennis Brutus (an acclaimed poet), Can Themba (an accomplished journalist), Yusuf Lule of Uganda, Ntsu Mokehle of Lesotho, Seretse Khama of Botswana, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Herbert Chitepo, novelist Stanlake Samkange and the first black Zimbabwean medical doctor, Ticofa Parirenyatwa, are well known. Eliud Mathu and Charles Njonjo are two of our better-known alumni in Kenya.

This cosmopolitan university boasts a long-standing tradition of non-racism which is characterised by intellectually enriching and critical debate. There is an almost tangible aspiration towards educational excellence while social life on campus is vibrant. The model blueprint for the transformation and repositioning of this legendary institution in the twentieth century - the Strategic Plan 2000 and the subsequent Institutional Operating Plan(IOP) - nurtures and builds upon this tradition. The objective of these internationally lauded corporate re- engineering plans is to make this university worthy of its rich inheritance as a reflection of a dynamic institution.

The 26th of April 2005 saw the University of Fort Hare receiving One of the highly celebrated national Orders - The Supreme Order of Baobab (Gold Class) from President Thabo Mbeki. Rich in visual and literary symbolism, the award draws its inspiration from a 3000 year old tree, whose odd hydra-like and upside root structure seems to defy the laws of gravity. Mainly found in the northern parts of southern Africa, the Baobab is known for its resilience, strength and fortitude in the face of drought, pestilence and the erosive passage of time. Citing this symbolism, the State President conferred the Order of Gold Class to Fort Hare in recognition of its role in 'academic training' of legions of men and women in South Africa and Southern Africa, as well as its 'leadership development' contribution.

THE UNIVERSITY VISION

The University of Fort Hare is a vibrant, equitable and sustainable African University, committed to teaching and research excellence at the service of its students, scholars and wider community.

Underlying Themes of our New Vision:

   A unique 'brand name': Fort Hare - based on the principle of taking the 'best of the past into taking up the challenges of the future'; 

   An affirmation of our historical role as the training ground for Leaders - broadening this mission to include politics, industry, commerce, agriculture and moral leadership; 

   An assertion and celebration of our identity as an African university -a multicultural, continental as opposed to an ethnocentric identity; 

   Our commitment to institutional sustainability - both in financial, programme and human resources development terms; 

   Our commitment to excellence in providing high quality teaching and research at the service of students, scholars and the public; 

   An assertion of our predominantly rural location as a strategic advantage to focus on programmes responding to local and regional development needs; 

   Upholding the principle of equity - across gender, racial and disability lines.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the University is to provide high quality education of international standards contributing to the advancement of knowledge that is socially and ethically relevant, and applying that knowledge to the scientific, technological and social-economic development of our nation and the wider world.

Underlying Themes of our Mission:

Commitment to high quality education - to give our students a competitive edge in the labour market.

Our striving towards achieving international standards - establishing the wider currency of qualifications in the new global economy.

Offering academic programmes with a strong social and ethic relevance - ensuring a critical and constructive contribution to social development.

Promoting a distinctively developmental perspective in teaching and research;

Aligning the UFH firmly to the scientific, technological and socio-economic challenges facing South Africa.

Ranking

See also: League tables of South African universities

Anti-apartheid activity

In the struggle years there was much anti-apartheid activity, including the Black Consciousness Movement of Steve Biko. A few students became politically active and opposed the apartheid authorities who enjoyed the unqualified support of the Fort Hare authorities since it became a University in 1972.

University of Fort Hare Strategic Plan 2000

The programme launched by Prof. Swartz was the UFH Strategic Plan 2000. The plan was meant to address the universities financial situation and academic quality standards simultaneously. The focus of the university was narrowed and consequently 5 faculties remained:

• Education
• Science & Agriculture
• Social Sciences & Humanities
• Management & Commerce
• Law

Further narrowing the focus, 14 institutes have been founded to deal with specific issues, such as the UNESCO Oliver Tambo Chair of Human Rights. Through their location the institutes have excellent access to poor rural areas, and consequently emphasis is placed on the role of research in improving quality of life and economic growth (and especially sustainable job creation). Among the outreach programmes, the Telkom Centre of Excellence maintains a "living laboratory" of 4 schools at Dwesa on the Wild Coast, which have introduced computer labs and internet access to areas that until 2005 did not even have electricity. The projects at Dwesa focus research on Information and Communication for Development (ICD).

Notable alumni

Name	DoB - DoD	Notes
Z.K. Mathews	1901–1968	Lectured at Fort Hare from 1936 to 1959
Archibald Campbell Jordan	30 October 1906–1968	Novelist, pioneer of African studies
Govan Mbeki	9 July 1910 - 30 August 2001	South African politician
Yusuf Lule	1912 - January 21, 1985	Interim president of Uganda 1979
Cedric Phatudi	27 May 1912 - 7 October 1987	Chief Minister of Lebowa 1972–1987
Kaiser Matanzima	5 June 1915 - June 15 2003	President of bantustan Transkei
Oliver Tambo	27 October 1917 - 24 April 1993	member, African National Congress- Expelled while doing his second degree.
Joshua Nkomo	1918 - 1 July 1999	Founder of the ZAPU.
Nelson Mandela	18 July 1918 -	Former President of South Africa- - Expelled and later graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Lionel Ngakane	17 July 1920 - 26 November 2003	South African filmmaker
Seretse Khama	1 July 1921 - 13 July 1980	First President of Botswana. Later Sir Seretse Khama.
Julius Nyerere	19 July 1922 - 14 October 1999	President of Tanzania
Herbert Chitepo	15 June 1923 - 18 March 1975	ZANU leader
Robert Sobukwe	1924 - 27 February 1978	Founder of the Pan Africanist Congress
Robert Mugabe	21 February 1924 -	President of Zimbabwe, attended 1949–1951
Kenneth Kaunda	28 April 1924 -	First President of Zambia
Allan Hendrickse	22 October 1927 - 16 March 2005	Politician, preacher, and teacher
Mangosuthu Buthelezi	27 August 1928 -	Leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party - Never graduated but transferred to University of Natal to study History and Bantu Administration; graduated to become leader of KwaZulu Bantustan in apartheid South Africa
Desmond Tutu	7 October 1931 -	Archbishop, South African peace activist, Chaplain at Fort Hare in 1960
Frank Mdlalose	29 November 1931 -	First Premier of KwaZulu-Natal
Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri	18 September 1937 - 6 April 2009	Communications Minister, South Africa
Manto Tshabalala-Msimang	9 October 1940 - 16 December 2009	Health Minister of South Africa
Chris Hani	28 June 1942 - 10 April 1993	Leader of the South African Communist Party - Expelled, later graduated from Rhodes University.
Wiseman Nkuhlu	5 February 1944 -	economic advisor to President Thabo Mbeki, Head of NEPAD
Makhenkesi Arnold Stofile	27 December 1944 -	Sport Minister of South Africa
Sam Nolutshungu	15 April 1945 - 12 August 1997	South African scholar
Nyameko Barney Pityana	7 August 1945 -	lawyer and theologian
Bulelani Ngcuka	2 May 1954 -	South Africa's former Director of Public Prosecutions
Loyiso Nongxa	1954-	Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand
Joseph Diescho	1955 -	Namibian novelist
John Hlophe	1 January 1959 -	Judge President of the Cape Provincial Division of the High Court

(Others, unknown DOB)

• Tiyo Soga - religion, Vice-Chancellor of the University of South Africa
• K. Mokhele - science
• Don Ncube - business

See also: List of universities in South Africa

External links

• Official website