Wits: 100 years of changing the world for good

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Wits University and Witsies — the affectionate term for its students and alumni — have undoubtedly changed the world for good over the past 100 years, be it through research and innovation, teaching and learning or civic action. 

It was at Wits where engineers developed and tested the first radar set for SA. Fast forward 70 years and researchers are now testing the safe encryption and transmission of data through light on the same spot.

Wits was the first SA university to own an IBM mainframe computer. Fast-forward to 2019 and Wits, in partnership with IBM, became the first African university to access a quantum computer. 

Witsies took to the streets to oppose apartheid and other atrocities, resulting in campus raids, violence, imprisonment and even death for people such as academic and activist David Webster. 

Fast-forward to the 21st century and Witsies continue to demand access to higher education, and to engage in civic activities whether it be insisting for the treatment of HIV/AIDS, speaking out against xenophobia, or advocating for measures to mitigate climate change. 

Teaching and learning at Wits started in 1922 in response to a need from industry and the city of Johannesburg. 

Fast-forward to 2022, and Wits’s response to the coronavirus pandemic can be felt at both local and global levels through its innovative research (including vaccine development), blended teaching and learning programmes, community initiatives and social activism.

Today, we are confronted with a myriad of complex planetary problems including global change and inequality, erratic energy supply and crime, lack of governance and ethics, and the intersection of communicable and non-communicable diseases and pandemics. 

It is at Wits where the best intellectual talent and resources are brought to bear, across disciplines, institutions, sectors and geographic boundaries to find solutions to these challenges, some of which are still unknown.

The university continues to make a positive impact on society from its locale in the Global South as it remains true to its values, which includes searching for and standing up for the truth, holding those in power to account, acting with integrity, entrenching proper governance systems, guarding academic freedom and institutional autonomy, tolerating differences of opinion, and standing up for democracy, justice, equality and freedom.

The university is cognisant that it must continue to promote freedom of enquiry and the search for knowledge and truth, foster a culturally diverse, intellectually stimulating and harmonious environment within which there is vigorous critical exchange and communication, and encourage freedom of speech and public debate, through facilitating dialogue and interaction between different parties, with the goal of increasing mutual respect and trust, among others.

Wits remains a beacon of hope in society — a national treasure that has developed with the city of Johannesburg and industry, an institution that will continue to have an impact on society for good, for the next 100 years. We will continue to strive for excellence in all that we do and use our knowledge for the advancement of our community, city, country, continent and the globe. For good. 

This article was paid for by Wits University.

Read more: Celebrating 100 years of Wits

Put together in honour of the centenary of Wits, the supplement below recounts the university's history and spotlights some of its illustrious alumni.

It also looks at how the university is making a positive impact in the lives of millions of South Africans through initiatives like the newly-launched Roy McAlpine Burns Unit and the Wits Law Clinic.

Use the arrows to page through the supplement (zoom in or go full screen for ease of reading) or download it.