Wits as an ‘open’ university 1939–1959: black admissions to the university of the Witwatersrand

Student Perceptions of Institutional Racial Climate

“…Although these universities had open admissions policies, they failed to grant their Black students equality, and they did inevitably make concessions of principle. Murray (1990) notes that the official policy of the University of the Witwatersrand allowed for "academic non-segregation and social segregation." This means Black students were given access to libraries, laboratories, and other academic facilities but social contact with their White classmates was severely curtailed, particularly since Blacks could not even reside in the university residence halls.…”

“…However, an examination of enrollment figures before the passage of the Extension of Universities Act (1959)-which prohibited White universities from admitting blacks-indicates that the enrollment of Blacks never exceeded 6% of the total student body (Murray, 1990). This small enrollment of Black students was partly a result of the inadequate academic preparation many received in their secondary school education, which made them ineligible for postsecondary studies.…”

“…This assertion of openness and of distance from apartheid has been challenged or qualified by a number of scholars (Daley, 1996;Keenan, 1981) who argue that English-language universities also benefited from the system of apartheid by receiving better financial and research support than the Black universities, and exceptional academic facilities. English-language universities were open in the sense that their criteria for admission of students and appointment of staff were purely academic, without consideration of race or color (Murray, 1990). These universities were subject to government legislation, but refused to adopt its underlying principles as their own.…”

Chasing Rainbow Notions: Enacting Community Psychology in the Classroom and Beyond in Post‐1994 South Africa

“…In this paper we discuss one set of programmatic responses to these challenges developed at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) between 1999 and 2001. The University of the Witwatersrand is an English-language "open" or historically white institution of higher education recognized as one of several major research universities in South Africa (see Murray, 1982Murray, , 1997. Many of its staff and alumni agree with Nelson Mandela's 1991 appraisal of the university as a site of "opposition to apartheid oppression and repression," while maintaining "high standards of academic excellence" (Shear, 1996, p. xxiii).…”

Tranformation of a health sciences postgraduate population (2008-2017) at a higher education institution in South Africa: Has this occurred?

“…This resulted in the provision of unequal higher education as "White only" institutions were adequately resourced but "Black only" institutions were greatly limited in their resources (Breetzke and Hedding 2018;Bunting 2006). However, two of the "White only" universities, namely the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town, were regarded as "open universities" as they admitted Black students (Robus and Macleod 2006;Murray 2007). The term "Black" here refers collectively to African, Coloured and Indian individuals who were previously disadvantaged during the apartheid era (Ramrathan 2016).…”