Three things have remained a constant in Grahamstown over the past hundred years or so: The power politicians have over the lives of its citizens; the fiercely independent spirit of those citizens; and Grocott's Mail's tendency to roll up its sleeves and get its hands dirty.
Three things have remained a constant in Grahamstown over the past hundred years or so: The power politicians have over the lives of its citizens; the fiercely independent spirit of those citizens; and Grocott's Mail's tendency to roll up its sleeves and get its hands dirty.
All these factors have played a part in the history of Rhodes University and, as Karen Mukwedeya reports, have even helped it survive. From the 1812s, when Grahamstown was a small military outpost, to 1951 when an independent university was finally established, Grahamstown has continued to exceed the expectations of many.
Helping it thrive is the fact that it is the seat of the high court in the Eastern Cape and its being home to a number of respected schools. Since as early as 1902, Grahamstown residents lobbied for a university of their own.
Of the college departments of four schools in existence at the time, there were only two able to prepare students for degree examinations at the University of the Cape of Good Hope. Resources, even at these colleges, however, were inadequate and it became clear that only a central university college would do. The main obstacle was a lack of funds.
The South African War of 1899-1902 almost scuppered the project. Then in 1904, Leander Starr Jameson, who was bidding for votes in his campaign to be elected Member of Parliament for Albany and Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, promised £50 000 offered a grant from the Rhodes trustee fund to start the Rhodes University College.
In 1947, Rhodes opted to become an independent university, but £150 000 in free capital was needed. Rhodes pledged its remaining De Beers Preference Shares to the bank as security against its overdraft. Dr Thomas Alty was at the time master of the college, which owed £56 015.
Just as it seemed Rhodes would collapse, the partners of printing company, Hugh and Vincent Grocott – the founders of Grocott's Mail – knocked on Alty's door one night and handed him a cheque for a considerable sum of money.
This turned the tide. On 10 March 1951, the University was inaugurated and Sir Basil Schonland became its first chancellor. Rhodes University ranks as one of the oldest universities in South Africa and has also been ranked third in the top research-intensive universities. “In the 1960s we had less than 800 students and have since grown to accommodate 8 000 or more,” Professor Jeff Peires, historian and head of the university's Cory library, told Grocott's Mail this week.
The university has international standing. According to the Digest of Statistics of Rhodes University released last year, a total of 7216 international students enrolled last year, of whom only 1 211 were from SADC countries. Community engagement is a central focus of the university today and many such projects benefit the town and its residents.
“Rhodes tries to give students a total experience not only academically but socially as well,” said Peires. Grahamstown has always been known as the centre of education.”
Historical information is sourced from: http://wiki.alumni.net/wiki/Africa/South_Africa/Eastern_Cape/Grahamstown/Rhodes_University/
A real university
“All this is part of our tradition and therefore us. Their task was far from easy and we should remember with gratitude our early founders, the first professors, members of Council and those who supported them.
We inherit the very high reputation of graduates of the Rhodes University College (now Rhodes University). They live in our hearts and mind their traditions and their ideals are part of our lives today. For that is the future which I would wish for Rhodes University to enhance through its graduates the high reputation of scholars it has gained in the past to be neither more nor less than a real university.” – Sir BFJ Schonland, the first chancellor of Rhodes University, at the institution's inauguration ceremony in 1951.
