ABOUT SOL PLAATJE
Sol Plaatje University (SPU) opened in 2014, the first of two new universities to be established in post-apartheid South Africa. It is also the first university to be established in the Northern Cape Province.
Positioning itself as a niche university, SPU offers academic programmes of a high intellectual nature in fields that meet the needs of the South African thrust to develop a nation that is proud of its heritage and roots.
In developing the focus for its academic disciplines, SPU has looked to the unique needs, competence and characteristics of the Northern Cape region. This approach brought the current focus areas of teacher education, ICT and data science, heritage studies, paleo-sciences and creative writing in African languages to the fore.
Furthermore, in an era of concern about global warming and the more-serious threat to arid regions like the Northern Cape, SPU is developing future programmes in agricultural sciences with a focus on water-stressed conditions. The availability of physical resources together with the intellectual capacity to deliver such programmes will determine how quickly they can be implemented.
SPU wants to be a serious contributor to the enduring human attempts at giving meaning to complexity, in the particular context of the region. To do this, the University is forming solid and respectful partnerships with social and institutional structures in Kimberley and in the Northern Cape more generally. It is in these partnerships that the idea of a university in the Northern Cape presents its most exciting prospect.
Shortly thereafter, he became a court interpreter for the British authorities during the Siege of Mafeking and kept a diary of his experiences which were published posthumously.
After the war, he was optimistic that the British would continue to grant qualified franchise to all males, but they gave political rights to whites only in the 1910 Union of South Africa. Plaatje criticised the British in an unpublished 1909 manuscript entitled “Sekgoma – the Black Dreyfus.”
As an activist and politician he spent much of his life in the struggle for the enfranchisement and liberation of African people.
Plaatje became fluent in at least seven languages and translated works of William Shakespeare into Tswana. His talent for language would lead to a career in journalism and writing. He was editor and part-owner of Koranta ea Becoana (Bechuana Gazette) in Mafikeng, and in Kimberley Tsala ea Becoana (Bechuana Friend) and Tsala ea Batho (The Friend of the People).
Plaatje was the first black South African to write a novel in English – Mhudi. He wrote the novel in 1919, but it was only published in 1930.
SPU has been developed as a city university in the town of Kimberley. It occupies a combination of existing and purpose-built structures. The architecture of the new buildings has a unique personality and embraces a modern approach to light and space and is inclusive of artwork and design reflecting the heritage of the area.
An important characteristic of a great city is that it also has a good university. Here is the nexus that aligns the development strategies of the city and the University and that demands of SPU to develop and sustain high quality, exciting academic programmes that will be attractive to staff and students from the region and beyond to learn, work and live in Kimberley.
SPU takes pride in the fact that it bears the name of Sol Plaatje, a visionary South African intellectual who embraced the values and ethos to which the University subscribes.
The vision of SPU is university critically engaging in learning, research and development – while enhancing democratic practice and social justice in society.
The SPU mission is:
To become an institution of higher learning uniquely positioned to:
- graduate citizens competent and capable of realising the aspirations of society
- produce new knowledge impacting on key challenges of the region
- engage critically with communities of discourse and communities of people in order to search out pathways to equitable development.
The following three goals underpin the continuing development of SPU:
Goal 1: Academic design, development and delivery freedom
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- Ensure curriculum design and programme development that is aligned to the strategic plan
- ensure student-focused teaching and learning
- develop an academic quality assurance system
- establish academic thrusts for focused teaching and research
- promote critically engaged scholarship.
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Goal 2: Cultivating the Sol Plaatje University experience freedom
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Students, staff and stakeholders alike should experience SPU as:
- Promoting a culturally diverse and inclusive student body and faculty
- student support and wellbeing
- healthy, safe, secure and vibrant university environment integrated into the city
- Service-focused administration.
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Goal 3: University governance, management and operation freedom
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- Human capacity development
- financial sustainability
- infrastructure, facilities and Information, Communications Networking technologies
- reputation management
- effective support services
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SPU values
- Academic freedom
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- Independent intellectual endeavor
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- Depth and breadth of knowledge and critical thinking
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- Academic citizenship
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- National and international comparability of academic quality
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- Community engagement and social responsiveness
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- Intellectual integrity
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