UWC By The Numbers: A Few Quick Facts About A Great University

Numbers are important at the University of the Western Cape. Since opening its doors in 1960, thousands of students and staff in 7 faculties have gone on to produce uncounted numbers of books, papers, sporting victories, and more.

Here are a few UWC numbers worth remembering...

• 1: Former UWC Vice-Chancellor, Prof Brian O’Connell, received the NRF’s highest honour, the NRF Lifetime Achievement Award, for his tireless efforts in promoting science and reason in the lives of many South Africans.
• 2: UWC has twice been declared Africa’s Greenest Campus – a shining example of how sustainable thinking and environmentalism can be promoted at universities.
• 3: UWC hosts 3 World Health Organization Collaborating Centres, in: Oral Health; Health Systems Complexity and Change; and Bioinformatics and Human Health
• 10 UWC Alumni have gone on to become Rectors or Vice-Chancellors of South African universities, helping to shape the direction of higher education
• 18 research chairs (including 13 SARChI Chairs) are held by UWC, providing leadership on everything from Astrophysics to Health Systems Governance to Post-school Education
  
• 20: The number of state-of-the-art school science labs developed by UWC’s Science Learning Centre for Africa in 2017 alone (over 50 labs have been constructed in total to date)
  
• 52% of South Africa’s dentists are produced by UWC’s Faculty of Dentistry - Africa’s leading dental school and a WHO Centre of Competence
  
• 70: UWC’s Recycling Initiative receives an average of 70 tons of recycling each month, creates employment opportunities for over 100 people, and sells the recycled materials to help fuel more greening.
  
• 120 PhDs were conferred by UWC in 2017, in everything from astrophysics to politics to zoology
  
• 144 NRF-rated researchers make UWC their home
  
• 220 species of indigenous plants are protected in UWC’s Cape Flats Nature Reserves (along with dozens of animal species, including over 100 birds)
  
• 2 000: UWC’s Research Repository holds over 2 000 papers by researchers, accessible to anybody in the world?
  
• 12 000: The number of students from South Africa and other African countries who have participated in the UWC School of Public Health’s Summer and Winter School since it began