Build a university on the East Rand

There are major advantages in students being able to stay at their parents’ or guardians’ homes when undergoing tertiary education.

Unfortunately, there are no university facilities available in Ekurhuleni, 21 years after the arrival of democracy, other than the satellite campus of Unisa, a relatively minor satellite campus of Vaal University of Technology, and the relatively limited facilities of a few private sector organisations such as Damelin.

I estimated that traditional university student numbers, university of technology student numbers and comprehensive university student numbers would exist at institutions in Ekurhuleni if well established and well distributed facilities existed and 2013 matric results applied, in a research and planning project for Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality completed at the end of June 2014.

An average number of traditional university students predicted are 46 816, university of technology students predicted 44 640 students and comprehensive university students predicted 91 456 students.

It will be clear from the above-mentioned figures that it will not be long before a multi-campus, comprehensive University of Ekurhuleni or East Rand University could be successfully established in Ekurhuleni.

Examples of comprehensive universities are the University of Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

I have, in fact, recommended to the municipality, national government, and Clr Shadow Shabangu, that such a university be established in stages, starting as soon as possible, with the first campus in the Benoni-Boksburg-Brakpan area, and I know that the executive mayor of Ekurhuleni desires that Ekurhuleni have its own university.

Residents of Ekurhuleni should create some pressure for the development of a university in the city.

I know that they will receive a sympathetic hearing from the mayor and from Shabangu.

Ekurhuleni’s being a significant source of innovations would certainly be to the advantage of the city and South Africa.

Given its location at a major air travel hub and its pleasant and cost-effective/economical character, Ekurhuleni could conceivably become the first African city to be among the major university cities of the world from the point of view of students.

I recommended that the option be kept open of the Benoni-Boksburg-Brakpan campus of the university becoming partly parallel medium (English and Afrikaans) in nature.

Ekurhuleni contains one of the most major concentrations of Afrikaans first language speakers in South Africa, and is well situated in relation to Mpumalanga and northern KwaZulu-Natal, both of which contain significant numbers of Afrikaans first language speakers.

(Letter shortened)

Peter F Behrmann,

Nigel.