University of the Witwatersrand

The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, commonly called Wits, is a multi-campus public research university in Johannesburg, South Africa. It has its roots in the mining industry, as Johannesburg itself does. It was founded in 1896 as the South African School of Mines in Kimberley and moved to Johannesburg in 1904, and it took the name University College, Johannesburg in 1920. It is the third oldest South African university in continuous operation. It has five faculties, 33 schools and seven campuses, and about 41,700 students as of 2025. Four Nobel laureates are linked to it, among them Nelson Mandela, Sydney Brenner, Aaron Klug and Nadine Gordimer.