This year will be an unforgettable year for the University of Pretoria staff and students as they celebrate the institution’s 100 year anniversary, writes Luyanda Makapela.

From its inception with only 32 students in 1908, the former Transvaal University College (TUC) has today grown tremendously with more than 50 000 students currently enrolled at the nine faculties.

There are also a further 341 undergraduate and 1 461 postgraduate study programmes on offer.

“Celebrating our centenary this year is one of the biggest initiatives we have engaged in as an institution. This is a great land mark, especially to us as former students who studied at the institution for nearly four decades ago,” said Professor Schalk Claasen who is a centenary events co-ordinator for the institute.

Centenary celebrations, with the theme: A century in the Service of Knowledge will kick off on 8 February 2008.

The event will provide an opportunity to remember the remarkable achievements and exceptional contributions of students and staff during the past 100 years while reflect on the way forward.

Professor Claasen, a former Industrial Engineering student at the University of Pretoria in 1970 told BuaNews of the transition the institution has gone through in the last four decades.

“It’s unbelievable how our institution has grown over the years.

“In the engineering first year class of 1970, we were only nine and looking at the numbers now it’s unbelievable,” said Claasen, who has been with the university for 30 years now.

He said at the time, the students only had shared one restaurant with the staff.

“Biedermans [restaurant] was our hot spot and every student would rush for pies and gravy as it was a favorite food for the students at the time,” he recalled.

He said alcohol was not allowed on the campus back then.

“If you look at the campus now, there are several restaurants where you can also get beer at any time,” he said.

Dress code was one of the things that were looked at very carefully.

“There were some lectures where students had to dress formally with ties and long trousers but nowadays students can dress in whatever way they want, as long as they dress clean and presentable,” he added.

Professor Claasen, who used to stay at College House, one of the oldest dormitories in the institution, said there was a slight change in the school’s residences.

“Back then, we used to share a double room but now residence is more user-friendly,” he said.

He added that the old houses have an outstanding significance for old and new students and staff as they preserve traditions.

Professor Claasen graduated with his Industrial engineering degree at the University of Pretoria in 1973 and subsequently worked at the university as a lecturer for two years before joining the private sector.

He rejoined the University of Pretoria again in 1978 and in 1996 he was promoted to head the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering where he remained for more than ten years.

He is currently a co-ordinator for the University’s Centenary.

The former Transvaal University College [TUC] had 32 students enrolled in 1908 with a staff of four professor and three lecturers enrolled for courses at the first campus, Kya Rosa, a house situated in the centre of Pretoria.

On 17 May 1910, the then TUC, from which the current name Tuks was derived, became an independent institution apart from the Johannesburg institute.

A students’ fundraising and charity event,the Rag started in the early 1920’s and the university’s first Rag Queen was crowned in 1929 when the welcoming of the first year’s [initiation] also started and took place on Church Square in full view of the public.

In October 1930 TUC became independent and was officially named University of Pretoria.

By 1931, however, 65 percent of students were Afrikaans speaking but only 23 percent of classes were conducted in Afrikaans.

To address the imbalance, the university council decided that Afrikaans would be the only medium of instruction in 1932, and the university became popularly known as the “Voortekker” university.

Student life began to flourish with events such as Spring Day being added to the University calendar.

A number of cultural and academic student societies continued to increase and many student publications were established such as Trek in 1931, the first Rag Mag in 1936 and the ever popular student newspaper Die Perdeby in 1939.

Between 1948 and1982, student numbers doubled. This necessitated the physical expansion of the campus and new buildings appeared in rapid succession.

After 1982, the institution was faced with the challenge of transforming UP into a bilingual and multiracial institution.

This had led to the introduction of students of all races to the university resulting to the UP officially declared “open” for all races in 1989.

This year, various activities are also being planned by other centres in South Africa and for similar festivities in the United Kingdom, United States of America and Canada to commemorate the university’s 100 years.

“The University of Pretoria invite students, staff and alumni and anyone wishing to be associated with us to participate in the celebrations and share in our proud history,” said Professor Claasen. -BuaNews