Welcome Message from the Vice-Chancellor
You are beginning an exciting new phase in your intellectual and personal development and life. You have made an excellent choice in choosing Rhodes, given our record of commitment to academic excellence and producing high quality graduates who are equipped to contribute to a changing South Africa, African continent and world.
You join Rhodes as the most intellectually talented women and men of our society. Your arrival marks the beginning of a partnership of mutual commitment to learning, research and community engagement, and the pursuit of knowledge that promotes understanding of our natural and social worlds, and helps to advance social and economic development and social justice.
Our responsibility is to provide you with a stimulating and enabling environment that cultivates your intellect, and supports you to graduate as a knowledgeable and skilled professional, a critical intellectual, and a caring and compassionate person. Your responsibility is to grasp the opportunities that Rhodes provides and to develop your abilities and promise to the full.
Our academics, administrators and support staff work hard to create an environment that helps you to realize your potential. Not surprisingly, Rhodes has the best undergraduate pass and graduation rates in South Africa, outstanding postgraduate success rates, and the best research output per academic staff member. Our low academic staff to student ratio means that you are assured easy access to academics and close supervision for your projects and research, even at undergraduate level.
Orientation Week provides you the opportunity to discover the various academic disciplines on offer and to make an informed choice about your academic programme. Choose the courses that excite you and are appropriate to your aspirations and interests. Also familiarise yourself with the activities organised by numerous student societies and sports clubs. Involvement in these should be an integral part of your Rhodes education and are a means of making new friends and acquiring important skills.
Reading for a Rhodes University degree is an exacting challenge, and you must take seriously the considerable demands that your academic programme will make on you. It is vital that you strike a good balance between the requirements of your academic studies and the many temptations and distractions of campus life.
The Rhodes University slogan is Where Leaders Learn! Having been selected from thousands of applications to attend Rhodes, you are one of the fortunate few with the opportunity to develop as an intellectual, professional and person, and graduate as a leader. Your future is in your hands.
With very best wishes
Dr Saleem Badat, Vice-Chancellor
