“We believe that we need a lot more scientists and a lot more people who are numerate in our society,” says Joyce Sewry, Senior Lecturer in the Chemistry Department at Rhodes University.

Rhodes University has joined forces with three very different institutions: Mangosuthu University of Technology, the University of Venda and private provider Eduvos, in a partnership now formalised under the University Capacity Development Programme (UCDP). What started as a shared conviction has become a clear, ambitious plan: to formalise community-based methods of teaching and research.

Rhodes University has marked a milestone in its research journey with the conferral of the institution’s first practice-based PhD in Fine Art, awarded to Dr Raphaela Linders.

Growing up in Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal, Samkelo Wiseman Junior Maisela learned early that strength is often quiet. His father passed away when he was six, and with his mother frequently away for work, much of his upbringing came from his guardian, who ran a local daycare centre. From her, Samkelo absorbed lessons of humility, service, and kindness, learning that true leadership often means showing up for others without expectation.