Rhodes University will confer honorary doctorates on three distinguished South Africans during its autumn graduation ceremonies, to be held from 25 to 27 March 2026. The honourees, award-winning actress Leleti Khumalo, eminent sculptor Maureen Quin, and veteran human rights lawyer Advocate Wim Trengove SC, will be recognised for their exceptional contributions to their respective fields and to the advancement of society.

In a world saturated with information, we often assume that seeing is believing. We believe that hard, digital, and livestreamed evidence should be the final arbiter of truth. Yet, as the global crisis in Gaza unfolds alongside the forgotten massacres in Sudan and the Congo, we are forced to confront an unsettling paradox: evidence is not enough.

As global centres of higher learning, universities trade in the currency of knowledge and cross-cultural collaboration. By design, they champion progress and intellectual expansion. Yet academic excellence is only one side of the coin; for LGBTQIA+ students, the social transition to university can be far more complex.

The Rhodes University community gathered on the 20th of February 2026, to launch a significant fundraising initiative to preserve the legacy of a university giant, Desiree Wicks. After 40 years of exemplary and outstanding service, the institution is honouring her retirement by establishing the Mama Nontsika Desiree Wicks Annual Golf Day.

“Are we the universe’s first technological species, or simply the only one left?” Dr Chenoa Tremblay began her public lecture at Rhodes University with a question that, over the years, has shifted from philosophy to experiment.

The first weeks of university can be both exciting and challenging for many students, as they adjust to new academic expectations, social environments, and personal responsibilities. To support first-year students during this period, Rhodes University has introduced the Life at University workshop series, a compulsory programme designed to familiarise students with the support structures and services available to them on campus.

For Zozibini Mapoma, the journey to Rhodes University began long before she received her student card. It started in Makhanda, the town she was born and raised in, where she grew up in a multi-generational household with her mother, uncle and grandparents. Those local roots, she reflected, shaped her sense of responsibility and perseverance long before she imagined herself walking through the gates of a university.

Qhawekazi Hlaba’s journey to Rhodes University is a story of determination, resilience, and the transformative power of opportunity. Born in Dutywa, Eastern Cape, she received her early schooling at Ntaba Maria, which laid the foundation for a journey that would ultimately bring her to one of the country’s most prestigious universities.

Masimange Jezi’s journey to Rhodes University is not a story of effortless achievement; it is a story of recovery, support and self-belief rebuilt over time. It is also a powerful illustration of how research-driven educational interventions can prevent capable students from slipping quietly through the cracks.

Amahle Mayi’s journey to Rhodes University did not follow the neat, uninterrupted path that so often defines academic success on paper. Instead, it unfolded slowly, shaped by reflection, support, and a growing understanding that potential does not always announce itself through immediate performance.

In a South Africa grappling with inequality, mistrust in institutions, and the urgent need for social cohesion, Rhodes University has introduced a programme designed to reset how universities understand their purpose. The Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education: Community Engagement (PGDip HECE) is the first professional qualification of its kind in the country, offering academics and practitioners a structured way to integrate meaningful engagement into teaching, research, and partnership-building.

When the nation’s world-renowned epidemiologist took the stage at the Bio26 South Africa Congress in Makhanda, we expected a pandemic post-mortem and a research-based roadmap forward. We expected charts, data, best practices and policy. What we did not expect was a warning about an entirely different crisis: the Infodemic, a war on truth, orchestrated by those in power. But Professor Salim Abdool Karim did not come to Bio26 to play it safe.

For years, your ability to access the Rhodes University Library depended entirely on where you were standing. If you were in the library or connected to the campus Wi-Fi, the doors were open. But for the thousands of Oppidan students working from their digs, or researchers collaborating from abroad, the experience has often been defined by frustration. Different passwords for different databases. "IP address" errors. Technical tickets that take days to resolve. As of 2026, those digital walls have come down.

It was a moment that marked both an ending and a beginning. When Tanaka January held his student card for the first time, he felt the culmination of years of effort, setbacks, and growth. "It gave me the idea of the end of a roller coaster of a journey and the beginning of, I hope, something great," he confirmed. That small card symbolised more than registration; it was a tangible reminder that resilience and support can turn obstacles into opportunities.

For Sinelizwi Dyibishe, arriving at Rhodes University was not about proving that he had never stumbled. It was about recognising that the moments where things did not go according to plan had taught him the most. Standing on campus as a newly registered first-year student, he carried with him more than acceptance letters and official documents; he carried a deeper understanding of what learning can look like when it does not end at failure.

On a warm registration day at Rhodes University, the campus buzzed with laughter, music, and the nervous energy of new beginnings. First-year students moved between queues, clutching documents; parents hovered near; and staff members offered directions with practised ease. For Abdulahil Fall, however, this moment carried a deeper meaning. It was not simply the start of university but the result of a long process of reorientation, reflection, and resolve.

Rhodes University first-year Sinemihlali Mpondwana’s journey to registration has been shaped by determination, adaptability, and sustained support through GADRA Education. Her story reflects how access to the right educational environment, one that offers both academic guidance and a sense of belonging, can open pathways to higher education.

Welcome home. Before anything else, take a breath. You made it. Whether you are feeling excited, overwhelmed, or still trying to understand where you are, I want you to know this: you are exactly where you are meant to be. We have been eagerly awaiting your arrival because we know you will have an impact that no other generation has brought to Rhodes University. Your presence here matters.

Today is a day that you can feel very pleased with yourself. 22,000 matriculants applied for the places that the 1,720 gathered here have been offered. You are the cream of the crop, and we are so pleased to have you here at Rhodes University, ‘Where Leaders Learn’.

Rhodes Business School and the Anglican theology studies-based College of the Transfiguration (COTT) have been working to strengthen the College’s leadership, refine its strategy, and build institutional resilience through an executive education initiative.