Rhodes University has once again emerged as a creative powerhouse at the 2025 National Arts Festival - walking away with two Silver Ovation Awards and securing its place among the most compelling voices on the national Fringe stage.

One of this year’s standout moments at the National Arts Festival came early. A Childhood in Chalk, a moving inter-disciplinary piece from the Drama and Education Departments at Rhodes University, earned an Ovation Award on the Fringe programme.

As the National Arts Festival (NAF) opened its doors to another season of creative brilliance, a performance stood out not only for its musical excellence but for its emotional depth and cultural resonance. Echoes Across Continents: A Musical Journey from Europe to Africa, performed by accomplished pianist and Rhodes University PhD candidate Belinda de Villiers, was a fitting and poignant start to South Africa’s premier celebration of the arts.

Rhodes University deepens its long-standing relationship with the National Arts Festival (NAF) this year with a powerful offering that fuses research, pedagogy, and performance. With Makhanda as its canvas, Rhodes University continues to shape the national cultural conversation through bold, locally-rooted, and globally-relevant work.

Across Africa, a new wave of radio telescope deployments is igniting interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and empowering future scientists. The TART (Transient Array Radio Telescope) project is a collaboration between the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), Rhodes University, the University of Stellenbosch, and the University of Otago (New Zealand).

At the 2025 Rhodes University graduation ceremony, Professor Lausanne Olvitt was honoured with the Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Senior Teaching Award, showcasing her dedication to fostering inclusive and impactful learning environments.

Rhodes University recently honoured the academic achievements of 65 staff members at its annual Vice-Chancellor and Thomas Alty Awards. The recipients earned a diverse array of qualifications, including eight postgraduate diplomas, five advanced diplomas, 21 CHERTL certifications, two bachelor's degrees, four honours degrees, nine master’s degrees, and 16 PhDs.

Rhodes University hosted a heartfelt awards ceremony to honour and celebrate staff members' unwavering commitment and years of service. The 190 honourees have collectively dedicated a remarkable 3,005 years to the institution, an achievement the University recognised with deep appreciation and pride.

With a well-earned reputation for excellence in South African public education spanning more than 120 years, Rhodes University is set to embark on an exciting new chapter of international collaboration and innovation. Vice Chancellor, Professor Sizwe Mabizela, recently returned from the Forum of BRICS University Rectors in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, brimming with enthusiasm after the adoption of the transformative Rio de Janeiro Declaration on June 7, 2025.

To connect psychological theory with real-world practice, final-year Psychology students at Rhodes University recently partnered with SANCA Central Eastern Cape to create Instagram-based awareness campaigns focused on substance abuse prevention.

The Global Engagement Division, in collaboration with academic, students and external partners, succeeded in curating a month-long programme to celebrate Africa month, bringing African ideas, identities and innovations to the fore and affirming Rhodes University as an active and engaged space of learning, critical reflection, and public dialogue.

Inspired by the African Union’s 2025 theme “Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”, a panel discussion, chaired by Thabang Moleko from the Rhodes Business School, was held on 26 May, in celebration of Africa Day.

In a transformative step toward expanding access to higher education, Rhodes University proudly announces the launch of the Rhodes University 120th Anniversary Merit Scholarship, a prestigious new award aimed at recognising and empowering top-performing learners from the Makana Local Municipality.

Rhodes University has strengthened its commitment to creating an inclusive and enabling environment with the acquisition of a new bus. Designed to support students with disabilities, the vehicle marks an achievement in efforts to remove barriers to full participation in campus life. This was succeeded by the recent #Monday2Monday Movement advocacy campaign, aimed at helping raise disability awareness and promote greater accessibility and inclusivity for people with disabilities at Rhodes University.

Earlier this month, Rhodes University played host to some of South Africa’s most esteemed legal professionals during the 2025 Legal Practitioners Forum (LPF). Organised by Ms Sue Smailes, Director in the Office of the Vice-Chancellor, in collaboration with the university’s Legal Unit, the event marked a significant milestone in legal collaboration across the country’s higher education sector.

Rhodes University students launched a magazine in October 2024 that goes beyond storytelling to give space, recognition, and respect to those who rarely see themselves represented. Intetho Magazine was created to celebrate often-ignored voices, with a special focus on young Black creatives. It is a project under Echoes of Uhuru, a personal and artistic multimedia initiative started by Nqobani Dabengwa to explore cultural storytelling through collaboration, expression, and radical imagination. Dabengwa is pursuing a Master's degree in Pharmacy Practice.

To empower students with effective academic strategies and promote well-being during exam season, the Oppidan Hall Committee, together with the Division for Student Services and Development (DSSD) and the Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning (CHERTL), hosted a comprehensive Study Skills and Exam Preparation Workshop for Oppidan students ahead of the mid-semester exams at Amazwi South African Museum of Literature.

At the 2025 JMS Annual Academic Assembly, broadcast journalist Zikhona Tshona shared an inspiring message with aspiring reporters: journalism is a public service, anchored in dignity and respect. “Whether it is a child, a grandmother, or someone who has never had a voice, they matter,” she emphasised. “People need to see themselves represented in the news to believe in it.”

Rhodes University marked an important milestone in its commitment to advancing African scholarship with the official launch of the Africa Research and Knowledge Hub (ARKH), a dynamic new Research Group housed in the Department of Sociology.

By the time most academics retire, they have packed up their office plants, maybe published a few final papers, and faded into the footnotes of departmental memory, but not Professor Emeritus Alan Kirkaldy. At Rhodes University, where history comes alive through the library stacks, Prof Kirkaldy has done something quite revolutionary.