About Stellenbosch University

Standing side by side with the town’s sturdy old oak trees for a hundred years, Stellenbosch University is a leading research-intensive university on the African continent. The University, established in 1918, has five campuses, 10 faculties, and a vibrant and cosmopolitan community of more than 30 000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including more than 3 000 international students from over 100 countries. The university is also home to more than 4000 full-time staff members.

Fast Facts

• Undergraduate students: 20 870
• Postgraduates: 10 577
• International Students: 3115
• Academic personnel: 1 377
• Professional Administrative personnel: 3 163
• Postdoctoral fellow: 322
• Covid-19 related research, Projects and activities: 100
• Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings for 2021, SU is ranked in the category 251–300, occupying the third spot among leading universities in South Africa.

SU also has a range of unique offerings. One of the latest additions is the recently established School for Climate Studies.

This is the first school of its kind in South Africa that has the status of a faculty. The vision of the School is to be a world-class institution for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary climate and related studies in and for Africa, and to support and encourage research partnerships with other entities, both nationally and internationally. It has a broad mandate to work across all faculties, centres and institutes at SU, as well as with other national and international higher education institutions and public and private enterprises.

African collaboration: On average, SU researchers collaborate in 120 registered active projects in 21 African countries with 52 African collaborators and/or institutions per year.

The African Doctoral Academy (ADA) supports Africa`s next generation of researchers offering high quality research support to prospective and current doctoral candidates, their supervisors and post-doctoral researchers from across Africa. Between 2012 and 2018, more than 5000 doctoral students and lecturers from universities in various African countries have participated in Summer and Winter Schools offered by the ADA.