University of Fort Hare

University of Fort Hare South Africa

The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for black Africans from 1916 to 1959. It offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub-Saharan Africa, creating a black African elite. Fort Hare alumni were part of many subsequent independence movements and governments of newly independent African countries.
In 1959, the university was subsumed by the apartheid system, but it is now part of South Africa’s post-apartheid public higher education system. It is known for its notable alumni, which include several heads of state and Nobel prize winners.

History:

“Union Hall” at the University of Fort Hare.

Originally, Fort Hare was a British fort in the wars between British settlers and the Xhosa of the 19th century. Some of the ruins of the fort are still visible today, as well as graves of some of the British soldiers who died while on duty there.
During the 1830s, the Lovedale Missionary Institute was built near Fort Hare.James Stewart, one of its missionary principals, suggested in 1878 that an institution for higher education of black students needed to be created. However, he did not live to see his idea put into operation when, in 1916, Fort Hare was established with Alexander Kerr as its first principal. D.D.T Jabavu was its first black staff member who lectured in Latin and black languages. In accord with its Christian principles, fees were low and heavily subsidised. Several scholarships were also available for indigent students.

Vision:

A vibrant, equitable and sustainable African university, committed to teaching and research excellence at the service of its students, scholars and the wider community.

Mission:

To provide high quality education of international standards contributing to the advancement of knowledge that is socially and ethically relevant and applying technological and socio-economic development of our nation and the wider world.

Values:

Integrity – To respect and affirm the dignity, equality, freedom and rich cultural diversity of all human beings as the basis for peace and social justice, the pursuit of truth, intellectual honesty, and openness to ideas.
Excellence – To be recognised as an international centre for excellence that is both rooted in its environment and sensitive to the challenges of human progress, and to foster a culture of teaching and learning and research excellence in the University as a basic minimum requirement for living up to the claim of being a site of knowledge generation.
Innovation – To focus on the challenges presented by new information technologies, information management systems and processes, and opportunities for innovation. And to do so in an enterprising way that benefits the University and humanity.
Ethics – The attainment of the highest professional and ethical standards in teaching, learning, research, community engagement and corporate governance.