Sol Plaatje UniversitySPU

Sol Plaatje University, known as SPU, is a public university in Kimberley. It was established by the Minister of Higher Education and Training under the Higher Education Act, and it took in its first students in 2014. It was the first university set up in the Northern Cape and one of two new universities created in South Africa after apartheid. It carries the name of the South African intellectual Sol Plaatje.

SPU describes itself as a niche university shaped around the needs of the Northern Cape. Its focus areas are teacher education, ICT and data science, heritage studies, palaeo-sciences, and creative writing in African languages. It has also said it plans future programmes in agricultural sciences for dry, water-stressed regions.

Teaching happens in person. SPU is a city university spread over three sites in Kimberley, called Central, North and South campuses, which mix older buildings with new ones built for the university. Nothing on its website points to distance or fully online degrees.

The university has four faculties: Economic and Management Sciences, Education, Humanities, and Natural and Applied Sciences. Qualifications range from higher certificates (in court interpreting and heritage studies) and diplomas (in retail business management, ICT applications development and agriculture) to bachelor's degrees in education, commerce, arts and science. At postgraduate level it offers advanced diplomas, a postgraduate certificate in education, postgraduate diplomas, honours degrees and master's degrees. Its Centre for Professional Development runs accredited short learning programmes for working adults.

Applications for undergraduate and postgraduate study open once a year for the next academic year. Applications are made through an online system, and each faculty has its own applications contact. Admission is based on National Senior Certificate results, scored with SPU's own Admission Point Score. Applicants with other school-leaving certificates are assessed one by one. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee a place, because places in each programme are limited.

SPU does not lend money to students. Its Financial Aid office helps students apply to outside funders, such as NSFAS for students from low-income households and the Funza Lushaka bursary for future teachers, and handles the paperwork once a bursary is awarded. The university also offers its own merit bursary for postgraduate students. Tuition quotations come from the university's finance office.