2019 Annual Report

The University of the Witwatersrand continues to achieve its strategic goals for the period under review. The seven strategic priorities of the Wits Vision 2022 Strategic Framework are:

• The Wits Experience;

• Research and Knowledge Leadership;

• Innovation and Social Leadership;

• Extensive Networks and Partnerships;

• Excellence in Governance;

• An IT-Savvy University; and

• Wealthy and Well Resourced.

Wits University’s research output has increased by about 70% in the last six years, its graduate student profile has improved from 28% to 37% and its 9500 graduates in 2018 is the highest number produced in its history. The university has steadily improved in its global rankings being in the top 2 in the country in both the Times Higher Education and Shanghai Rankings (Academic Ranking of World Universities), all the while improving its finances and establishing itself on a fiscally sustainable path. These improvements have occurred simultaneously with a transformation of the university into a socially inclusive, diverse, non-racial and cosmopolitan community that addresses the historical racialized disparities of South Africa’s past.