Rhodes University

Rhodes University is a public research university in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, located in Makhanda (Grahamstown). It is one of the province's four universities. The University of the Free State (1904), the University of Witwatersrand (1896), the University of South Africa (1873) as the University of the Cape of Good Hope, Stellenbosch University (1866), and the University of Cape Town (1866) are the province's oldest universities (1829). Rhodes University College, named after Cecil Rhodes, was founded in 1904 with a bequest from the Rhodes Trust. In 1918, it became a constituent institution of the University of South Africa, and in 1951, it became a separate university.

Rhodes University is a tiny, residential university. Most undergraduates complete their first and second years of study while living on campus. The academic year at Rhodes is divided into two semesters, with the first commencing in early February and finishing in early June, and the second beginning in late July and concluding in late November.

In the 2015 academic year, the university had over 8,000 students enrolled, with slightly over 3,600 living in 51 dormitories on campus and the rest (known as Oppidans) living in digs (off-campus residences) or their own homes in town.

Established: 31 May 1904